Consumer unit changes

 

A consumer unit, or fusebox/fuseboard as they are more commonly known is an essential feature of your home or workplace. With all the heating, power and lighting running through it, the consumer unit is important for the safe distribution of electricity around your premises.

Despite this, the only time many people ever look at their consumer unit is when they are resetting the electricity after a power cut or failure

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We are able to remove old non-compliant mains boards and replace with new 18th edition BS7671 mains boards. We can carry out upgrades if required to the existing installation, make alterations or additions and also upgrade main tail cable supplies and main earth bonding to gas and water systems.

 We use populated RCBO mains boards as these give each individual circuit its own additional protection and under fault conditions reduces disruption to other electrical dependant circuits.

On completion of installation, test and inspection certificates are completed and sent to customer.

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The newer style fuse boards incorporate RCD protection against electric shock which disconnect the supply in a few milliseconds. The removal of fuse wire is a welcome sight instead replaced with a breaker that can be reset manually in a couple of seconds. We offer various packages to our clients including SPD (Surge Protection Devices) which monitor inrush current from the energy grid and lightning strikes from damaging vulnerable appliances like ipads, fridges, TV, & boilers. These new consumer meet the latest fire regulations to increase the safety for you and your family.

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The benefits of a modern consumer unit

 

Newer models of consumer units hold a number of benefits over older styles of consumer unit including:

• Fire rated – many older models of consumer unit are wooden-backed and can be a fire risk.

• RCD protection – this is an essential feature of any modern consumer unit, if you don’t have one you are putting your self at risk.

• Reduced risk of electrocution – it’s not uncommon for older unloved fuseboards to have exposed wires or cracked casing.

• Compliance – many older fuseboxes are not compliant with electrical wiring regulations; this can make it very hard to sell your home should you want to and can invalidate your insurance in some cases.

• Modern circuit breakers – quicker disconnection time and easier maintenance

• Surge protection - integrating protection against damaging power fluctuations and surges for all your electrical devices at the consumer unit.

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Why an RCD is essential

 

An RCD is a protective safety device which detects changes in the proper flow of electric current and immediately cuts power ("trips") in the event of a fault or severed cable which could present electrocution.  A modern RCD usually provides good coverage of all the wiring, sockets and appliances in your premises.  It gives far more protection than solely having ordinary fuses and circuit breakers.

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To put it quite simple RCD protected circuits save lives every year. As little as 50mAmps can kill a person. This is why the IEE BS7671 regulations compliance says that all circuits in homes should be protected through a 30mAmp RCD Unit. The device should trip out before the fault current gets to a too-high, dangerous, level. This is why it is vital this component in a consumer unit is fitted and fully working correctly, or this could cost someone their life.

 

Official figures have put the reliability of RCDs at around 97% but they should be tested around every 6 months to ensure they are still operating properly.

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RCBO units

 

We always recommend the use of RCBO consumer units, as they efficiently combine the safety and overload aspects into one little trip switch. The fuse board on the whole will be smaller and may fit physically better into tight spaces. As each circuit has its own RCD protection, if a fault occurs only that specific circuit will be affected, all other circuits will remain fully functional. Each fuse board/fuse box/consumer unit will offer a high level of protection, safety and reliability to you and your home.

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Furthermore, by distributing load equipment across a greater number of individual RCBO circuits, this greatly assists in reducing the possibility of nuisance tripping, or inconvenience caused by loss of supply to multiple circuits in the event of a residual current fault.

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Why metal housed consumer units are safer

 

Metal clad consumer units are designed to be robust and are perfect for the home. Several domestic household fires involving plastic consumer units brought about the IEE BS7671 Regulation change. Since January 2016 all new consumer units should be metal clad and therefore fire resistant. Any cables entering into sides of the unit should be suitably glanded. This is to satisfy the regulations regarding objects not being able to enter the unit, with the additional benefit of the cables being held tightly, so that they cannot be easily pulled out.

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How long does it take to replace a fuseboard?

 

The whole process can take up to a day, fitting the fuse box can take anything from 2 to 4 hours, depending on the consumer units size and then a further 2 hours on site checking all the circuits and testing the installation which is mandatory so the certificates can be filled out correctly.

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Testing of Installation

 

Our engineers test and inspect all your properties electrics whilst conducting the fuseboard/consumer unit replacement to ensure safety as standard and the NICEIC certificates we will then issue you has all of the test results of the installed cabling recorded on the certificates.

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