I'm still pondering on my Consumer Unit! The more I think about it the more I realise what a pig of a job it's going to be.
The existing CU is high up on a stud wall in the downstairs toilet. It's not exactly ideal there, even if we weren't planning to remove the stud wall to expand the downstairs toilet into the adjacent utility room to make a shower room. It's too high (have to stand on the lavatory to reach the switches) and difficult to read the labels.
So, we have to move it anyway because the wall on which it's mounted is going to disappear.
The main options (with + and - notes) seem to be:-
1 - Move to wall of the entrance hall outside the door into the downstairs toilet (to be shower). + Fairly conventional - Not pretty if low enough to be reasonably accessible - Need to extend incomer - Solid, very hard wall, so cables will have to run in trunking from above - Access above is below floorboards in a cupboard so difficult wiring
2 - Put in under eaves cupboard above the toilet (to be shower). - Less conventional, is a CU upstairs 'allowed'? - Ideally would be a flush mounting CU, less choice + Much easier wiring as there is already access via removable cladding to the rear - Need to extend incomer + Prettier as would be hidden inside a cupboard - Possibly a bit lower than ideal and not too easy to see + most wiring from below, less stringent fire-proofing requirements - need to cut/remove one timber in studding
3 - Further away from existing position, e.g. in utility room + Conventional, easily found in emergency + Doesn't matter if not so pretty - Longer extensions for connecting up, including incomer - Most alternative locations have rather poor wiring accessibility - Not a lot of space in reduced size utility room
4 - Outside in weatherproof box on wall - More expensive, need weatherproof box + Might get away not extending incomer - A bit inconvenient in bad weather - Hard wall, cable access not too easy - Not very conventional
I think I'm leaning towards 2 but I'm having a bit of trouble finding flush mounting 'main switch' CUs for an all RCBO set up. There's the Havells ones sold by switchgeardirect.co.uk but I can't find any reviews and their support is not good - neither Switchgear Direct nor Havells in the UK can even tell me the size of cut-out required to fit the flush mounting versions of their CUs. I need at least 14 ways (as we currently have 14 MCBs and RCBOs). The perfect solution (for the cupboard) would be a 'stacked' 8 + 8 unit but, in the UK anyway, stacked CUs are rare and flush mounting stacked ones non-existent. I have found one from Garo but they're an Irish firm and I'm not really sure about standards conformance.
Any/all comments welcome! Even ones that say "get an electrician to do it", though I fear that would be expensive given the requirements.