New consumer unit (not DIY)

[Andrew]

One of those £10 Schneider test plugs in Wickes might be useful.

[Andrew]

Some Wickes have it (Littlehampton has 4) :-

If they are Wylex rewireable fuses then you can still get these, even though there are circumstances where they might not do what they are supposed to do :-

[ARW]

The pre war one, unless the circuits have been rewired at some point may have VIR or lead sheathed cables.

If you go all RCBO then if there is a faulty circuit you can replace the RCBO for a MCB until there is time to fault find. If a certificate is being issued then I would expect this to be noted as a deviation.

I swapped a 5 way fuse box to an all RCBO CU in under two hours last week (no testing) - most of the work was in preparing cables so that they could reach the new terminals and I did not rush.

Under £100 in parts inc VAT. I asked what we would charge if this was a normal customer (the one I did was for a friend of the MDs) and was told £300 + VAT and that included a test. It would not include any remedial works.

I hope that gives you some idea.

[ARW]

What might they do that you would not expect them to do?

[John Rumm]

It's more a case of what you might expect them to do that they don't :-)

(like interrupt a fault current >3kA, or let you get the fuse cover back on the old CU)

[Roland Perry]

In message <t0aojl$1da2$ [e-mail]>, at 17:36:51 on Wed, 9 Mar

2022, Andrew snipped-for-privacy@mybt>

It's a bit more complicated than that, because from what I've seen there are contractors (quite possibly self employed) who sell their services in blocks to developers and builders, but then do jobs 'on the side' at weekends, or sometimes when en-route to/from their daily site.

Not being a developer myself, I don't know what their expectation is of having the exclusive use of the contractor's services for the duration of the block. If they were actual short-term employees, there would be working time and statutory annual leave rules to comply with too.

[Roland Perry]

It *has* been rewired. With grey T&E. But it's a mess, with cables going off in various directions under the floor, downstairs and upstairs) none of them tidily cut to length. Which might be a blessing, if there's some spare length to re-route them all to one replacement box.

Thanks.

[Roland Perry]

In message <t0anoi$guo$ [e-mail]>, at 17:22:24 on Wed, 9 Mar

2022, Andrew snipped-for-privacy@mybt>> >> <snip>

The "customer", as far as the infrastructure company is concerned is whichever energy supplier fitted the smart meter. And the "customer" as far as the energy supplier is concerned is the householder, who should employ a qualified electrician to play with these things.

I don't know if your "ought" is an aspiration in some parallel universe, or an attempt to refute what the infrastructure company told me?

[Roland Perry]

In message <t0appm$2qb$ [e-mail]>, at 17:57:08 on Wed, 9 Mar

2022, Andrew snipped-for-privacy@mybt>

I would normally expect to find it somewhere like Wilko, but their shelves have been especially bare the last few years.

As for Screwfix - yes I have frequently had to visit the third/fourth most local one to get something.

And last week I was trying to find a pair of safety boots, which they claimed was in stock in just one size (luckily my size) in one store, but when I went to put it in the click-and-collect basket said "haha! fooled you! It's not in stock after all".

I've also seen stuff available (allegedly) in just one Wickes in the Southeast, about three hours drive away. But not convinced it wasn't some administrative error too.

About five years ago I needed a few breeze blocks, which are surprisingly difficult to buy 'retail'. And eventually found them in a branch of Homebase 50 miles away, so reserved them to collect. When I turned up, they denied they even sold the item at all.

After about half an hour of faffing around, it was determined they *did* have some on the premises, but they had been used to construct a raised bed in their garden centre section. Apparently the only mechanism for obtaining some for this project, was to order them off their supplier as if they were ordinary stock. At which point, after they'd done the "goods in", they showed as available to customers.

Luckily, they had not quite used all of them (a couple of palette loads I think) so we tracked down the handful I needed, in a pile out the back of the store.

[ARW]

So you have met my apprentice:-)

Spare/slack cable can be a blessing on a CU swap.

[Jeff Layman]

LoL! It's like this place, built in 65/66, so spanning the date when lighting didn't/did require an earth. Half the lighting circuit has T only, half has T/E. There is the odd length or two of green wire crossing the loft which, I assume, was added as an earth. Half-under the loft insulation in a couple of places there is a veritable bird's nest of T and T/E; one previous owner obviously did some additional wiring and wasn't exactly tidy.

When we bought the place ten years ago we had to have a new CU (the old one couldn't be upgraded). Fortunately, after installation, a full check showed all the wiring was ok.

[williamwright]

So why pay for their overheads if you can avoid it? And why should their overheads be more per worker than those of a one man band?

Far too many one-man bands resort to lies and

Big firms resort to lies and bullshit. Oner man bands often rely on their local reputation.

Bill

[Dave Plowman (News]

I'd say it most unusual to re-wire, but leave the original fuse box. Early fuse boxes were often double pole. No earth busbar, etc. Much more common to have a later CU with earlier wiring. As at re-wire time, most will want more circuits than original.

[Robin]

'er indoors rewired to an old Wylex BS3036 in 1982: she wanted shot of the old cable (some looking very dodgy) and a lot more sockets and outlets on the rings but saw no need for more circuits. Roland's description matches how she left the CU - but it was a *safe* mess.

[Roland Perry]

In message [e-mail]>, at 15:41:46 on Thu, 10 Mar

2022, "Dave Plowman (News)" [e-mail]> remarked:

But there's two [old] fuse boxes. Most of the new circuits go into the more recent (six-fuse Wylex, bakelite with a wire going through what looks suspiciously like an asbestos holding cartridge).

And a couple remaining through the vintage one (wooden box, six porcelain holders). MEM Kantark Junior.

The very original round-socket wiring only had perhaps four sockets [front room, master bedroom, upstairs hall, and maybe the original kitchen].

Looking online, the MEM boxes seem to have three or six positions, so no doubt this house (which is a little higher status than the typical two up to down terrace houses nearby) probably did have four sockets, and maybe two for lighting?

Like many houses built at the time, the pendant fittings in the upstairs rooms and hall are positioned adjacent to the windows, so that the electric light simulates the cast of the natural light.

[Roland Perry]

In message [e-mail], at 16:47:47 on Thu, 10 Mar 2022, Roland Perry [e-mail]> remarked:

Fuseholders like this (never seen that style before). I wonder if it helps date the installation:

[R Souls]

It's deficiencies, you bloody ignoramus.

[Roland Perry]

In message [e-mail], at 06:38:26 on Wed, 9 Mar 2022, Roland Perry [e-mail]> remarked:

Have a certificate for the most recent work (3rd consumer unit I'm not keen to replace unless it's essential) and wiring to kitchen/extension).

Which would tend to suggest that upstream of there is also OK, or would that be too much of an assumption?

Nothing for the remainder, but I was always expecting to replace those two older CUs, and they appear to have wiring consistent in age with that transferred to the certified CU (and whose wiring must have tested OK). The only newer wiring attached to the certified CU is a cooker spur.

[Roger Mills]

Fair enough, if you have safety concerns. But things like borrowed earths will work fine for decades with no serious safety issues - but as soon as you fit RCDs, all hell is let loose!

[Theo]

The internet suggests 1930s-1950s. I guess you've seen John Ward's collection?

it hasn't been permitted since 1950s: Either way it's seriously weird to install new wiring into an old box like that - even in the 1970s there were better options available. Which is why I would get an EICR done to confirm there's nothing dodgy going on. (in his pic somebody has slapped a post-2006 'mixed wiring colours' label on the wooden fusebox, when they really should have refused to work on the installation)

At mine I spotted a panoply of DIY bodges but the EICR was reassuring that everything was essentially sound. Well there was a C1 but it wasn't actually problematic in practice - it's now gone, as well as most of the C3s (and RCD protection is now present).

Theo