Fuse Boards
A consumer unit, often referred to as a fuse board or fuse box, is the most important part of any electrical installation. This unit distributes the electricity from the mains incoming supply (the meter) to all of the circuits and outlets you have around your home.
It is a vital part f your electrical installation, much like a boiler is for your hot water or central heating. Your fuse board installation should always be installed by a qualified electrician. Fuse boards aren’t the most complicated items to install but testing upon completion of a consumer unit installation is incredibly important and this should only be carried out by a competent electrician using specialist test equipment.
AVB Electrical has been completing fuse board changes in Essex for over a decade and will always perform an EICR prior to changing your consumer unit to ensure that any circuits not currently protected by an RCD won’t face issues once an RCD has been installed. We can also use this EICR to alert us to underlying faults that may not be visible or obvious, such as poor insulation on buried or hidden cabling.
4 Reasons To Upgrade Your Fuse Board:
Your fuse board is likely the only part of your electrical system to protect you in the event of a fault or in the event that you come into contact with an exposed live part. It also determines which parts of the installation are controlled either separately or together. There are 4 main reasons you should consider upgrading your consumer unit (fuse board):
- Safety in the event of a shock: If your current board doesn’t offer RCD protection it can be more likely that in the event you get an electric shock, more current will pass through you and this in turn could be more serious.
- Safety in the event of a fault: Older style consumer units will have no provisions for surge protection. Should a power surge occur not only could you face higher risk of an electrical fire but there could be significant damage to electrical devices that are plugged in during the surge.
- Nuisance Tripping: If your fuse board has an RCD but is over 5 years old there is a good chance that the RCD installed in your fuse board is what’s called an AC type RCD. These devices are “blinded” by DC loads which can saturate the ferrite core meaning the RCD can fail to trip in the event of a fault. This is why new consumer units are installed using Type A RCD protection devices.
- Convenience: You turn on a light as you enter a room and it trips the RCD… This in turn also switches off other circuits meaning you now need to reset the oven clock, as well as re boot other electrical devices such as the Wi-Fi router etc. New fuse boards primarily are RCBO boards. This means that instead of lets say 5 MCBs being controlled by 1 RCD, each MCB has its own built in RCD. This means that if one circuit causes the RCD to trip the other circuits can remain intact, meaning the lights tripping out don’t affect the oven and Wi-Fi router, giving you the ability to put on a lamp to keep your home illuminated whilst you go to the fuse board to reset the lighting circuit.
If you need your fuse board upgraded please don’t hesitate to contact us using the button below or by calling us on 07918 998691. We would be happy to talk you through the options and costings for your project.
Consumer Unit FAQ
That will depend on how old your current board is. Old boards and wiring that test well may not need to be changed unless you are looking to have new circuits installed such as a new oven circuit or an EV charger.
An RCBO is a type of circuit breaker that you install inside of the consumer unit. It is a cross between an MCB and RCD. This device monitors the flow of current through a circuit and quickly cuts off in the event of a fault.
At AVB Electrical we only install consumer units with surge protection. It is almost unheard of nowadays to find a property that doesn’t have more value in electrical equipment than the cost of a SPD (surge protection device)
These devices work by stopping surges in the electrical system from damaging items such as computers, televisions and audio equipment. These surges can be caused by a number of things, such as, spikes from the electricity grid or lightning strikes.
Whilst I’m sure some electricians would allow this, AVB Electrical doesn’t. This is mainly down to quality control and warranty issues. After years of experience fitting many different brands and types of consumer units, we have limited brands that we recommend and provide. We do however have boards available to suit most budgets.
AREAS WE COVER
CONSUMER UNIT INSTALLATION IN ESSEX
AVB Electrical is based in Chelmsford, Essex and provides all aspects of electrical installation across Essex.
This includes Basildon, Billericay, Braintree, Brentwood, Chelmsford, Colchester, Maldon, Ongar, Witham & many more.
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AVB Electrical
32 Meggy Tye
Chelmsford
Essex
CM2 6GA
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Email: info@avbelectrical.com
Tel: 07918 998691