A fuseboard change is one of the jobs we do most often in Hastings. A lot of houses here still run on the original board, screwed to a piece of wood in the cupboard under the stairs, with rewireable fuses and no RCD protection at all. Some people come to us because a circuit keeps tripping or a fuse wire keeps blowing. Landlords usually come to us because an EICR has just come back unsatisfactory. Either way the answer is the same. We are two and a half miles away in St Leonards, so we can come and look at the board first, and tell you honestly whether it needs changing or not.
Why the old boards get changed
An old board is not automatically dangerous, but it is usually doing less than you think. Rewireable fuses protect the cable, not the person holding the drill. Without an RCD, cutting through a flex or putting a nail through a buried cable can hurt you before anything cuts off. Plastic boards sit in the same cupboard as coats, prams and cardboard, and the wiring regulations moved domestic boards to non-combustible enclosures back in 2016. Then there is the practical side. Old boards are usually full, so there is nowhere to take a feed for an electric shower, a garden supply or a car charger.
What the day involves
Expect the power to be off for most of the time we are on site. We test what is already there first, because a new board with RCDs will show up faults the old one hid. Then the old board comes off, the new one goes on, every circuit gets landed and labelled, and the main bonding to the gas and water gets checked and upgraded if it is undersized. After that every circuit is tested again and you get an Electrical Installation Certificate. If you work from home or you have a full freezer, say so when we book it in and we will plan around it.
What happens if faults show up on test
This is the part people are not warned about. An old board with no RCDs will happily run a circuit that has water in an outside light or damp in a garage cable. Put an RCD on it and it trips straight away. Down near the seafront and around the Old Town we see it often, because salt and damp get into outside sockets, porch lights and garden runs. It is not the new board causing the fault, the new board is finding it. We tell you on the day, show you the readings, and either fix it there and then or price it before we go any further.
Certificates and what you are left with
Changing a consumer unit is notifiable work under Part P of the building regulations, so it has to be notified and you should end up with paperwork, not just a new box on the wall. You get an Electrical Installation Certificate with the test results for every circuit, a schedule showing what sits on which breaker, and a board labelled so the next person is not guessing. Landlords letting in Hastings should keep that certificate with the EICR. If the fuseboard was the reason a report came back unsatisfactory, that pair of documents is what closes it off.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Will the power be off while you change the fuseboard?
A: Yes, for most of the time we are on site. The old board has to come off and every circuit has to be landed and tested on the new one, and none of that can be done live. We cannot put an exact number of hours on it until we have seen the board and counted the circuits, so we will give you a realistic window when we quote. If you need a laptop or a freezer covered, tell us and we will sort something out.
Q: My EICR came back unsatisfactory. Do I definitely need a new fuseboard?
A: Not always. Plenty of C2 codes have nothing to do with the board, and a new board will not clear a fault out on a circuit. What a new board does fix is the common one: no RCD protection on the socket and lighting circuits. Send us the report before you buy anything. We will read the codes, tell you which ones a board change actually resolves, and price the rest separately so you can see the split.
Q: Does the new fuseboard have to be metal?
A: For a domestic property, yes. Since 2016 the wiring regulations have required consumer units in homes to sit in a non-combustible enclosure, which in practice means steel. Your existing plastic board is not illegal and you are not breaking any law by leaving it there, but anything we install now has to meet the current standard. Most of the boards we fit use individual RCBOs, so one fault takes out one circuit instead of half the house.
Q: Can the new board take a shower or a car charger later?
A: That is worth deciding before we order anything. We size the board with spare ways so a shower, a garden supply or a car charger can be added without starting again. We also check what the incoming supply and main fuse will carry, because on some older Hastings properties that is the real limit rather than the board. Tell us what you are planning over the next few years and we will build the board around it.