New fuse board with RCD protection

New fuse board with RCD Protection.

Does my house require a new fuse board?

One of the most common questions we get asked at “Electrical Services” is does my house require a rewire or a new fuse board? (Consumer unit.)  Many homes do require an upgrade to there Electrical Consumer unit to add rcd protection.

 It is fairly easy to see if a new Electrical fuse board/consumer unit is required in a house. Current BS7671 regulations require RCD protection in a new installation or if the fuse board is upgraded or certain electrical work is carried out on a property.

Here is a short clip from the Electric Safety Council explaining RCD’s. Which is something that will protect you as a consumer.

An RCD, or residual current device, is a life-saving device which is designed to prevent you from getting a fatal electric shock if you touch something live, such as a bare wire. It can also provide some protection against electrical fires.

When certain electrical work is carried out on existing electrical circuits RCD protection is required to be installed. It is at this point it may be worth considering changing the existing consumer unit to a new RCD protected consumer unit, as this may well be a cost effective time to upgrade your fuse board.

Do you have rcd protection, All new consumer units have rcds fitted in them.

New and old fuse board

New fuse board with rcd protection

It is easy to spot a RCD protected Consumer unit like this one in the picture above.  Generally if you have an old brown or grey coloured fuse board they may well not have RCD protection.  If the fuse board has old Fuses where you have to change the fuse wire, these will generally not have RCD protection. It is not a requirement to change the fuse board if no notifiable electrical work has been carried out but it is seriously worth considering upgrading the consumer unit.

Fuse boards upgrades with RCD protection are not a hugely expensive to change.

Call us for a free quote.