"Pretty" or "Smart" consumer unit options.

Disclaimer: Not a pro sparky, so i have no intention of doing this myself, but I am looking for options that I can then take to someone qualified.

I am looking to replace the consumer unit in our house for a number of reasons, and its location means that it is directly visible by anyone coming into the house. As such I would like something thats a little more cosmetically pleasing than the normal consumer unit. If it can intergrate smart features too, that would be a bonus.

It needs to be at least a 12 way unit. A neat flush mounting unit might work, but that will require some alerations to the construction, so a good looking surface mount unit would be better.
Ideally it would be vertically orientated as the space the current unit is in is quite slim ( ~320mm) but quite tall (~650mm) with a bit of wiggle room.

I was spurred to look for better options after seeing a video about the US smart panel made by span: SPAN® Home | Electrify your life - https://www.span.io/ however after spending a couple of hours looking there doesnt appear to be anything even slightly similar in the UK, and definitely not with any smart features.

The best I can find is the regular, but smart looking, Schneider Easy 9 Plus, but thats a bit big for my available space unless it was mounted at 90 degrees. The Easy 9 Multi-Row might work, but doesnt look as good.

So my questions are two fold:

Firstly, does anyone have any suggestions of any options that are out there that look better than a regular wylex or whatever, and/or have any smart features? (power monitoring, remote control, etc).

Secondly, does anyone know if there is any reason a regular consumer unit cant be mounted at 90 degrees? (Its not like the electrons are going to spill out)

Thanks.

The Contactum Defender 2 range is quite aesthetically pleasing in the surface and flush mount models although not sure of the dimensions of a 12way unit.

Perhaps look at dual row consumer units.

Hager make a few, here is just one example that is 299mm wide:

Is it the easy9 that has a magnet on the badge, so it can be turned 90’ and badge can still be right way up?

The door cover is perfectly flat, and again I think it can be painted to match wall decoration.

Is that 12 outgoing ways? Add another 2 for an SPD if required… and any Smart features may take up spare ways too.

What Smart functions do you need?

Another option would be Hager Design 50. It's great looking one. Can't see a problem installing it sideways as long as manual does not prohibit it. Just need labelling correctly especially main switch.

littlespark said:

What Smart functions do you need?

Click to expand...

Switching individual circuits and main switch on/off with your phone, that would be great feature...

kropaske said:

Switching individual circuits and main switch on/off with your phone, that would be great feature...

Click to expand...

Why would you want to switch circuits or main switch off with your phone?

I don't think Alexa would be up for that yet.

DPG said:

Why would you want to switch circuits or main switch off with your phone?

Click to expand...

Help to teach kids about turning lights off?

Being able to monitor each circuit's usage would be nice but possibly not worth the cost of doing so. I think Schneider has some option along those lines but from dim memory at one recent show it was over £100 per device.

mrwkuk said:

Secondly, does anyone know if there is any reason a regular consumer unit cant be mounted at 90 degrees? (Its not like the electrons are going to spill out)

Click to expand...

The main issue is fire containment.

A lot of CU have covers designed to close under gravity and they would not be acceptable in odd orientations, however, others that have some sort of catch or magnet might be acceptable. Checking the manufacturer's instructions would be important.

You could fit one of these, adapted for single phase usage. Plenty of room for 'smart accessories)

DPG said:

Why would you want to switch circuits or main switch off with your phone?

Click to expand...

You could set up some automation to have some circuits disconnected during night, when at work or away, that could potentially save you hundreds of pounds a year by not wasting your energy to keep unnecessary stuff on standby.

kropaske said:

You could set up some automation to have some circuits disconnected during night, when at work or away, that could potentially save you hundreds of pounds a year by not wasting your energy to keep unnecessary stuff on standby.

Click to expand...

The same can be achieved by turning things off when they are not in use.

kropaske said:

You could set up some automation to have some circuits disconnected during night, when at work or away, that could potentially save you hundreds of pounds a year by not wasting your energy to keep unnecessary stuff on standby.

Click to expand...

This would be better done with snart sockets and smart switches. You don't really want to be switching RCBOs on and off remotely.