Domestic fuse boards

trigger1973 · Aug 14, 2011

Hi, I'd like some advice on the fuse board in my house please?

It's quite an old house and the fuses are sited on a wooden board. We have been recently discussing renting the house but a friend of mine said we would have to upgrade the fuse panel in order to rent the property so that the tenants are fully protected against any electrical fault. So my question is, is that true, will we need to upgrade? And secondly, if we decide not to rent the house, are we obligated to upgrade the panel for ourselves? Is this expensive, i realise that all things are relative but how much would someone expect to charge for upgrading a fuse panel to adhere to current regs?

Finally, I'd be interested to know where I can read about such regulations, can anyone tell me where to look please?

Thanks,

Dave

LlandrilloSpark · Aug 14, 2011

I rent out a house locally, when I approached the estate agents i was told the situation is this:-If you are managing the property yourself then then you require Absolutly nothing but your normal legal obligation as a landlord to keep the property electrically safe and maintained in a good condition.However if you are letting the estate agents manage the property then you will require a Periodic Inspection Report or the new Electrical Installation Condition ReportYou do not need to change the fuse board just because it is old, it could be as safe as the day it was installed.My advice is a EICR or PIR from a competent and reputable electrician, then he will use his experience and skill to give you a judgment on your overall installation

Engineer54 · Aug 14, 2011

GLENNSPARK said:
Old boards....tinned/copper stranded = borrowed neutral.........

Of course it Doesn't!!!..........

GLENNSPARK · Aug 14, 2011

Just a scenario we come across quite often 54.....didn`t mean always the case though...

Engineer54 · Aug 14, 2011

telectrix said:
if you are not renting the property, nobody can force you to upgrade, but wooden based fuseboards are a fire risk, also for your own safety, it is recommended that the board be replaced, with a unit complying to current regulations.

Keep seeing this in the threads on the Forum!! And was thinking, ....how many of those wooden framed fuse boards have been installed?? It must have been in the multi millions, from back in the middle 50's, and how many have actually caught fire over all these years, i bet not even 1% of them!! There must be countless millions of them still in use across the UK to this day too... I know that i personally, have never seen or heard of a single one of them catching fire, and certainly not as the source of a larger fire...

Funny really, as i know of quite a few, let's say modern plastic CU, melting down to a blob of liquid plastic on the floor, taking the plastic MCBs etc with it...lol!!!

mickys86 · Aug 15, 2011

Engineer54 said:
Funny really, as i know of quite a few, let's say modern plastic CU, melting down to a blob of liquid plastic on the floor, taking the plastic MCBs etc with it...lol!!!

I think I'd like to see a picture of that lol