Fuse board change help!

[Mynamesmatt]

So Ive just bought a house and Im going to replace the fuse board as its ancient!

Just need to be sure on what i need to buy and how i need to go about splitting circuits properly.

It looks like its a 6 way and a or 4 way (does that look right?) - pic below

So lets say we have 10 circuits.. I will also be adding 2 - maybe more. 1 for a shower and 1 for a saniflo toilet system

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Would it be right to get one big CU to replace these two - say one big 15 way board (want to leave some spare for future) a crabtree starbreaker 15 for instance

And the next question is what is the proper way to split the circuits and what will need to be RCD protected and which will not..

At first glance i think the circuits will be as follows; Upper ring - Lower ring - Kitchen - upper lights - lower lights - shower - saniflow - boiler - alarm system

Dont hate me for my ignorance, i am an electrician but i havent touched domestic in... ever! :33::ninja:




Also, all the cables are relatively new, all twin and earth - looks like it was rewired 5-10yrs ago but the board was lazily left out!

If theres any info ive missed just say

any help would be MUCH appreciated as i have to start digging into my wallet for materials pretty soon!

thanks!

 

[sedgy34]

the 4 way CU would be for the storage heaters or if you dont have any there will be a switch in rooms for them not doing anything
the 6 way your gonna find out theres more than 6 circuits in there probably 10 dogged in to fuses
you know what your doing

 

[AndyL]

Looking at the picture, I would say the other way round sedgy, the clock is controlling the 6 way CU

 

[Guitarist]

There is a huge difference between breaking the rules a little to get on in life, and breaking them where safety is concerned. If the OP is not only a qualified electrician (as he's said he is) but also has the test gear and knowledge of the regs to make sure everything is hunky-dory then it's his call.
Unfortunately, there are too many "sparkies" out there who just wack stuff up and don't follow the regs or bother with any testing, then say "well, I've had electrical training so it's all good".

 

[Mynamesmatt]

Yea I hear ya! I won't be cutting any corners or I won't get any satisfaction from it..
injust hope the rcds don't pop when I eventually come to turn it all on haha..

Ill take some pictures of It during and after I've finished for sure!

 

[timo1]

The tone of this forum is difficult to judge sometimes. Just read a thread where it was a strict no no to sign off other persons work as it was against scheme rules, and now we are telling someone to ignore part p and just crack on because they are an industrial sparky....

 

[telectrix]

The tone of this forum is difficult to judge sometimes. Just read a thread where it was a strict no no to sign off other persons work as it was against scheme rules, and now we are telling someone to ignore part p and just crack on because they are an industrial sparky....

maybe so but... say i was an army mechanic, fully qualified to work on tanks, APCs, land rovers etc., etc., then on leave, i am not allowed to service my own car. part p is a complete load of male bovine excrement. thought up by suits, to keep suits in employment, index linked pensions, telling the rest of us to knuckle down and keep them in their ivory towers.

 

[Knobhead]

Who’a! Brakes on everyone!

Look at the service head!

Matt before any of us go any further, find out if it’s single or two phase!

 

[Mynamesmatt]

I think its just a concentric cable, into a dual fuse carrier so each meter can be isolated induvidually

 

[Digster]

Matt,
A few points to consider before you start the dis board change.

If the property has previously been used as an office the original circuits would have been modified and extended. In my experience this work will not have been done correctly, especially the lighting. You really need to ascertain earth continuity, do a visual check on every fitting and use a multi function tester to get results for continuity and earth loop. As for the sockets you need to make sure you have a ring main, just because you have 2x 2.5 out of the 30 amp fuse you may in fact have two radial circuits due to the ring being broken within the property. I could go on but you get the message.

Are you changing the heating system to a combi boiler? If the second meter is economy 7 you may not need it. It is possible that every room has storage heaters, each on a radial circuit. If you are having radiators you can cut these circuits out of the equation reducing the size of the board you need. Same goes for an immersion heater; you won't need it.

Pay particular attention to the kitchen, kitchen fitters are not known for their electrical prowess, after all we have them to thank for Part.P.
If you are having a new kitchen just rewire it. (you can have all the sockets at the same hight then)

And obviously all those seals on the meters were never there when you bought the property, you know nothing about them, must have been done before.

Also, forgive me for pointing out the obvious, but don't lay any oak flooring or carpets until you are sure all the electrical work is complete.

 

[cymru09]

I'm in the same situation as you. I've found the following on my local councils website:

"You can choose to use a competent electrician who is not a "registered installer" but who does have all the necessary training and experience to carry out the work. If such a person can demonstrate their competence to the Council's Building Control Service then they will be granted Building Regulation approval from the Council for work carried out on your behalf. However, if you choose to use such an accepted competent electrician then a fee of £58.75 (inc VAT) will be charged by the Council"

I'm going to call them tomorrow to find out how I can prove i'm competent. Maybe your local building control have a similar policy?

 

[richy3333]

Whilst you're doing the work have a thought for Mr Sandy:
Fond tributes to electrician killed in freak accident - News - Portsmouth News

It's amusing that an unidentified person comes on a public forum saying they are a spark, but in a different discipline and people rush to help and offer advise on flouting the law (even if that law is an arse). The OP hasn't even said whether they have calibrated test instruments?

Personally I wouldn't sign off the work for someone else, but as ever there will be somebody that will...

 

[Guitarist]

When I spoke to my LBC regarding my Elecsa assessment, I was told that regardless of my experience/qualifications there was a set fee of £180 for electrical notifications.
After having a nice chat with the senior officer he agreed that it was pointless notifying and getting them to test as I would be doing it for my assessment anyway. I was officially told to get on with it and notify the job once I had membership.
Regardless of how good an electrician a lot of people are in a different discipline, it is unlikely that they will have the calibrated test gear to carry out full testing on an installation.

 

[Tonkatoy27]

Yea I hear ya! I won't be cutting any corners or I won't get any satisfaction from it..
injust hope the rcds don't pop when I eventually come to turn it all on haha..

Ill take some pictures of It during and after I've finished for sure!

If your haha means you're joking then I apologise.
If you test properly then there will be no cause to hope the RCD's won't 'pop' as you'll know there are no faults to cause it. However, from what I've read I doubt you own any calibrated test equipment so will not be able to fully test the installation. (hence cutting corners)
Part P is a farce and there is no enforcible legal reprecussions onto you if you do any work BUT what happens if you don't find an unearted metal light fitting for example, and a member of your family gets hurt from it.
Your choice how you do the job but I would make sure the testing was done properly.
By the way I use MK sentry boards with an extra main switch and cut the bus bar to suit. Voila, dual tarrif board for an extra tenner.
Good luck

 

[Mynamesmatt]

thanks guys its good to get advice from each angle.

i'll be borrowing a fluke multi function tester to test it all of course!

thanks tonka that sounds like a good idea

 

[telectrix]

just read some of the more recent posts. one LABC wants £58.75 for notification, another want £180. what a bloody farce. no wonder so many sparks ignore part p.

 

[Guitarist]

just read some of the more recent posts. one LABC wants £58.75 for notification, another want £180. what a bloody farce. no wonder so many sparks ignore part p.

Totally agree

 

[Mynamesmatt]

If anyones still interested ... managed to get in the house and have a better look at the electrics.



So, if im correct - The meter up the top is not being used (only shows 6units on the display and has been there for years) so it is quite obvious that there were storage heaters installed years ago which were replaced with central heating. All the outlets have been left though!

So my plan is to replace the two consumer units with a 1 brand new 15 way board

Im going down the expensive route and using RCBO's for every circuit rather than splitting up loads and using RCD's

Im going to keep the 6 exisiting radials for the storage heaters and replace them with double sockets (one in each room - which is handy because there is very minimal sockets in the house) and leave the upstairs ring/downstairs ring/upstairs lights/downstairs lights circuits as they are.

In addition to this im adding a shower circuit and cooker circuit.

So in total i should have 12 circuits (using a 15 way board so i have a few to spare for a later date)

Ill add bonding where it hasnt been done.
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Can anyone see anything wrong with any of that? or any advice maybe?

Also, do the electricity suppliers (SSE) charge to come and remove their meters and tails? Sure do hope not!!

 

[Guitarist]

Also, do the electricity suppliers (SSE) charge to come and remove their meters and tails? Sure do hope not!!

Give them a call and ask. Usually, DNO's will alter cabling/remove meters free of charge, but always worth asking

 

[Geordie Spark]

Me too, im all for dropping Part P,
which is what ive done in my house, just because ive not gone through Part P doesnt make it any more dangerous, its correctly installed and working fine

Mine is too.

As I've said before on this board; Pert P exists ONLY because WE allow it to.

Withdraw our support of it & that's the end of it.

 

[KevinS]

If it were MY house, I wouldn't even consider a split load board, I would use a board full of RCBO's
yes I understand your on a budget, but if you put in a Wylex board, you can pick them up on eBay 'reasonably' cheap
it will pay for itself over and over. You also have to remember that 1) you are not buying RCD's and they take away at least 4 spaces in the board!

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Sorry didn't read your last post before adding my comments.
cant see anything wrong with how your doing it

 

[sedgy34]

Mine is too.

As I've said before on this board; Pert P exists ONLY because WE allow it to.

Withdraw our support of it & that's the end of it.

And how do you get that to happen? The scams love it and they back it up every year on consultations by playing the safety card, but the scams are telling there installers they are with us on it against the part p they just say what you want to hear

 

[Guitarist]

Mine is too.

As I've said before on this board; Pert P exists ONLY because WE allow it to.

Withdraw our support of it & that's the end of it.

Unless everyone, all at the same time, withdrew from the 3 registered bodies, then it would never happen.
Imagine how busy the ones left "registered" would be...

 

[Rauer]

Unless everyone, all at the same time, withdrew from the 3 registered bodies, then it would never happen.
Imagine how busy the ones left "registered" would be...

Yep I would be like a headless chicken!!!

 

[sedgy34]

We would all become that Dave down the pub but doing the job properly

 

[Guitarist]

We would all become that Dave down the pub but doing the job properly

Think how busy all the pubs would be!