Old re-wireable fuse board change

[bonn1ett]

Hi everyone,

I am fairly new in the trade and wondered if anyone can throw some advice my way. I recently went to a fairly old property as all the lights had gone off due to a lamp blowing in one of the light fittings which in turn blew the 5amp fuse wire in the board. Apparently this had happened a few times with the lamp blowing/popping out of its fitting?

There is one lighting circuit and hence one 5amp fuse for the whole house - upstairs and downstairs. I recommended to the customer (elderly lady) that the fuse board needs updating and that two circuits are needed for the lighting - upstairs & downstairs. The customer is happy to have a new consumer unit put in but does not want any re-wiring done - obviously if there is any faults found on the existing wiring then i will recommend strongly that the work be carried out.

My question is this, with regards to only having the one lighting circuit, could i perhaps use a 10amp breaker as opposed to a 6amp to cover the whole house - as long as the cable rating is higher than this (not sure if its 1mm or 1.5mm being used, need futher investigation).

any advice would be great

 

[dingledong]

but given the option of
the cost difference
and the ease of resetting
i would imagine she might plump for the much cheaper option.

 

[TPES]

Do you have a clamp meter? Load the circuit up and clamp it, see what it is actually pulling.

 

[Deleted member 9648]

but given the option of
the cost difference
and the ease of resetting
i would imagine she might plump for the much cheaper option.

She may well....but it wont be the best option.

 

[dingledong]

but its not a wrong option is it
i would always give the cheaper option as well and try and explain the good and bad in both options after all she is an old lady

 

[GLENNSPARK]

If anything...the old rewireables would be better (characteristic wise) than the B type....but as has been said already....its the convenience factor n all....

 

[GLENNSPARK]

and yes...they dont seem to do a c type in the "plug in" range....

 

[telectrix]

suggest that if the lighting is all 1 circuit, dis the feed between downstairs and upstairs lights and feed a new T/E to the upstairs

 

[DPG]

My lights are all on one circuit (1970s build house) and can't see the point of splitting them. All the hassle of boards up, making good, etc. I can't remember the lighting MCB ever tripping (or the 3036 fuse before it for that matter) in 15+ years. That's mixture of part tungsten and part CFL lamps used.
Daz