Consumer unit replacement

1) I have been told I need to replace my consumer unit in my Liverpool home, can you help?

Yes, If your consumer unit looks like one of those pictured above then there is a good chance it NEEDS replacing. You should consider it a good idea to replace your consumer unit as it may not be providing:

• The protection you need in your home for the electrical system.
• Protection for everything you now plug in to it.
• Adequate electric shock protection.
• Any surge protection for the cables in your walls and your electrical appliances.
• Much if any electrical fire protection.
• Protection against arcing or sparking.

There are of course always a few exceptions. Sometimes these older consumer units / fuse boxes have had adaptations to the system that provide electric shock protection or surge protection and that is better than no protection at all but is likely to still be non-compliant with the wiring regulations and possibly still not providing the protection you need.

2) Is my electrical system safe?

We are asked this question very regularly and we are able to answer it effectively through some inspection and testing. We can carry out a periodic inspection to ascertain the condition of your electrical installation and assess its suitability for continued use. The process involves several hours at your property with some specialist test equipment, carrying out numerous tests and the production of an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR). This document will outline any defects, non-compliances with current wiring regulations or dangerous situations requiring immediate attention. It is often not possible to tell you a great deal about your electrical installation and its safety if a periodic inspection has not been carried out first.

3) The consumer unit has always worked fine why do I need to replace it?

I commonly answer these questions by comparison to something with which everyone is familiar. If we consider a car and its origins then we can apply the changes in a similar way to electrical installations.

Cars of decades ago had no airbags, no seat belts, no crumple zones, no disc brakes, no anti-lock braking systems, no electronic brake distribution technology, no collapsible steering column and pedals, no side impact protection systems and so on. They had none of these things yet THEY STILL MOVED YOU SAFELY FROM A to B……. until they don't.

Modern vehicles have a vast array of vital safety features that we will likely never use or at least, hope to never have to use and these cars still perform exactly the same task, they get us from A to B.

4) Which one would you rather crash in???

Now. The older consumer unit still take the electricity supply, splits it up and sends it to the sockets for your appliances, the light switches for your lights and all the other circuits that it needs to. For the vast majority of the time there will be absolutely no problem with this and everything will work just fine.

The modern consumer unit will also do all of these things but it will KEEP YOU SAFER and perform its job better than the older consumer unit.

5) Which one do you want when an electrical fault develops?

I hope that has answered the question 😊 To REPLACE THE CONSUMER UNIT in your home will likely take a day or two at the most and cost much less than even a second-hand car but will provide years and years of safe service and protection for you. Granted, you can’t park it on the drive to make the neighbours jealous but we didn’t say it was perfect! 😊

6) What is involved when a consumer unit is changed?

In order to carry out this safety upgrade properly we normally test the electrical installation prior to carrying out the consumer unit swap. This will let us know if there are any pre-existing problems that your current consumer unit or fuse box cannot see. Older technology cannot pick up on a lot of wiring issues and it is up to the electrician to detect them prior to swapping the consumer unit.

Once we have performed the inspection, if anything needs bringing up to standard before we swap the consumer unit for you then we will give you a list, explain it in plain English instead of science and magic and then give you a quote for the work.

Sometimes there are no issues with the installation in which case we can then proceed soon after with the consumer unit swap. The work should take around a day including all necessary testing of the new consumer unit and its safety devices. We will also issue you with the paperwork that you need which will mean TWO electrical certificates for you at the end of the job.

Also, if the consumer unit is in a tight space there might be some grumbling involved from your electrician but don’t worry, we secretly enjoy something to complain about. 😊

7) How much is it going to cost me?

Our prices are on our website under the help sheets section “How much is it?” Every property is different, will have a different number of circuits and so on and therefore every price is normally a little different.

We only use fully compliant consumer units to the latest edition of the safety wiring regulations and as such our consumer units can cost a touch more than very cheap ones but as a rough guide a very small consumer unit with only a few circuits may cost around £370-450 to supply, install and certify assuming no pre-existing problems. Larger consumer units with more circuits will take more time to install and certify and cost more to install. A large home with several bedrooms, many electrical circuits and a large consumer unit may cost £1000 or more. It is definitely best to contact us for a quote.

8) What about guarantee?

We are NICEIC registered electricians and our work is backed by their 6-year platinum promise. So, you have peace of mind that our work will be of the best quality and will comply with all building and wiring regulations in force at the time of the installation. If you need to REPLACE THE CONSUMER UNIT then please contact us for a quote, talk through any questions that you might have and we will always do our best to offer free impartial advice.

Our contact form on our website will send your query straight to us.