Old fusebox

1) Is my fuse-box too old? Your local Liverpool Electrician is here to advise.

What is a fuse-box? A fuse-box is like the photograph above. It contains either actual fuses or semi enclosed fuses comprised of a small fuse wire. The photograph shows an old fuse-box where one circuit has been changed to a “trip switch” style arrangement. The right hand side of the “trip switch” or circuit breaker is a semi enclosed fuse seen here with two red dots on the front.

If your OLD FUSE-BOX looks like the picture then it is recommended that you at least have an up to date inspection carried out if not a replacement consumer unit installed. There are many of these older style “fuse-boxes” still in use in the UK and there is not necessarily anything wrong with them but, due to the age of the equipment, it is a very good idea to have it checked by a qualified electrician.

2) There are only two or three switches in my fuse-box is this normal?

It depends. There we go, great answer. Let me elaborate. In the photograph we can see that the fuse-box has just two circuits in use. This is fine for a garage or shed arrangement where we may only need one light and a few sockets. This unit is powering a whole house though, as such there are problems with having just two circuits in the fuse-box. If there is a fault on lights then ALL the lights go off!!! If there is a fault on the sockets then ALL the sockets will fail in the property. In all honesty, a rewire is probably for the best here. We could all do with at least two separate light circuits and two separate sockets circuits. If the property was wired like this then there would be minimal inconvenience in the event of a fault.

3) Is this style of fuse-box dangerous?

This is a difficult answer to get right. The answer is a bit more involved than a yes or no. Like many things, technology moves on and things improve and we then consider older technology no longer safe to install, use or maintain. We can think of this in terms of the car. Many years ago cars were different than today's vehicles, there were seldom seat-belts, inefficient drum brakes with asbestos linings, no crumple zones to minimise impact forces in the even of a crash, no air-bags to preserve life and so on. Now, some of these features we may not even use, ever! Who intends to NEED airbags or crumple zones? No one. But, these things are there for when we need them as safety measures. These cars are not necessarily dangerous...until they are expected to protect the occupants in a collision.

The modern consumer unit is much different than the older style fuse-box. Older consumer units / fuse boxes had fuse wire that would heat up and blow in the event of a fault. In many cases someone will have replaced this with the incorrect size creating nuisance blowing or worse, cables that can catch fire before a fuse blows. Yes. The modern consumer unit has features like circuit breakers, electric shock protection to cope with the most modern of user appliances, surge protection, Arcing fault protection to protect against electrical fires and so on. Now, just like the car of many moons ago, an old fuse box is not necessarily dangerous but in the event of an electrical fault in my home I know which equipment I would want protecting me and the electrical installation in my home!!!

Bear in mind that cars need an MOT every year but our electrics are very rarely checked in the same way. Nearly nobody ever has an electrical safety check carried out...ever...(see EICR blog on our website).

So no, this old fuse-box is not necessarily a problem but you would definitely want to replace it with much safer equipment.

4) What is needed to replace this with a new one?

The installation must be tested before attempting to install a new consumer unit. We need to know if there are any pre-existing faults hiding in the electrical installation before we swap this old fuse-box for modern, intelligent and sensitive technology. The newer technology WILL PICK OUT pre-existing faults and not turn your electrical supply back on!

If we carry out the testing beforehand then we will produce a report for you and let you know what issues there are and what needs to be fixed before the fuse-box can be replaced for a new consumer unit. At this point, you can choose not to go ahead. This is a much better situation than having a new consumer unit on the wall in your home that will not turn back on as there are hidden problems. Then we have real issues!!

5) How much is an electrical test and a new consumer unit?

Have a look at our help-sheet on the website called “how much is it?” and this will give you an estimate of costs. The cost of an electrical test varies by house to house. We ask you for a photograph of your fuse box / consumer unit in order to be able to give you a quote. We are able to receive photographs by email or Whatsapp so just get in touch, give us a call or fill out the contact form on the website and we will do our best to help you.