Old fashioned fusebox

Hi
I was having an informal chat about diy with a workmate and I mentioned that my house still has an old fashioned fusebox with fuse wire. He said that this is now seen as being dangeroius as it doesn't have circuit breakers or a RCD?? I've had downlighers installed a couple of years ago and the electrician who installed it didn't say anything about the fuse box being a risk, but I'm now a tad worried and any advice would be most welcomed.

Thanks.

It is certainly advisable to have RCDs fitted.
I don't see how anyone can make a judgement of wether or not a system is dangerous without first seeing it - to me a correctly installed fuse has less to go wrong with it than a circuit breaker.
On the other hand circuit breakers are less likely to be abused and are a lot easier to reset than rewiring a fuse holder.

There's no requirement to bring old installations up to date, and a couple of years ago there was no requirement (as there is now) for all circuits, in practice, to need RCD protection.

Have recent changes re RCDs made your existing fuse box less safe? Or just changed our perception of what "safe" consists of?

Fuses rather then MCBs are not unsafe per se, but they are less convenient when they blow, and there is of course the potential for unsafe abuse by the use of the wrong fusewire. But how often do yours blow? On the flip side, MCBs on lighting circuits can be less convenient than fuses as they can be tripped by a bulb failing.

As for RCDs, I'm not sure that they haven't gone overboard with the virtual 100% requirement for them, but I would certainly advise having them on socket and shower circuits.

The only thing I would say is that fuseboxes can be indicative of installations "of a certain age" - some photos showing yours, and the surrounding meter/service fuse/incoming supply cable would be of interest.

Is your wiring rubber insulated, or PVC?

Does the lighting circuit have an earth?

Are the switch etc backboxes metal or wood?

Hi
Cheers for the replys, you've eased my concerns a huge amount.

With regards the points raised by B.A.S.
My house was built in the mid 70's and the wiring is pvc coated with metal boxes that are earthed, and a lot of the wiring for the lighting system has been replaced over the past 10 years so I'm reasonably confident that it doen'nt need a rewire.

If i was to replace the fuse wire with MCB's, is it just a case of replacing like for like with the apporpriate ampage and secondly what is involved in installing a RCD? I don't intend on doing this myself but I don't want to be in a possition of total ignorance when I get someone to do it.

Cheers.

andrewj38 said:

My house was built in the mid 70's and the wiring is pvc coated with metal boxes that are earthed, and a lot of the wiring for the lighting system has been replaced over the past 10 years so I'm reasonably confident that it doen'nt need a rewire.

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You can get the electrician to check it out.

If i was to replace the fuse wire with MCB's, is it just a case of replacing like for like with the apporpriate ampage

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Assuming the fuses are the right rating in the first place - no guarantee after 20-30 years.

and secondly what is involved in installing a RCD?

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RCDs downstream of the CU for the socket and shower circuits aren't much effort, but you might need more than one.

You won't (I hope) find an electrician prepared to install an RCD upstream of the CU covering the entire thing. If you do, don't use him.