I want some electrical work doing at my house,
Most crucial Q: -
what is the work?
The Wiring Regulations now require, in practice, sockets, and any cables buried in walls, to have RCD protection, so depending on the scope of the work you are having done that might be awkward to arrange except by replacing the CU.
but my electrician says he can't do anything unless he changes my old Wylex fuse board for a new Consumer Unit, he can't sign the work off as safe when he would know at the time of completing the work that my Fuse Board is well out of date.
You can still buy new ones - how out of date can they be?
You might like to ask the electrician that...
To be fair he
might just be taking the lazy way out of trying to explain to you that replacing the CU will be the only sensible way to comply with the Wiring Regulations for new circuits/new cables/new sockets, but it's not a good way to go about things. Does it mean he always looks for lazy ways out of problems? Does it mean he doesn't respect his customers? Does it mean he'd had a tiring day/week and at that moment couldn't face any more eyes glazing over as he tried to explain it properly?
Is it true that he isn't allowed to touch anything unless he also updates my CU ?
Depends what you mean by "touch".
Can't he advise me to change it and then I sign something to say I understand it's out of date and needs updating ? Thus, keeping him in the clear should my house explode.
No.
- There is no absolute legal requirement to comply with the Wiring Regulations, but...
- ... There is one for reasonable provision for safety, and complying with the Wiring Regulations is by far and away the easiest way to comply with the law.
- ... If the electrician is a member of NICEIC, NAPIT etc (he should be) then the terms of his membership require him to comply with the Wiring Regulations.
Replacing it would be a
good thing to do, but it doesn't "
need" replacing, unless it's faulty. The biggest problem is lack of RCD protection, and that's not easy to retro-fit to an installation like yours in a way which complies with the Wiring Regulations except by replacing the CU, but in and of itself it is perfectly OK as long as it's in working order.
There is no requirement to upgrade old installations to current standards.
Were it mine I'd want it replaced, but be wary of anybody who tells you it
must be replaced if it's undamaged.
And be wary of anybody who proposes to replace it without doing testing first, in case you have faults which will become real problems with a new CU.