Calling all Sparks...

[Jimbo]

All,

My wife was chatting to her friend yesterday, whose son recently jammed his finger into a bulbless table lamp and got a shock. He's fine, but my wife now has a bee in her bonnet about installing a modern RCD consumer unit in place of the old 6-fuse box.

Can anybody give me a ballpark figure for how much it would cost to get this done by an electrician, assuming no fault found on the circuit and insulation testing etc? I have the CU already.

 

[holmslaw]

..

 

[CortinaV8]

Come on, everyone has to get zapped by a bulb holder when you are young, you will be depriving your child of an essential lesson in growing up.

 

[holmslaw]

..

 

[toasty]

I've got little children, and the one that worries me most is the idea of them sucking on a IEC plug (kettle plug) or worse a figure 8 connector (no earth) I don't know anyone who's done it, but I reckon that'd be really bad.

Regarding the light socket, yep, been there done that, not as bad as the camera I bought from a jumble sale and then zapped myself on the flash capacitor - still got the scar on my thumb, must be 20 years ago!!!

 

[Jimbo]

Wow - I thought it might be a couple of hundred, but £500 - £1000???

What hourly rate does that work out at? It's only connecting the tails and the existing wiring, then running some tests? I don't see how that would take more than three hours or so. I realise that there's some specialist equipment that the sparky has to buy so there's some premium on the hourly rate to cover this outlay, but £300 per hour!?

Sounds like I'm in the wrong line of work.

 

[Master of None]

If he says he'll do the PIR after the replacement, he's probably a cowboy and you're leaving your self open to uncontrolled costs.

Excellent tip.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Sounds like I'm in the wrong line of work.

No - it sounds like you have no idea of what's involved in replacing a CU...

 

[2scoops0406]

My replacement CU plus PIR cost £150 a couple of years ago But as said, each installation will be different.

 

[holmslaw]

..

 

[Jimbo]

Sounds like I'm in the wrong line of work.

No - it sounds like you have no idea of what's involved in replacing a CU...

Maybe you can explain it then. There are two tails coming in from the meter. There are up to about 12 circuits to reconnect to the new CU (only 6 in my case). A couple of drill holes, wall plugs and screws to fix the new unit to the wall.

Then some testing using some high-tech equipment. And remember in my OP I made the assumption that these tests would throw up no anomalies.

What have I missed? I'm an open-minded guy, always happy to learn. I've obviously missed some very time-consuming activity, I just can't imagine what it is and would like to understand.

 

[2scoops0406]

My replacement CU plus PIR cost £150 a couple of years ago But as said, each installation will be different.

Thats what I would expect for a PIR on a shed, maybe she'll let you back in the house for Christmas.

Nah, 4 bed house, supplied CU 16 way fully loaded (£1.97) and got a tame spark

 

[holmslaw]

..

 

[ban-all-sheds]

And of course for electricians not in the Congo there's the time waiting for the DNO to come out and remove and then later replace and re-seal the service fuse...

 

[ericmark]

I hate the domestic consumer unit change.
PIR first assuming no fault but I have not PAT tested every item.
So come to fit unit cables always seem to need extending not a problem but time consuming.
PIR after all OK
Then the fun starts.
“It tripped out last night” “what were you using” “the normal it no good you need to sort it out”
So you go back and start to check what they have. If your lucky you find something faulty but often it’s a combination of white goods and IT filters all adding up and nothing wrong.
When it turns out the cooker or washing machine is faulty then its “well it worked before you started”
All in all far too much hassle I’ll let someone else do them and they earn the £500 with all that hassle.
As part of a bigger job I still have to do them from time to time and I do warn people that their washing machine may have had a fault for years which will only show up once changed but I still have never fitted a consumer unit in an old house without at least one phone call after.
Yet on a new house even after the owner has spent so much money very rare to get a complaint. I suppose when they buy something that trips out the RCD they take it back to shop and don’t call out electrician?
As an electrician I base my time on a job on how long I spent last few times on similar work so where I find I need to return to job to explain the work is not faulty I add that time to estimate if as a result I don’t get work no problem I don’t want work that I lose money on. Your only chance of a cheap job is to find some one without the experience of being pestered after the job for faults which are nothing to do with fixed wiring. Do you really want someone without experience?