consumer unit!

[seasickstevie]

Been working in a village in Wales.
I think just about every cottage/house in the village has the CU over the front door. Which could be described as a lot less convenient than over the kitchen door.
As soon as you stand on the step ladder, someone will ring the door bell

 

[securespark]

Better than opening the door as soon as you get up the ladder....

 

[Chri5]

As soon as you stand on the step ladder, someone will ring the door bell

Turn the bell off?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Open the door before putting the steps up?

 

[bernardgreen]

Sorry to hear that.

Not a problem. They both had a good life.

why not either of the other two places you mentioned?

Over the work surfaces would mean having to stand on something and then lean towards the wall. The rubble and mortar wall is part of the grade two listed building and even though it is indoors in the unlisted part ( kitchen ) it has to be kept as close to original appearance as possible. Fixing to it is "permitted" ( tolerated ) but difficult. Cabling is a nightmare as chasing is nigh on impossible.

 

[RF Lighting]

Apart from some task lighting in my office, the lights inside my wardrobe and the wall lights in the bathroom I can't replace any of my lamps without using steps - what am I to do?

Get a contractor to replace them all with lots of 70,000 hr LED downlighters

 

[SimonH2]

Consumer units are where the builders thought would be a good place - sometime you have to wonder what they were on at the time!

How about on the living room wall, about sockets height, to the side of the fireplace That's where it is in my house because ... that's where the fuglybox is on the outside.
"Luckily" it's hidden behind the TV, which of course means the TV needs to be moved to get access to it.

 

[ebee]

Bernard,
that explains it, thanks.

Sometimes above a worktop might be as good a place as any - purely for access not so much for aesthetics although we see far worse.

If the wall is not to have a mounting board on it for the reasons you`ve mentioned then yes I agree with you.

Ban,
if a lamp blows then old Mrs Smith might get on a book/chair/steps or might decide to get someone else to change it for her. But I would like to allow her to reset the MCB to at least light the remainder of the floor (OK type Cs instead of type Bs but how often does it happen?. and in an emergency or a panic situation then throwing everything off should be easy if required.

with an existing building some compromise might be necessary but with a new build then no excuse (CDM anyone?)

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Get a contractor to replace them all with lots of 70,000 hr LED downlighters