Electric capacity- Fuse box

[lumepo]

Fuse box and meter

• lumepo
• 13 Jan 2014
• 1

Fuse box

• lumepo
• 13 Jan 2014
• 1

I am planing to refurbish my flat and need to know if my fuse box fits my new electrical requirements. The label in my fuse box reads:
240 VAC
60 ADP
30 matrip
As the pictures show the number of fuses are as follows:
5A - 3
15A - 2
30A - 4
45A - 1

I am planing to install
1 oven
1 hob
1 extractor
1 fridge
1 freezer
1 dish washer
under units light for the kitchen
1 immersion heater
1 electric shower (not power shower) - to be decided
1 hot towel rail
4 electric heaters
1 tv
15 sockets or more
8 wall lamps
1 central light

I would be most grateful for all the information you can provide.

If all I need is a new fuse box, how much is this likely to cost and how long does it take to have it install? Who should be contacted?

 

[Taylortwocities]

4 x 30amp? I only see two.????

You may well need more than just a new consumer unit. Much of the work is notifiable so you'll need to find a registered electrician and let him review the installation, as it stands, and then design what you need.

This sort of thing cannot be done on an Internet forum.

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

I would employ an electrician to do an electrical installation report on your existing system, that should flag up any existing problems with the installation, and recommendations and advice on updates can be given then.
Installing a new CU should be done within the day, but you may have other issues that would need to be resolved prior to the swap.

 

[lumepo]

Thank you for the information

 

[RF Lighting]

Looks like someones bodged a skellington board into an old 1950's ceramic fuse box enclosure.

I'd be very weary of what condition the existing wiring is in

 

[Taylortwocities]

Nice gloss paint finish though!

 

[plugwash]

There are several issues with that consumer unit

1: It's frowned upon nowadays to use a single RCD incomer for the whole installation, current accepted practice is either to split the circuits across two RCDs or use a RCBO per circuit (the latter is better but more expensive) to reduce both the chance of RCD trips and the inconvinciance when they do trip.
2: It's an older generation of MK board which i'm pretty sure uses a different style of busbar than their current stuff. They used to do a retrofit kit for putting breakers with the new style busbar connection in the old style boards but I think they discontinued said kit a few years ago. Depending on what shower and cooking equipment you choose the inability to swap breakers for different ratings may prove a problem.
3: As someone else comments it looks like it may be a skeleton board bodged into an old enclosure.
4: the incomer is only rated at 60A which is a bit low for a board supplying both a cooker and a shower.

 

[lumepo]

View media item 71800 View media item 71799
I am most grateful for all the replies, particularly for the one from Plugwash.

I was hoping that the solution to my problem would be simply to change the board to one similar to those shown in the pictures. It seems I could be wrong. Please confirm.

 

[Taylortwocities]

It isn't simple swopping the board for a new type. There are many things to consider.

Look at it like this:

Changing the consumer unit is like a heart/lung transplant for your installation.

When doing a heart lung transplant, there are many things to check and maybe sort out first.

Your existing board is very old. This would indicate that the earthing and bonding connection will not be up to today's requirements. The supply cables from the meter may also be undersized.
And what about the arteries and veins (the cables). are they still serviceable, or have they been damaged in some way.???

All of this need to be checked and tested first. UYou won't be able to do that,. unless you have specialist test equipment and the knowledge of how to use it.
Also, you'll need to notify the local authority about your change of consumer unit (yes, I'm sorry).

Your best bet would be to get a registered electrician and have him do the testing, supply, installation and do all of the legal paperwork.

 

[lumepo]

Thank you all for your replies.
The flat will be refurbished completely, and this includes rewiring, and replacing the fuse box. I have checked with some neighbours and found they had no problem with the supply.