maximum size consumer unit

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Firstly I am a heating engineer so my question is to satisfy my own curiosity, I have been working on a small terraced out getting it ready to rent out, sadly its had a warm front fitted heating system, so I have had a few issues to correct. The electrician on the job had a few more issues, chatting over the sandwiches at break time he explained that unless the house is rewired the largest consumer unit he can fit is 32 amps max.

Question is what are the chances of the future tenant having to reset the thing on a regular basis from normal everyday use? The electrician admitted he wouldn't be able to put up with it so I asked why should anyone else. But maybe I am speaking out of turn, if it wont be a problem, but the way it has been described to me is on par with me telling a future tenant you can use the upstairs radiators or the downstairs but not both at the same time
 
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Sounds lacking in logic to me. Do you have a picture of the existing CU/fuse box to show?

Did 'electrician' put anything in writing?

Re-wiring may well be required, but I can't relate this to a '32A CU'.

I suppose he may be saying that there is only one power socket circuit, so that sockets will be limited to 32A without some rewiring?

A CU is usually 100A, though less may be available from the main fuse. The individual circuits are another thing.
 
If what you mean is the largest MCB he can fit on the circuit (not the largest consumer unit, which makes no sense) is 32A, then this is true. He can't uprate the MCB without rewiring the circuit.
What is this heating system you've had fitted? Is it all electric heaters and all on the same ring circuit as the whole house? If so that was possibly not the best idea, as there would be a risk of overloading the circuit if as you say, all the heaters are used at the same time.
Otherwise, apart from the issue with the heating, it does sometimes happen with older installations that a whole house is wired on the same ring circuit and whether or not it overloads the circuit and trips the MCB in normal use depends obviously on what the tenants are plugging into it. But probably it would be OK.
 
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Sorry I really made a mess of explaining, you have however given me the answer, the consumer unit is 100 amp and the sockets are protected with a 32 amp mcb, the lighting circuits are protected with one 5 amp mcb, I guess both circuits are connected together, the heating system is gas so there is no problems with that.

I think next time I post I will make sure the hangover is gone, even I couldn't understand my first post!!
 

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