Would you bother to change this consumer board?

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Hi sparkies!

We've got a consumer unit like this:


We can get it changed to a more modern one for around £350. I wondered who thinks it is worth it and what benefits a new one would bring if it is worth changing?

Cheers

Max [/img]
 
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As the saying goes
"If it's not broke, don't fix it!"
You have fuses that can be re-set.
The addition of a New board would bring RCD protection with it, which is a safety device against the potential of an electric shook.
If you did go down that route, your existing board is best inspected and tested, to prove that your installation is suitable for the change.
It's really up to you!
 
My house has two similar consumer units both feed from their own RCD and the only problem I have are the RCD's are about 20 years old and have not got the anti-spike protection of the newer RCD's like the X-Pole.

I would assume unlike mine you don't have RCD protection? It is the RCD protection which means these boards are often changed. I will give two reasons to change.

1) To protect people in the house in my case a son who had taken up Amateur radio as a hobby and so was likely to make mistakes which without RCD protection could have killed him. The same applies to any wall bashing hobbies even putting up simple shelf.

2) Because you want to extend the electrics and unless the consumer unit is changed all new sockets will need to be supplied with the more costly Ali-tube cable and also use the more costly RCD protected sockets. At around £50 extra per new socket it soon becomes cheaper to change the consumer unit.

Yes I know I have RCD's supplying the consumer unit but only because I have two consumer units. Could not do it and comply if only one consumer unit.

So if you are retired and all DIY days are over I would not bother changing it. However if you have young children and are into DIY then I would change it.

You then have to decide how much to pay. Two RCD's will do the job but may trip from time to time. The more RCD's the less likely they are to trip. So a board full of RCBO's is less likely to cause problems than just two cheap RCD's. You can mix and have some RCBO's and also main RCD's and you can also get more expensive RCD's like the X-Pole which are less likely to trip without cause. Although in theroy the all RCBO is the best one problem is not noticing when one has tripped specially if feeding a fridge or freezer. So no simple answer.
 

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