Old Fuseboard - Update ASAP or no?

[Carrot]

My upcoming house has an old fuseboard, this isn't a picture of the actual fuseboard but the same type (plastic round the edge not metal)



We have a lot of things we need to do and limited funds throughout the next couple of years to complete them. Having asked a few people including a couple of electricians, opinions vary from "REPLACE NOW OR DIE!!!" to "leave it until a complete rewire" to "replace just that with a modern RCD"

Just wondered what the general consensus from here is. Getting quotes for around £500ish for consumer unit replacement and testing from a qualified electrician.

If it is something that can be left for a couple more years, we certainly have more pressing things to be updating and modernising first

[Pheo]

Kind of depends really - what age property, what age is tw wiring, what's the condition of the insulators, do you plan to make changes (eg if you want an electric shower or an extension forget about it!) do you want to change the position of anything?

[Carrot]

Pheo said:

Kind of depends really - what age property, what age is tw wiring, what's the condition of the insulators, do you plan to make changes (eg if you want an electric shower or an extension forget about it!) do you want to change the position of anything?

Age of property - 1955
Age of wiring - Unsure. Nothing flagged up apart from mentioning older style fuseboard in homebuyers report (however this is obviously not a comprehensive electrical survey which I appreciate). The sockets didn't look ancient (again, I am aware this is not an indicator of anything)
Electric Shower - One is already installed in the property
Extension - None planned for the foreseeable
Position of anything - May need to add a couple of sockets but nothing major

[BlackZeD]

Turn it off, open it, if theres nowt burning put the top on and leave it.
If you add or change the electrics thats where to start.
If you start having problems with blowing fuses, guess where to start

It aint broke.....

[Alucidnation]

If you are planning on doing a reasonable mount of work which will no doubt, include a lot of changes to the electrical installation, do the fuse box now, and then any work that is done from then, will comply.

However, if there are faults found when the new unit is installed, they will need to be rectified at the same time.

[hairyben]

Bit of a "how longs a piece of string" without looking at it.

original '55 wiring would probably be rubber which had a 20 year life expectancy, but they were installing 3036 fuse boards right into the 90's so the wiring might be fine.

Generally it depends more how badly an installations been bodged rather than just how old it is, other than that the car anology is a good one- modern units give higher levels of protection, in the same way a modern car has ABS, crumple zones etc and an old one will fold up in an impact and kids used to fly around with no seat belts on the back seat... the old car has not become "dangerous" so much as expectations of safety have moved on.

[Yabu]

Carrot said:

If it is something that can be left for a couple more years, we certainly have more pressing things to be updating and modernising first

Whilst the condition of the electrics might not be an issue if left undisturbed...

You need to consider what you are going to update and modernise first if not the electrics as part of that, there's no point nicely decorating a room now to have it largely destroyed in 18 months or even a few years down the line for a rewire as unfortunately in many cases it's a messy and destructive process where the house has solid walls

[buggalugs]

I had one in my old 1966 house, I was advised that nobody would want to touch it without doing a full rewire. However the rubber wire was in good condition so best just leave it all alone. Was advised that wherever the rubber gets heated it goes brittle and will then start to crumble leading to shorts when disturbed however mine showed no sign of this happening everywhere it could be checked.

You can replace the wylex fuse units with circuit breakers which is a slight nod to modernity.

[Muncher]

Am I right in thinking the next edition of the regs will outlaw plastic boxes consumer units and require metal ones going forward? I was told because in the event of a fault the plastic box feeds the fire.

[Yabu]

Muncher said:

Am I right in thinking the next edition of the regs will outlaw plastic boxes consumer units and require metal ones going forward? I was told because in the event of a fault the plastic box feeds the fire.

Not exactly
Summarising here as I don't have exact wording to hand

Plastic consumer units that don't comply must be surrounded by a fireproof enclosure, metal or a plastic consumer units that comply to the required standard can be used and don't need to have a fireproof enclosure.

[Muncher]

Yabu said:

Not exactly
Summarising here as I don't have exact wording to hand

Plastic consumer units that don't comply must be surrounded by a fireproof enclosure, metal or a plastic consumer units that comply to the required standard can be used and don't need to have a fireproof enclosure.

Thanks, I was told something along the right lines by my spark then.

[RizzoTheRat]

I had a similar fuse box when I moved in to my place, with 4 fuses. One master fuse, one for the cooker, one for the lights, and one for the sockets. I left it that way for 8 years, and then got it replaced recently when I was getting the bathroom redone as they needed to wire in the shower pump so it made sense to do it all at the same time.

[stuart313]

Just because something is old doesn't mean it's dangerous. Obviously it doesn't give you the protection of newer consumer units with RCDs and the like. If you opt to update it then its possible you will open a whole can of worms, maybe you should have a full electrical inspection done on the property to make sure there is nothing inherently dangerous. One of the main things to check is the type of supply and the earthing arrangement.

I think you may still be able to buy re-wireable fuse boxes from wholesalers, I saw a 2 way unit in Lockwells the other year, they do still have their uses.

[Neil - YVM]

Yabu said:

Carrot said:

If it is something that can be left for a couple more years, we certainly have more pressing things to be updating and modernising first

Whilst the condition of the electrics might not be an issue if left undisturbed...

You need to consider what you are going to update and modernise first if not the electrics as part of that, there's no point nicely decorating a room now to have it largely destroyed in 18 months or even a few years down the line for a rewire as unfortunately in many cases it's a messy and destructive process where the house has solid walls

This is very sensible.

No point doing the 'pretty' stuff first then having to ruin it at a later date if it need rewiring, plumbing etc.

At barest minimum I would not be happy having an electric shower without rcd protection.

[Carrot]

Thanks for your comments, sparky being booked to come in and update and test wiring shortly after move date.

For the initial small cost of doing so, it seems sensible. Plus I have no idea of previous bodge jobs.