Consumer Unit Upgrades
Consumer Units
Why may it be neccessary to Upgrade your consumer unit?
IF IT LOOKS LIKE THIS
THEN YOU MOST DEFINATELY NEED AN UPGRADE
Since the mid 70s there have been many changes in the electrical regulations all related to safety.
Your consumer unit serves two main purposes. A means of isolating individual circuits, and most importantly, a means of protecting you're wiring in the event of an overload or fault.
Pre 1970, most domestic dwellings had re-wirable fuses that were at best unreliable and if rewired incorrectly a very common cause of house fires.
POST 1970 DWELLINGS
The next progression was MCB's or circuit breakers. The introduction of these units enabled easy resetting in the event of an overload and removed the human element of rewiring fuses thus having a dramatic effect on the house fire statistics.
Although this is a major step in safety it did not stop people from being killed or injured by electric shock so the next progression was the RCD.
THE RCD (Residual Current Device)
This unit monitors your electrical circuits and in the event of a person coming into contact with a live circuit the power is disconnected in time to prevent death by electrocution.
The most common cause of electric shock is faulty portable appliances, Nails and screws accidentally piercing concealed wires in walls and children cutting live electrical cords for reasons only understood by themselves.
17th Edition IEE Wiring Regulations (BS 7671 July 2008)
Since 1st July 2008 it is now law that all new built houses and extensions must have protection against electric shock on all circuits instead of previous regulations of only special locations and ground floor sockets.
So there you have it, if you want to be safe take some time to find out if your consumer unit needs upgrading.
Advice is free and when a consumer unit is fitted, the law states that the whole electrical installation must be tested. so you get a clean bill of health for your electrics.