Consumer Unit Upgrade in Kirkcaldy, Dunfermline, Fife & the surrounding areas
Fuse Box Upgrade
The fuse box in your home, or consumer unit as we call it, is in my opinion the most important commodity in your home. This is literally could be a life-saving piece of equipment and a new up to date fuse box makes your home a much safer place.
What is a consumer unit?
For those of you who have no idea what a consumer unit is or does, basically it powers your entire home and every home will have one. The fuse box is powered using a large cable coming into your property that is then split down into individual circuits using smaller cables and individual fuses for each circuit.
In the past, we used fuse wire to do this which then advanced to circuit breakers and currently we are using a mixture of circuit breakers (trip switches) and RCD,s or even a combined RCD and circuit breaker which is called an RCBO. If you have a consumer unit that does not have at least RCD protection, I would recommend upgrading.
An RCD, or residual current device, is a life-saving device that is designed to prevent you from getting a fatal electric shock if you touch something live, such as a bare wire. It can also provide some protection against electrical fires. RCDs offer a level of personal protection that ordinary fuses and circuit-breakers cannot provide.
Why is it important to upgrade?
If you have an old fusebox you may also have old wiring. Essentially there is nothing 'unsafe' with old installations if it has been tested and complies to the regulations. However, old wiring will have been used and will over time wear out just like anything else - the main problem being in the breakdown of insulation. New fuseboxes have switches that are extremely sensitive and if there is a breakdown, these switches will not accept the wiring.
If when we change the fuse box and carry out a full test and it is safe at the time the wiring can remain but afterwards if there is a breakdown in the insulation then the protective device on the new fuse box will trip letting us know there is a fault.
Unsafe and out of date fuse boxes can cause faulty cables, higher risk of deadly electric shock and danger of fires.
Get in touch
If you think your consumer unit is unsafe or are looking to get a new fuse box installed, contact the experts at Kingdom Electricians today. We offer free quotes.