Fuse board or Consumer unit. What are they?

An old fuse box

You probably have an old 'fuse board' that under your stairs that controls all of the electrical circuits (the lighting and electrical sockets) in your home.
These days we install what are now called 'consumer units' which are much safer and simpler to use. Consumer units use Miniature Circuit Breakers (MCBs) rather than a fuse, MCBs are a switching device so we can switch off a circuit if we need to work on it, also they protect circuits from certain types of electrical fault therefore keeping us safe.

MCBs are also more convenient as if they trip they can be easily be reset as opposed to old rewireable fuses in fuseboards need to be re wire, which can be fiddly especially if the lights have gone out and you're trying to do it by torch light! different circuits are protected by different rated MCBs Lighting circuits are generally protected a 6Amp MCB and sockets by 32Amp, showers and cookers are protected by 45Amp MCBs other circuits such as a heater are protected by 16Amp or 20 Amp MCBs.

A new Consumer unit

New consumer units also use a Residual Current Devices (RCD) which trip under certain fault conditions, RCDs are great and save lives you may remember advice that if you are using electrical equipment outside then you should use an RCD unit that you plug into a socket and then plug the equipment into the unit. In recent years the electrical regulations have changed to say that all circuits in a home have to be protected by an RCD. RCDs can be Identified by a 'T' or test button on them, RCDs should be tested by pressing the 'T' button on a regular basis every 3 months.

New consumer units have a big red switch on them this is the main switch this switch controls every circuit that  is covered by the new consumer unit switching it off will cut all power to every circuit.
Regardless of whether you have a fuseboard or consumer unit every circuit/ fuse or breaker should be labeled as to it's function so that if you need to turn it off you won't need to turn off every circuit. With a fuse board if the upstairs sockets trip out you can locate the correct fuse easily to be able to rewire it.

Regards

Paul
Hertford Electrician

Electricians / Electrical Contractor Pricing

When you've never had to use an electrician (or any trades person) before it can be hard to know what to expect in regards to what it is going to cost. Costs vary quite radically from electrician to electrician, I've seen and read reviews on pricing for an hour (normal working hours) of an electricians time starting at £12 right up to £85 and I'm sure there have been cases of electricians charging lots more.

Frankly there are electricians out there that don't have much of a business head (I don't mean this in a derogatory way) and pluck figures out of thin air or are not sure what to charge and undercharge, which will eventually put them out of business.

I'm sure many people when told an electrician charges £50-£60 per hour think this is massively overpriced and they must be very wealthy indeed, this however is not so, when running a business there are many overheads that have to be covered in order to keep the business running and invest for the future, so what are some of these overheads?

• Vehicle costs - Maintenance, Fuel, Repairs, Insurance etc.
• Public Liability and other insurances.
• Tools, machinery and equipment.
• Professional fees - accountants, solicitors, associations etc.
• Advertising and Marketing.
• Premises such as an office.
• Phones
• Employees

This list is not exhaustive and there is also what is know as non-chargeable time such as admin work and going out to look at jobs and quote for them, all cost time and money. I figured when I was going to build a big business and employed staff, that if I'd calculated what I paid myself divided by the hours I put in, I'd probably been on around if not less than minimum wage! Each business is unique there is no set way to run an electrical business and no set overheads, also the skill level of every electrician is different and every job is different. While the electrical regulations are the same for all electricians there are different ways to do almost every job, one electrician may see one way of doing any particular job and another may see it another way, sometimes I've started a job got half way thought and thought it would have been easier if I'd done that a different way.

Of course lets not forget that this is a business and we do want to make a profit too.

Please note that I have based this post on calling out an electrician to do a repair or fault find, for other quoted works, inspection and testing pricing should be different. Personally I like to be upfront about pricing so have posted it on my website.

Remember the old rule though, always get 3 quotes, but don't necessarily go for any particular one based on price, I would base it on how much value you believe you are going to get.

Kind Regards

Paul Jennings