Replacing/Upgrading Consumer Units
(Fuse Boxes)

The fuse box is the engine of your electrical installation as it protects all the different circuits from overloading.

Old Fuse Boxes
Older fuse boxes used a piece of fuse wire between two blades that needed replacing every time there was a short circuit. Often these old wired fuses are found in electrical installations and are due for an upgrade now.

If you have a fuse box like those shown below left, you could benefit from an upgrade to a new modern consumer unit (fuse box) with circuit breakers instead of fuses and an RCD trip to disconnect the supply in the case of a fault.
If you are considering an extension to your home or additional lights and sockets, we will review the capacity of your existing fuse box to ensure it is not overloaded with the extra usage.

A Common Accident From Old Fuse Boxes
A very common accident resulting in injury or death from electric shock is where a mower cuts through the flex while cutting the lawn. In most cases this will not cause the fuse to blow in the plug and therefore leaves the cut end of the flex live. If the user then inadvertently picks up the bare end, they can receive a fatal electric shock or be badly shaken and burnt

Accidents commonly result in injury or death from electric shock, primarily where old fuse boxes are still installed without circuit breakers or RCD's
However, if an RCD (residual current device) is fitted, at the moment the user comes in contact with the Live end, the device senses the current flowing through the Live but not returning through the Neutral (in fact flowing through the user to Earth) and trips at 30mA therefore avoiding personal electric shock protection to the user.