How to tell whether your consumer unit needs upgrading

If your consumer unit still has rewireable fuses, or a single RCD covering the whole property, you are working with a board that predates the way most homes now use electricity. Here is how to tell whether yours needs replacing, and what actually changes when it does.

Four signs your board is out of date

The first is the enclosure. A plastic board fitted before 2016 does not meet the current requirement for a non combustible enclosure in a domestic property. The second is the protection. If you see ceramic fuse carriers or rewireable fuse wire, the board has no earth fault protection at all. The third is a single RCD serving everything, which means one fault plunges the entire house into darkness. The fourth is the label, or the absence of one. A board nobody can read is a board nobody can isolate safely.

What an upgrade actually gives you

A modern board puts an individual RCBO on every circuit. A fault in the garden lighting trips the garden lighting, not the freezer. Type 2 surge protection is included as standard, which matters more every year as boilers, heat pumps, EV chargers and home office equipment become more sensitive to voltage transients. The board is metal clad, correctly labelled, and comes with a full schedule of test results for every circuit.

What happens on the day

We isolate the supply, test the existing circuits, check the main earthing conductor and the protective bonding to gas and water, then install and terminate the new board. Every circuit is tested again before the supply is restored. Most domestic changes are finished in half a day, and you receive your Electrical Installation Certificate and NAPIT Part P notification afterwards.

When it is urgent and when it can wait

If an EICR has returned C1 or C2 codes, or another trade cannot sign off their work because of the board, it is urgent. If the board is simply older but tests well and there are no coded observations, an upgrade is a planned improvement rather than an emergency. We will tell you honestly which situation you are in, because a board change sold on fear helps nobody.

If you are in Leamington Spa, Warwick, Kenilworth or Southam and you want an honest opinion on your consumer unit, get in touch and we will take a look.