Fuse Board Upgradesin Burntwood & Surrounding Areas

What the work involves

Replacing an existing fuse box or consumer unit with a modern board: individual RCBO protection per circuit, surge protection where appropriate to the installation, main switch and isolation, circuit testing and clear labelling, and earthing and bonding brought up to the current standard. Notifiable work is registered through NAPIT and you receive certification on completion.

Older boards, rewireable fuses, plastic enclosures, a single RCD covering half the house, or no RCD at all, are among the most common things we are called out to. A modern board isolates a fault to one circuit and provides the shock protection the regulations now require, which a rewireable fuse simply cannot.

Who it is for

Homeowners with a fuse box that predates RCD protection, or one that trips and takes out several circuits at once. Landlords who have had a C2 or C3 raised on an EICR about the board, earthing or bonding. Anyone fitting an EV charger, an electric shower, a hot tub or a new kitchen, where the existing board cannot accommodate or protect the new circuit. And buyers of older properties where the board is the first thing an electrician comments on.

When it is needed

When the board still uses rewireable fuses or cartridge fuses. When there is no RCD protection, or one RCD covering many circuits so that a single fault blacks out most of the house. When the enclosure is plastic and sited under a wooden staircase or in an escape route. When an EICR has coded the board, the earthing or the main bonding. And when a new high-demand circuit needs to be added and there is no way to protect it properly on the existing board.

Why it is not a like-for-like swap

A board change is a test job. Every circuit behind the new board has to be tested before it can be signed off, which is exactly how pre-existing faults come to light, a borderline insulation reading, a missing earth on a lighting circuit, or main bonding that was never installed to the incoming water and gas services.

That is also why a board change occasionally uncovers work that has to be done before certification is possible. We tell you as soon as we find it, with the options and the cost, rather than fitting the board and issuing paperwork that does not reflect the installation.

It's a test job, not just a swap

A board change means every circuit behind it gets tested. That's how pre-existing faults come to light, and why a board change occasionally uncovers work that needs doing before the new board can be signed off. We tell you as soon as we find it.

One day, in most homes

A straightforward domestic board change is usually a single day with the power off for part of it. We'll tell you what to expect before the day.

What goes into a modern board

A steel enclosure, a main switch, and a protective device for each circuit. We fit RCBOs per circuit rather than grouping circuits behind shared RCDs, because a single RCBO combines overcurrent and residual current protection for that circuit alone and removes the blackout problem entirely. Surge protection is installed where it is appropriate to the installation and the equipment in the property.

Earthing and main protective bonding are checked as part of the work: the main earthing conductor sized correctly for the supply type, and bonding to incoming water and gas services where they are extraneous conductive parts. This is frequently where an older installation falls short, and it is fundamental rather than optional.

Variations of the work

A straight board change on a sound installation. A board change with remedial work, where testing identifies circuits needing attention first. A board change as part of a partial or full rewire, where the new circuits and the board are installed together. And a board change combined with adding a new circuit, an EV charge point or an electric shower, which is usually the most economical way to do both.

Supply types vary too. TN-S, TN-C-S and TT earthing arrangements each affect the protective devices required, and a TT installation in particular needs its arrangement verified rather than assumed.

Situations this applies to

Properties last wired before RCD protection became standard. Houses with a plastic board in a hallway or under a staircase. Installations where an EICR has coded the board, the earthing or the bonding. Homes where the existing board is full and a new circuit is needed. Rental properties being brought up to a lettable standard. And houses where several previous alterations have left an unlabelled board nobody can interpret.

Domestic and light commercial differences

Domestic work is about minimising the time the house is without power and labelling the board so the person living there can use it. Light commercial adds out-of-hours working, distribution boards rather than a single consumer unit, and labelling and documentation for whoever maintains the premises afterwards. The testing regime is the same.

If a board change is being done ahead of other work, a kitchen, a rewire, groundworks with external supplies, tell us at quote stage and we will sequence it so the board only comes out once.