Everything You Should Know About Fuse Boxes
A fuse box or fuse board as it was once known is now called a consumer unit. From this point forward we will refer to fuse boxes or fuse boards as consumer units, so as to avoid confusion. We’re going to be giving you as much information about them as we can, because it is often the case that they need replacing. This is because they don’t comply with today’s regulations making them unsafe for the occupiers. It’s more than likely that if you move into an old property dating back to the 1960s/70s and it hasn’t been modernised, a new consumer unit will need to be installed.
Residual Current Devices.
Today’s consumer units have residual current devices (RCDs). We’ve mentioned these first because they are very important, should there be a sudden surge of electricity, without an RCD installed, you could suffer an electric shock which could prove fatal. What an RCD does is cut off the electricity supply by automatically switching off the power.
Check Point and Safety Element.
Your consumer unit then does far more than simply contain all your switches, it provides a check point and a safety element which is crucial, ensuring the health and wellbeing of anyone who occupies your home. If you want to check that your consumer unit is doing what it should and that it’s the right one, complying with any regulations, then try looking in the likeliest places to find it. This might be in a utility room, above a door in some cases, or in a toilet or garage. They’re not normally where you can see them because they’re not exactly an attractive addition to any room! If they can’t be placed in an area where they can’t be seen, they’re normally encased in a wooden panel/box in the downstairs living area, perhaps a dining or living room.
What does a consumer unit comprise of?
As well as the residual device we’ve already mentioned, there is the main switch. This is another way of cutting off the power. An RCD will cut off automatically, while a main switch will need to be switched off and on manually.
Made for Safety.
Circuit breakers are similar to RCDs in that they’re all about the safety. Circuit breakers are specialised though, because while RCDs control the power in the entire house, circuit breakers will only cut off the power in one particular area, such as the ground or top floor.
More than one type of consumer unit.
There is more than one type of consumer unit and it would be a slight overload to give you the details on all of them. We’ll list them here, but if you want to find out more about any one of them, we’d advise that you pick up the phone and talk to one of our specialist team members.
Split load Consumer Unit
Garage Consumer Unit
Fully loaded Consumer Unit
RCD Protection Consumer Dual Split-Load
Domestic Switch Fuse.
Contact us here at RML we’re always here to help and we have the expertise and specialist knowledge of consumer units that will give you the guidance you need. Give us a call today.