Buying house with old consumer unit

[aimee]

I've had the full surveyors report back and it says:

There are mini circuit breakers on the consumer unit. Mini circuit breakers work by detecting

earth leakages in an electrical circuit. In the event of an electrical fault, the MCB will

deactivate however if the earthing is not installed correctly, this safety feature may not work

correctly.

The circuits are not protected by Residual Current Devices (RCDs). An RCD is for highrisk

circuits such as in the kitchen, bathroom, and external sockets. These devices provide

additional protection against faults, and in the event of an electrical fault, such as a cut

cable, the RCD will isolate the supply. These devices work by detecting a balance in the

flow and return of electrical current, which if interrupted will cause a switch to deactivate and

isolate the supply.

Earthing-circuit protective conductors are the green and yellow cables that should run from

lamp switches and socket back to the consumer unit. If they are not connected correctly,

your supply may not function correctly, potentially posing the risk of electric shock. It was

not possible to check for adequate earthing as switches require removal. Therefore, you

should either obtain an up to date test certificate from the vendor or arrange for an approved

electrician to inspect and test all circuits.

Supplementary bonding should be installed in areas such as around gas boilers, immersion

heaters. All metallic pipes should be linked with supplementary bonding to the current

regulations 17th Edition Wiring Regulations. Adequate supplementary bonding was

identified at the time of the survey.

The installation appears to be old and may potentially be unsafe. You should commission an

Approved Electrician to check the wiring. A provisional sum for the cost of wiring is included

in the summary of repair costs. The cost of works is subject to the results of the test.

 They've suggested that it will cost £1000 to correct the issues?

 

[Murdoch]

I've had the full surveyors report back and it says:

 They've suggested that it will cost £1000 to correct the issues?

Hum .......... that is a very wild stab in the dark!

The previous paragraph contains "you should commission an approved electrician to check the wiring" - This would be a sensible step - and then you may know more......

 

[Evans Electric]

There are mini circuit breakers on the consumer unit. Mini circuit breakers work by detecting

earth leakages in an electrical circuit. In the event of an electrical fault, the MCB will

deactivate however if the earthing is not installed correctly, this safety feature may not work

correctly.

Not too happy about this description  TBH  .      Circuit breakers  protect against  overloads  .   I'd say for it to trip on earth leakage  it would have to be a dead short  between Live & Earth . 

You should commission an

Approved Electrician to check the wiring.

Thats the only thing you need to take note of .       

 

[binky]

Old doesn't mean dangerous. To be frank, it sounds like you are buying a property in need of much work. In which case I would be looking at adding multiple circuits to make the place far more reliable, useable. For that you would need a new board anyway. I would try to find a local electrician who can work with you to achieve this. They may even allow you to do the donkey work like pulling in cables if your budgets are tight.

 

[Andy™]

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