New CU to 17th Edition Ask questions and find answers to many subjects relating to electrics and electrical work

[thebird44]

Hi,

I am currently in the process of buying a house that is all electric. There is currently an old rewireable fuse consumer unit with a separate unit for the storage heaters. I am looking for a budget price for the North West region (if this makes any difference) of how much it would cost to have a new consumer unit installed in accordance with the 17th edition of the regs as the work will probably be near to 1st July. We will be having gas central heating installed so the separate unit for the storage heaters will be redundant. I would imagine that there are 2 ring mains, 2 lighting circuits, 1 radial for the cooker/oven and 1 radial for the shower (not sure of the rating).

I'd be grateful if a part p registered spark could give me a budget price for the installation so i know how much money to hide from the chancellor.

Also, am i correct in assuming i would need the REC to come out and pull the cut out before work starts.

Thanks for your help.

[ericmark]

The price of consumer units are changing daily. Today I was quoted £12.50 for RCBO's in Chester only a few weeks ago these were £25 each and split RCB units around the £80 mark populated. Empty box about £23 so with 6 RCBO's only £100 which means about £50 more than old system for best option on new system. The electricians time is something else. All sorts may be wrong with your home. The basic change around 2 hours but either they test first in which case you get charged for extra test or they test after the change and then you may find a load of hidden faults at worst needing a rewire. No sensible spark would want to change the unit without testing first but some accountant run firms don't give the spark the option. Cookers are quite likely to cause problems. yesterday I would not have considered RCBO's on all circuit because of cost but now it looks a reasonable option mainly as if for example the cooker proved faulty then that could be left switched off until the fault is corrected without you losing all the other circuits.
As to off peak heating that is also likely to be a problem and I would strongly advise a pre-CU change test and I would think with test results someone may give you a quote. As to seal no one will tell you to cut it. Yet I have know it done many times and then reported to the Supply authority without there being a problem but you can bet if I was ever to tell someone to do it I would end up in court.
There is also Flexishield to BS 8436 as yet don't know price but fixed appliances wired with this will not need RCD protection may be reasonable option for storage heaters

[thebird44]

Thanks Ericmark.

I guess it might be a good idea to have the installation tested fully before i sign the contracts so that i can negotiate with the vendor if a full rewire is needed. The storage heaters won't need testing as they will be removed once the gas central heating is installed, so it will be just the other circuits.

Anyone any ideas how much this should cost so that i know a good price when i have a ring round.

[ericmark]

Sorry I was an industrial electrician but price is not always the thing you need to watch my father was quoted £100 but the electrician never completed the job and I had to sort out the problems and get the Part P completed bad enough with two electricians in the family and access to all the test gear but if the same happened to you it would be much more of a problem.

[thebird44]

I guess that can be the same with everything - you can pay good money for a service and get a shoddy job. I'll try and get some recommendations from people that have had work done recently in the area, this will probably narrow my search down a bit. Everyone knows everyone else where i live, so it should be quite easy to find out about the reputations of some of the local tradesman.

Where did you get the quote for the RCBO's, i've looked on the internet and they're all around the £30 mark (MK,Volex,Wylex), so the price you got quoted sounds great. Was this a trade price ?

Just for info for anyone else reading this - the hager website offers five ideas of how to set up the consumer unit for the 17th edition. I've noticed on some other web sites that there's quite a lot of discussion about whats the best way of setting these up for installation - i would imagine cost will be one of the main considerations.

Once again, thanks for the info.

[ericmark]

Chester Electrical and Plumbing Supplies I think its called email sales@oepf-ltd.co.uk they are right by screwfix so I check price in screwfix catalog then call in there on way and normally they either match price with better quality or bet them. The RCBO's were an odd make not one of the better known. But at £12.50 it does become an option to fit all RCBO's