Fuse box advice..

[djewkes]

I know someone on here will be able to help...
Bit of background, we live in a bungalow (built 2000), it has a joined on garage but no access to the garage from inside the bungalow. To get into the garage you have to go out the front door and along to the up and over garage door. The room adjoining the garage is the main bedroom and en-suite, no room really for a door.
The fuse box is at the back far wall right at the ceiling. To get to it you have to climb up steps. The problem is if something goes it flicks the switch, that could be as little as a bulb popping, so you have to go outside, through the garage and up the steps to flick it back on.
Is it a big expensive job to move the fuse box, the meters are on the outside of the garage walls. I wouldn’t mind so much if it was lower on the wall but it’s just so inconvenient where it is...
Thanks in advance for any advice...

[grumpybri]

You might be able to move it into the house without much drama, all depending on where the cables run. You will need a new board as regulations have changed since 2000. Just get some quotes to see if it is worth it.

[kiwiinabd]

I replaced my consumer unit this year as I was getting intermittent trips and it cost me about £500 in total.

Essentially I was replacing like for like but upgrading to the latest regs that require a surge protection in the consumer unit.

You need to get some quotes but I would imagine its going to cost at least £1000

[rudie111]

Yeah you might be able to move it onto the other side of the wall. Otherwise some circuits might need rewiring. Get a quote. As others have said you’ll need a new board. It will have to be metal and will require surge protection

[djewkes]

Thanks for the advice, might get some quotes after christmas

[tspill]

Is your meter in the same box? If so, you need to consider what you want to do with this as moving this cane be extremely expensive.

[djewkes]

No the meter is separate, it’s on the outside wall near the bottom, the fuse box is the inside wall but much higher up...

[mickey house]

Most domestic consumer units don't require surge protection. It might be expensive to move it inside and depends on a number of factors.

Where it would be too expensive/involved to move it inside the house, I might perhaps suggest that a new updated consumer unit is moved lower down the wall in the garage where it is easily accessible (this usually isn't too big a job), and I would suggest that every circuit has its own RCBO fitted in the consumer unit (it looks like an MCB but is a combined MCB and RCD). The advantage with every circuit being on its own RCBO, is should for instance the downstairs sockets trip, it will only trip the RCBO for that circuit and not any other circuit.

It is also worth considering having an emergency light in the garage near the consumer unit so in the event that the RCBO trips the circuit for the garage light, then you can easily see the consumer unit to reset the RCBO. These emergency lights have a battery back up and when the power is lost it automatically turns the light on (only costs around £25 plus a small charge for fitting).

The other advantage with having RCBO's on each circuit is should a permanent fault occur that keeps tripping the RCBO on the one circuit it will only trip that circuit and not the other circuits in the house that would otherwise tripped when using an RCD (so having lots of circuits on an RCD when there is a fault would mean none of the circuits can be used until the fault is found).

[kiwiinabd]

Originally Posted by mickey house

Most domestic consumer units don't require surge protection. It might be expensive to move it inside and depends on a number of factors.

Where it would be too expensive/involved to move it inside the house, I might perhaps suggest that a new updated consumer unit is moved lower down the wall in the garage where it is easily accessible (this usually isn't too big a job), and I would suggest that every circuit has its own RCBO fitted in the consumer unit (it looks like an MCB but is a combined MCB and RCD). The advantage with every circuit being on its own RCBO, is should for instance the downstairs sockets trip, it will only trip the RCBO for that circuit and not any other circuit.

It is also worth considering having an emergency light in the garage near the consumer unit so in the event that the RCBO trips the circuit for the garage light, then you can easily see the consumer unit to reset the RCBO. These emergency lights have a battery back up and when the power is lost it automatically turns the light on (only costs around £25 plus a small charge for fitting).

The other advantage with having RCBO's on each circuit is should a permanent fault occur that keeps tripping the RCBO on the one circuit it will only trip that circuit and not the other circuits in the house that would otherwise tripped when using an RCD (so having lots of circuits on an RCD when there is a fault would mean none of the circuits can be used until the fault is found).

See more...

For my new unit I had RCBOs fitted, are working well with no new intermittent trips.

The latest regs require surge protection even for domestic situations unless a risk assessment is done showing the cost outweighs its use, the extra cost of the surge protection was circa £70 !

[djewkes]

Hi Mr MH, am not sure what most of that means but the hall lights are separate to others and there are a number of separate circuits, luckily the garage light hasn’t been knocked out yet...
Lower on the wall would make it nearer the meter (on the other side of the wall) and would just save the steps a bit... I think inside the house is too far away, but still don’t know who would think that was a good place to put a fuse box in a bungalow (the other bungalow on the cul de sac has the same problem)...
Thankyou all