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Re-wire?

Posted by Luke Shenton, on Mon 24 Aug 2015 11:27pm

Does my house need a complete rewire? I plan to change the consumer unit as I think it is the original which strikes me as unsafe because it is just a replaceable wire in the fuses protecting us. But am I ok to keep the original wiring throughout the house? I think the house was built in 1953 and the current wires have a grey pvc coat. The mains seems to a steel wire outside the pvc that I guess is the earth? I don't think the lights are earthed.

Cornelius Cretu

Thu 27 Aug 2015 10:33pm

Hi Luke, If there's no earth wire to the lights, you definitely have to rewire all the lighting in the house if you want to replace the fuse board with an RCD consumer unit. The good functionality of an RCD relies on good earthing. Regards,

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Russell Baron

Tue 25 Aug 2015 07:35pm

Hi Luke. Get an electrician to carry out an ECIR Electrical Condition Inspection Report. Prob cost you 150 - 200 but worth it just to find out what work,if any needs doing. These are normally done on domestic houses every 10 years. This will give you both an idea of the state of the actual cables reference its insulation etc. Insulation deteriorates throughout the life of an installation. This will tell you if you need a full/partial rewire or nothing at all. Your mains board could do with upgrading to give you RCD protection. Hope this helps Russ

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