electrical help for an old person

MFCGMFC

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hey all

my granda desperately needs a new fuse box, the current one is not far off falling apart lol

he's been qouted £500 supply and fit but he is an OAP and cant afford this amount, he's just saved up and decorated the small bedroom

it wasn't till a spark was in fixing a light fitting when he mentioned the fuse box, we've had quotes from different electricians and the cheapest quote is £500

now he got a full ew heating system fitted thanks to the gasboard, a couple of years ago under a government backed scheme his boiler was double the age of me! lol

B&Q just stung him for doing up his bathroom, they took £1k just for takeing the order!!! cnuts!

so is there any help for this sorta thing for him?

TIA

Cheers
MFCGAVMFC
 
He will need to get it done professionally due to the Part P regs

yeah no-one has offered to do it on the side lol cause its a potentially dangerous job and they aint got their own insurance, they will only do it through their work just incase lol

Cheers
MFCGAVMFC
 
Even if someone gets it done on the side that's not a problem as long as its done correctly. The problem is it will need to be signed of, as this is where Part P comes in.

I was a spark, and even work I could do will need certified by someone else.
 
£500 is steep, we charge £350 for new 17th edition board, full test and signed off.
 
Have you checked the council ? They "may" have grants to help with this....but im not altogether sure. As for the consumer unit.....I can supply and fit for a reasonable price lol. But I cant sign it off myself due to not being a niceic member(dont do enough private work to justify cost/hassle).....nor did I bother doing part p lol. But I am a fully qualified 17ed approved spark with 20 + years exp. If your grandad lives near motherwell...(im guessing due to your avatar lol) then I could come round and give him a price.....part p need not be an issue due to the fact that it could be claimed that the job was done before the regs came in....I would need to see the current setup to give a price though as it changes with the amount of work needed....obv. I wont be on much tonight...but you can always drop me a pm if interested.
 
Even if someone gets it done on the side that's not a problem as long as its done correctly. The problem is it will need to be signed of, as this is where Part P comes in.

I was a spark, and even work I could do will need certified by someone else.


Part P is just a scam if you ase me, there is no REAL qualification for this. All it says in the building regs (Part P) is the person completing the job is A COMPETENT PERSON.

Sure you will be able to get it cheaper than that mate. Shame your so far away as sure i know a few people that would do it for around £250 - £300
 
You are right there!

Part P is just a scam if you ase me, there is no REAL qualification for this. All it says in the building regs (Part P) is the person completing the job is A COMPETENT PERSON.

Sure you will be able to get it cheaper than that mate. Shame your so far away as sure i know a few people that would do it for around £250 - £300

It's the same with gas work. Everyone I know was totally horrified that I'd just fitted a new boiler by myself and did all connections including gas myself. Some were screaming that it was illegal and others were telling me stories about how they knew people had been killed because of botch fitting.

The government have made everyone paranoid that if any work that isn't done by a registered person then it's dangerous and will kill you.

What a load of crap. Gas work is easy and if it's done wrong then the installer is a complete fool who wouldn't be safe to light a gas barbie. I do better work than most registered contractors. They tend to rush and cut corners. I don't.
 
I agree about the part P nonsense.

But to be honest if you do not test for PFC at a minimum how will you know your earthing is right ?

What is your installation ?

TNS, TNCS, TT ???

0.8 min for TNS 0.35 for TNCS

What am I talking about lol

Well if you do not meet these requirement it will not matter what consumer unit you use as your breakers wont trip at 0.1 and dual RCD 17th EDITION means nothing lol.

Does your installation meet the ZS for the type of breakers used ?
Are the cables above 10meg ohm on a 500v test ?

Is there any code 1's on the installation.. is the gas bonded, water bonded, has the boiler been cross bonded ?

Can you do a R2 on the boiler to make sure the 10mm earthing is not broken ?

In my opinion anyone can rewire a house - follow the horozontal verticle procedures on the wiring make sure you drill the middle of the joist, and the jobs a gooden.

And now the 17th removes the need for the secondary bonding in the bathroom - way hey lol - as long as you again meet the disconnection times.

But testing correctly is not the same as rewiring a house.

A periodic report will tell you what is wrong and what needs doing.

for peace of mind get the CU done propperly it will also help you sell your house as this record will tell people your place is safe as far as the electrics go.

And lets be honest you pay £200 for a service on your car... would you think that £500 with a new fuseboard and a HOUSE SERVICE is so bad ?

Mickie
 
I agree about the part P nonsense.

But to be honest if you do not test for PFC at a minimum how will you know your earthing is right ?

What is your installation ?

TNS, TNCS, TT ???

0.8 min for TNS 0.35 for TNCS

What am I talking about lol

Well if you do not meet these requirement it will not matter what consumer unit you use as your breakers wont trip at 0.1 and dual RCD 17th EDITION means nothing lol.

Does your installation meet the ZS for the type of breakers used ?
Are the cables above 10meg ohm on a 500v test ?

Is there any code 1's on the installation.. is the gas bonded, water bonded, has the boiler been cross bonded ?

Can you do a R2 on the boiler to make sure the 10mm earthing is not broken ?

In my opinion anyone can rewire a house - follow the horozontal verticle procedures on the wiring make sure you drill the middle of the joist, and the jobs a gooden.

And now the 17th removes the need for the secondary bonding in the bathroom - way hey lol - as long as you again meet the disconnection times.

But testing correctly is not the same as rewiring a house.

A periodic report will tell you what is wrong and what needs doing.

for peace of mind get the CU done propperly it will also help you sell your house as this record will tell people your place is safe as far as the electrics go.

And lets be honest you pay £200 for a service on your car... would you think that £500 with a new fuseboard and a HOUSE SERVICE is so bad ?

Mickie

Best bit about all that is even my old man probably wouldn't know what the hell your talking about and he's an Electrical Engineer. The amount of times he's been asked by friends and neighbours to sort out domestic installations done by contractors is ridiculous. I always thought it was because the contractors were rubbish, maybe it's because they had all that crap deal with and ended up lost.
 
£200 to service yer car? WTF?

My granda is a disabled widowed oap who can't afford to pay for it that is why I'm asking to see if he can get any help, yeah £500 ain't bad in the safety aspect, it ain't bad if you can afford it!

Cheers
MFCGAVMFC
 
What mickied is referring to is called testing and inspection. TBH if you are any type of spark at all it's a piece of piss. Sometimes we like to write in jargon because it makes us look smarter than we really are...I do it all the time lol. At the end of the day I would fit the new board and test everything that is required for prob £350 ish.....Like I said I would need to see the job. But as I am not a member of NICEIC then it would need signed off....but either way im not overly fussed. I only offered because I think the op lives within 5 miles of me.
 
I never wrote that to look smart and hope that it never came across like that.

And I agreed that anyone can do electrics but when it comes to testing not everyone can.

I would suggest you get it done correctly I think £500 is reasonable not cheap but not too bad.

Also if it was me looking at your grandad's property I would probably decline the job because I would feel bad for charging the usual rate, but you also have to take into consideration its a business not a charity... emotions tend to do that to people.

I do not personally touch testing anymore but its not complicated its ohms law, except your adiabatic equations which is just heat testing on fuses / MCB.

All I am saying is if you have a DUAL RCD 17th EDITION BAD BOY consumer unit, and your ZE is over 0.8 (on a TNS) you still have the potential to blow the thing up and burn your house down without the RCD tripping.

This would probably never happen but if it did and you had joe bloggs install it you would have no insurance which comes with all NIC, NAPPIT, etc jobs...

@diddy why not get registered with one of the bodies does not have to be NICEIC, it can be alexa, napit etc they all charge about £400 a year its next to nothing mate when you think about the earnings you can earn by being NIC or nappit.

@MFCGAVMFC you need to chill out mate you have come on here asking a question you do not like the answer so you chuck the widowed oap at me, my father is also an oap and disabled and almost died 2 times in the last 3 years...

But you need to know that sometimes paying the cheap way is not the best and if he needs it done then what else can be done except, either go the cheap way get no certs hope for the best, or get it done properly and have insurance backed installation.

I know what I would do regardless of money.

You wont get it done cheaper than £250 off someone with no certs you might get it done for £300 to £550 correctly, shop around but do it right mate.

Mickie
 
I never wrote that to look smart and hope that it never came across like that.

Mickie

I dont think it come across as you trying to look smart, its as diddy said people put stuff in quotes ect to confuse people and if you dont understand about TNS, TNSC and TT systems for example it confuses them so they automatically think your trying to be smart. Guess its just knowing your stuff an having the 17th reg book to check the current regs if unsure which cost me £65 fcukin quid.

Test and inspect is another thing totally.

At the end of the day its all a bit of luck to weither you get a good installation or not. If you know someone that isnt NICEIC reg but you know a few people that have used them then cool but it wont be passed off but neither is my show as i did it :proud:. As we all know there are lots of dodgy people out there that have taken all the tests and done there 17th edition regs and are still sh*t and i wouldnt let them wire up a plug.

@ MFAGAVMFC, Ask around mate, friends and family. There is always someone that knows someone.
 
Another concern I would have is if the consumer unit is in poor condition, what is the rest of the cabling like?
 
Whoa mickie mate lol. I think looking at my post i may have had pmt this morning...lol sorry about that. I wasnt implying that I would let "anyone" tackle the job. I would of course "test" it but I just cant sign it off due to not being a member of niceic nor the part-p....Being perfectly honest I just dont really bother with privates that much...im not old...but im older than before lol.....What im trying to say is I just dont "need" to chase the cash like I did when I was a young buck....So therefore there was never any "real" need for me to get part p. Sure its another string and all that....but with no "real" point or value. Im not in niceic due to cost/hassle and same reasons as above.....although I would say that niceic IS worth having if you do a lot of your own work.
I have been contracting for 20+ years and I'll be honest and tell you I have gotten pretty sick of it so doing privates these days tends to get met with a yeah call me next week lol....I only offered to do it because A. He's local B. I could do it much cheaper than £500....And C. Gav and friends helped me with my sat system....
Anyway sorry if i rambled on but sorry about the "smart" comment.....It really was just a bad morning thing .....Respec To Mickie D Sparky Man :proud:
 
Lol diddy I dont do much sparky bits any more mate... leave that for the lads.

I get consumed by paperwork now lol.

I do occasionally inspect for the fire department though! and see first hand what dodgy electrics can do... but I do still agree that anyone with a brain could do an install quite well as long as they apply common sense.

But testing an installation is pretty important to be honest and I might rant on a little about it but its just because the biggest cause of fires is bad electrics or old electrics that have worn out over time.

I am just trying to point out that whilst changing a consumer unit is very easy its also important to have it tested while its being done. The electrical report will tell you everything about the installation and each test will find all the faults that may exist on the wiring.

Like chris pointed out and i do not want to scare mfcgavmfc but if the board is faulty from possible deterioration what's to say it will not open up a can or worms on the whole installation.

It's very nice that you have offered to help mfcgavmfc diddy, he should take you up on the offer it seems you know what your doing and have bags of experience.

Regards
Mickie
 
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@ MFCGAVMFC

I'm not a sparky

But I have experience in renovations, as Mairyhinge stated If the board is in a bad way then I'm 100% sure that without even looking at it, to do a correct job the house would need re-wiring.

No point masking the problem by sticking a new distribution board and using 20+ year old cabling.

You could save money a little by doing all the chipping out etc.. (Which is a horrible job if the internal walls are brick? You would need your Granddad out of the house for at least a day as the dust generated is unbelievable)

I know its expensive but if a jobs worth doing its worth doing properly.
 
Thanks chaps

the wireing ain't that old, the gas board passed on last year

tbh I think it's maybe a chancer that's trying to rip off an old
man, I haven't seen the box in question just from
what the spark told him

The original post was asking if there's a grant or any help he can get to aid the payment of this sorta thing?

Thanks for all the replies chaps

Cheers
MFCGAVMFC
 
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