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HOW SAFE IS YOUR CONSUMER UNIT? |
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| The consumer unit (you might know as the ‘fuse box’)
in your property or premise is central to the safe delivery of
electricity you use, but do you know how safe it is? Most people don’t
pay any attention to it unless something goes wrong. |
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| What does an old consumer unit look like? |
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| The problem with electricity is that it is dangerous
if not managed correctly and safely. Your consumer unit sits between
the power cable that comes into your property or premise and your
electrical wiring installation. It usually has a big switch (to switch
off the entire supply to your installation) in it and either coloured
fuse wire holders (that have fuse wire wired through them) or little
circuit breakers (you might know them as ‘trip switches’) for each of
the circuits in your electrical installation. |
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| If your consumer unit looks like the types in the
pictures below, it is probably time you had it inspected. These date
back to the late 1950’s and are very basic in there construction and
safety features (or lack of them). |
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| Please click on the images below to enlarge them. |
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| OLD CONSUMER UNITS |
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| NEW CONSUMER UNITS |
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| What’s the problem? |
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| There are 2 major safety issues with this type of
board. The first is they don’t cope well if a short circuit occurs in
one or more of your electrical circuits. This might occur if for
example you drill or nail through a cable in a wall. The second safety
issue is by far the most serious danger to anyone using the electrical
installation where this type of consumer unit is installed and is in
service. It is a fact that people and animals can suffer injury or
even death if they come into contact with mains (230 volt AC)
electricity. In fact it only takes a tiny amount of electric current
to flow through the human body at this voltage to have devastating
consequences. |
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| The good news is that there is now a device that can
protect against potentially fatal electric shock currents flowing
through you if something should go wrong. It is called a Residual
Current Device or RCD. It’s a bit of a mouthful, but basically it
switches off the electricity before a dangerous earth fault current
flows through you that could kill you. That’s the good news. The bad
news is that the older types of consumer unit are not equipped with
RCDs. So if you are unlucky enough to encounter a faulty kettle or
toaster or shower where the electricity is escaping where it
shouldn’t, you could suffer serious injury or death. |
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| What can I do about getting it checked? |
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| If your consumer unit looks like the ones in the
pictures and you are not sure whether it is safe or haven’t had it
inspected in the last 5 years, ask the experts. Give AETCS a call or
email and we’ll be happy to advise you on the safety or otherwise of
your consumer unit (230 volt single phase or 415 volt 3 phase),
associated earthing connections and general safety of your electrical
installation. Don’t worry we won’t charge you for looking – and who
knows, it may just save your life… |
