Old style fuse box?

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Rich87

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I've just moved into a new house and I am wanting to replace a fuse in the wall for a garden light that isn't working. So first thing I did was look for the fuse box to turn the power off to that outlet so I could remove the fuse, but now I've found the fuse box I am not a little lost.

I'm not an expert with electricity but I've never had a problem switching off a section of the house to replace a light fitting, etc. But I've never seen a box like this one.

It look like this...

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/126748247@N08/48897130466/in/dateposted-public/" title="WhatsApp Image 2019-10-14 at 13.25.08"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48897130466_41a55026de_z.jpg" width="311" height="640" alt="WhatsApp Image 2019-10-14 at 13.25.08"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Questions.

1. Does it just work the same? Turn the switch to off, find the correct fuse and turn that off too?

2. Will the fuses be labeled?

3. Should I be concerned only one of them is turned on? Could that be why my garden light isn't working? (Everything is works fine)

Any help appreciated.

Thanks

WhatsApp Image 2019-10-14 at 13.25.08

 
Q1.     Yes  but you'll find fuses not circuit breakers  , you need to pull out the  correct fuse.

Q2.     Fuses are often NOT labelled  ...if they are they will be counting from the right hand side  . 

Q3.     I can only suggest that the bottom board   is or was  for Off Peak Heating points .  

             The white one at the top is obviously an addition & may is often for a shower .  

             I should point out that none of your circuits have RCD protection which you might to address .   

 
Q1.     Yes  but you'll find fuses not circuit breakers  , you need to pull out the  correct fuse.

Q2.     Fuses are often NOT labelled  ...if they are they will be counting from the right hand side  . 

Q3.     I can only suggest that the bottom board   is or was  for Off Peak Heating points .  

             The white one at the top is obviously an addition & may is often for a shower .  

             I should point out that none of your circuits have RCD protection which you might to address .   


Thank you.

So just to be clear, before I take the light switch off the wall for the outdoor light, I should flick the switch on the fuse box to off (which will turn the entire house off? Including fridge I assume??) and then remove the fuse that might possibly be labelled plug sockets, etc. Then I am safe to remove the light switch from the wall and replace the fuse in there.

I assume I am safe to remove the covers of the bottom and top boxes in their current state to investigate what they might have been powering?

Thanks again.

 
I can't recommend you remove the fronts of the boards  to be honest .   If you undo that silver screw you can remove the plastic fuse cover ,  you'll find any markings inside that lid .    Fuses  have coloured spots  to indicate their size  , red for  30A   ...Yellow for 20A...  Blue  for 15A  .... white for  5A .   

Do NOT assume that the labelling is correct !!!   

I would recommend you turn off ALL the  boards before you tackle the  job , as I'm guessing you have no test gear .   

 
That all looks at least 30 years old.

If you haven't had any kind of survey or inspection done you would be wise to have someone look over your installation.

I know it could bring bad news, but safety aside, finding you need a rewire after finishing decorating is worse.

 
Copies of previous electrical certificates or inspection reports should give details about which fuses are supplying which circuits. (fuse boxes themselves often have insufficient space for comprehensive labelling). However from the photos I would hazard a guess that that installation has not been checked or tested for a very long time, (if at all?). The only accurate assumption you can make is that parts of the installation do not comply with current wiring regulations, recommended labels and signs are missing and there is no indication of when it was last tested. Normal recommendation is 10 years or change of occupancy for domestic dwellings, but this is not a statutory requirement.  Further general guidance about electrical safety can be found at the Electrical Safety Council website.

https://www.electricalsafetyfirst.org.uk/find-an-electrician/periodic-inspection-explained/

As Geoff suggested the best immediate course of action is to organise an up-to-date inspection of all circuits & wiring. some of these older installations can have crossed circuits, so multiple fuses are energising the same piece of wiring. And as you have no RCD shock protection either the dangers in the event of a fault can be greater. Electricity can kill a healthy adult in less than a second. If you dabble and guess and get it wrong, you could have a serious or fatal injury.

Doc H.

 
What nobody has mentioned, and it seems you don't know, is if you undo the screw holding the big rectangular cover on each fuse box, you will see a line of fuses under that cover.  The ones for lighting circuits usually have a white dot on them.  However the fact that you have a "fuse in the wall" for an outside light suggests it might not be fed from a light circuit but something else so your guess at which fuse is as good as ours.

These old fuse boxes used to be normal fitment, and most householders used to know how to change the fuse wire when they blew and a card of different sized fuse wire was a standard item sitting in the cupboard next to them.  This seems now to be lost knowledge, in the same way nobody now is taught how to fit a 13A plug onto a bit of flex any more.

It does seem strange you have bought a house without even looking at the electrics or getting them tested.  At very least get an electrician to do an EICR (Electrical Installation Condition Report)  It will almost certainly "fail" (unsatisfactory) and there will be some recommendations on what remedial work is required.  That will most likely come with a recommendation of changing those old fuse boxes for a new consumer unit with RCD's and circuit breakers.  Other upgrades like earthing may be needed and there might well be faults on circuits that need to be fixed.

 
Thanks for all the info.

I haven't purchased the house, I am renting. I will probably speak to the landlady about the concerns raised, although in my short time of dealing with her I am sure she will tell me to arrange an electrician myself. 

 
If it is rental, then surely the landlord should have provided a current, satisfactory EICR as part of the Tenants Information Pack?  That is a requirement up here in Scotland, surely it is also in England.

If you have that, it will tell you what fuse feeds what circuit.

But it is hard to imagine now how an EICR will be "satisfactory" with no rcd's present anywhere.

 
But it is hard to imagine now how an EICR will be "satisfactory" with no rcd's present anywhere.


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Thanks for all the info.

I haven't purchased the house, I am renting. I will probably speak to the landlady about the concerns raised, although in my short time of dealing with her I am sure she will tell me to arrange an electrician myself. 


I am more shocked now that this is a rental property lacking basic shock protection and a recent periodic electrical inspection. Sounds to me as though this landlord/lady is a bit of a dubious character. How will you be able to authorise any work that is the landlords responsibility, i.e. getting the whole installation inspected & tested?

Doc H.

 
I am more shocked now that this is a rental property lacking basic shock protection and a recent periodic electrical inspection. Sounds to me as though this landlord/lady is a bit of a dubious character. How will you be able to authorise any work that is the landlords responsibility, i.e. getting the whole installation inspected & tested?

Doc H.


Nothing shocks me these days .....

i recented conducted an urgent urgent fix for a landlord ... they asked me to advise them if I thought anything else needed fixing

one look at the board, no rcds, no bonding, dubious main earth size. Recommended full EICR

all noted on my invoice, never heard back from them ....

 
Si is it or is in not a legal requirement to have a satisfactory EICR on a rental property in England?

I was shocked when I visited a relative in a rental property in Kent a few weeks ago and there was not a single smoke or CO alarm in the property.  Either there are some bad landlords, or the required standards are woefully inadequate.

 
I am more shocked now that this is a rental property lacking basic shock protection and a recent periodic electrical inspection. Sounds to me as though this landlord/lady is a bit of a dubious character. How will you be able to authorise any work that is the landlords responsibility, i.e. getting the whole installation inspected & tested?

Doc H.


The letting agent we went through are quite good at getting things sorted, all new smoke alarms fitted just as we moved in for example.

The 'How to rent a safe home' booklet they gave us in our welcome pack states that landlords have a legal duty to make sure electrical installations are safe and in good working order and it 'soon' will become mandatory to test it every 5 years. So hopefully they can provide proof it has been tested recently or I will request it.

 
Si is it or is in not a legal requirement to have a satisfactory EICR on a rental property in England?

I was shocked when I visited a relative in a rental property in Kent a few weeks ago and there was not a single smoke or CO alarm in the property.  Either there are some bad landlords, or the required standards are woefully inadequate.




No. 

 
I have 3 rentals.....1 shop, 2 flats above

I was well,ahead of the ball when we refurbed it 12 years ago

full interlinked smokes and heats in each unit....only linked within the units

house system with Break Glasses in escape routes, flats and shop, heats behind each front door

EICR every time tenant changes

and it's still not a requirement here....other HMOS

 
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