New Plastic fuse board? No it’s got to be Metal today!

The reason for the change to metal:
http://www.contactum.co.uk/content/bs-7671-amendment-3-changes-consumer-units
What impact will this regulation have?

Further to several household fires involving plastic consumer units, investigations by the London Fire Brigade, has concluded that a key cause of the fires was substandard cable connections made by the Electrician within the consumer unit.

These resulted in overheating, which subsequently ignited the plastic enclosure.

This would mean that eventually all new consumer units installed in UK homes, i.e. within domestic (household) premises, as defined in point 6 above; must have their enclosures manufactured from a non-combustible material, or be enclosed in a cabinet or enclosure constructed from a non-combustible material. Metal (Steel) enclosures are deemed to offer the best non-combustible characteristics.

8. Has Contactum been involved with these proposed changes?

They should only change regulations once every 5 years. Rather then changers every few months.

It is hard to keep up to date with each and every change in regulations. It is easy to be labelled a slum landlord, if you did not come to this forum and notice there was a change in regulations. I am certain, I would have missed others as I don't follow forums all the time.

Just had a check done and the electrician has done some remedial work and also installed a new metal consumer unit. However, the electrician tells me there is a common neutral to the upstairs and downstairs circuits and this will necessitate a full rewire at around £3500. Apparently this common neutral was standard until a few years ago but because the regs, as others have said, keep changing I will have to upgrade. He suggests doing it on a changeover of tenancy because it will mean pulling up all the carpets and floorboards, but its listed as a major fault. Does the electrical safety council advise take calls from individual landlords? I would like to know whether this job is urgent or not!

I would ask him for the actual regulation number, and also you will want to check with other companies of course for, a) the need, b) the cost of it.

How do we know if we are compliant or not if the 5yr check is not mandatory? Is the £3500 estimate for a single property, or multiple flats?

Doing a web search does not throw up anything obvious. So if it can wait for a change of tenant, how soon MUST it be done, does it affect the Insurance, the routine check, your liability when something goes wrong?

Its a single terraced property. My understanding is that as landlords we have to ensure the supply is safe. I err on the side of caution so I have a full domestic electrical installation certificate done, not just a visual check and cursory test of a couple of sockets. Problem is, now I have notification of this circuit issue, even though half the properties in the country will have the same set up, I guess I will have to have it fixed. think I will take Chris's advice and get a couple more estimates and views from other electricians, though I have used this electrician before and he is very thorough.

The main issue here is shoddy work on the part of the electrician that did the installation in the first place.

Key amongst these is not torquing up the screws clamping the cables inside the consumer unit correctly.

This is, in part, what the five yearly check is about.

If you are at all concerned the easiest (and cheapest) thing to do is to bring forward your next inspection and request that the testing electrician pay particular attention to this aspect.

Correctly installed plastic consumer units will remain safe provided that the connections within them are not allowed to become loose.

Another thing that happens is that the copper in the cable can 'relax' over time (years) under the pressure of the clamp and may need to be nipped up from time to time. This is another reason for the mandated regular checks.

There appears to be a little confusion over EICR reports. Can I suggest the following.
1] Ask the NICEIC for their recommendations if in doubt.
2] Do not confuse the electrical regulations with Domestic, Commercial and Landlords requirements.
3] Any deviations should be code-marked.
IE: We recently were requested to offer a second opinion on two-properties owned by the same client with a total of 54-deviations listed by the testing company. They had included for instance some lights not working as C2 deviations?
Reports should enable clients to have peace of mind and a property tested in the recent past should probably only have some fair wear & tear prob;ems and regulation changers deviations? Generally changes of regulations are noted as recommendations and something for consideration for later.
Finally, if as a Landlord can I suggest that you have an inspection carried out at the change of tenancy. This would enable you to offer a safe electrical installation to your new tenant and to be able to charge the previous tenant in the event of any ill-treatment to your property.

Can I suggest that with modern build and very low-U values probably the only heating to consider is electric. There are many electric heating systems that are cleaner, less expensive to install and with heat pumps and solar aids very cheap to run, Additional benefit would included no need to worry about Carbon Monoxide, There are over 30 incidents [and fatalities] in our County of Cornwall alone each year.

Reply to the comment left by "Chris Byways" at "15/01/2016 - 19:45":

Hi Chris
My son is an electrician and what you are saying is correct. The fusebox is fine under the stairs if it is metal. It would only have to be moved if it was plastic.

I'm currently gathering quotes for emergency lighting for the hallway of a house converted into 4 flats (3 of which open into hallway/landing area). Some electricians have said this will necessitate replacing the existing (relatively new and fully functional) RCD unit with a metal one, others have made no mention of this, so I checked with the NICEIC governing body - below is my initial question and their response for future reference:

QUESTION: "I am in process of getting quotes for emergency lighting for a hallway shared by 3 flats. The current RCD was installed 2010, but I gather this must be replaced with a metal one when the emergency lighting is installed. This is in a cupboard in the hallway, close to the door the only (means of escape). It is not near the stairs. Would enclosing the existing RCD in metal container be compliant?"

ANSWER: "It is permissible to carry out additions or alterations on an installation that was not designed to current regulations ( Amendment ) without altering the existing RCD enclosure AS LONG AS IT IS STILL SUITABLE FOR USE. [my caps]
Any alterations or additions carried out on the circuit(s) from the RCD must comply with the current regulations.

The designer may choose to change the enclosure to a non-combustible type if you feel that it was in a vulnerable position and would hamper evacuation of the building should there be a fire however the enclosure of the RCD does not fall under BS EN 61439-3 and therefore does not need a non-combustible enclosure in compliance with 421.1.201."