It’s important to make sure that your consumer unit meets current regulations. If you find your power is regularly tripping, you should ask us to check your consumer unit.
Current regulations
Current regulations state that Consumer Units should have their enclosure manufactured from non-combustible material. Or, they should be enclosed in a cabinet/enclosure constructed from non-combustible material.
Since July 2008, new circuits, rewired circuits and additions to circuits in homes have been required to include a Residual Current Device (RCD). Many installations are pre-2008 and therefore will not have this additional protection. Upgrading your consumer unit can help meet current regulation.
We install the most recent breaker, called an RCBO, which combines your typical breaker with an RCD. This means that you’ll never have to worry about your lights tripping and causing your sockets to go off as well.
NUISANCE TRIPPING
Sometimes when there is a fault in a circuit or an appliance it can cause a breaker to trip regularly. If that fault is detected by an RCD, the RCD will trip, which causes you to lose power to multiple circuits, depending on your board. Older consumer units won’t have RCDs, or may have an RCD that covers only sockets, or only circuits.
Having RCBOs installed will minimise the inconvenience of a fault by ensuring only the faulty circuit will lose power and none others are affected.
SURGE PROTECTION
Surge protection devices (SPD) are a requirement under the 18th Edition of the Wiring Regulations and essential in protecting equipment from damage.
A surge protection device is designed to protect electrical devices such as computers and TV's from voltage spikes.
The surge protection device (SPD) attempts to lessen the voltage supplied to an electrical device by either blocking or shorting to earth any unwanted voltages above a safe standard.