Your consumer unit, the fuse box, is the heart of your home's electrics, and it's worth replacing when it can no longer protect you properly. The clearest signs are old-style rewireable fuses (the ceramic holders with fuse wire), a wooden or hard-plastic back, or no RCDs, the safety switches that cut the power in a fraction of a second when a fault could give a shock. A board that trips constantly, buzzes, feels warm or shows scorching is telling you the same thing. You'd also upgrade one when you rewire, add an EV charger or take on a lot of new circuits, so the protection keeps pace with the load.
A modern board gives every circuit its own safety switch, so a fault in one room never blacks out the whole house, and adds surge protection to guard your appliances. A lot of Lanarkshire's older housing, from the tenement flats around Wishaw to the ex-council stock across Motherwell and Hamilton, still runs on boards that are well overdue. As a SELECT-registered contractor we test every circuit before the changeover so there are no surprises, fit a quality board, label it clearly and certify the work to BS 7671 and the Scottish building standards. Most are finished in a day.
Old fuses or no RCDs
Rewireable fuses, a wooden back or no safety switches mean the board can't protect you the way a modern one does.
Trips, buzzing or warmth
A board that trips constantly, hums or feels warm is a sign it's struggling and worth having looked at.
Tested and certified
Every circuit is tested before the swap and the new board certified to BS 7671, usually finished within a day.
Your questions, answered
How do I know if my fuse box is out of date?
If it has rewireable fuses, a wooden or hard-plastic back or no RCD safety switches, it's an older design worth upgrading. If yours is modern and sound, we'll tell you so, we never sell a board you don't need.
Why does my new consumer unit trip when the old one never did?
Modern boards catch faults the old one silently ignored, which is exactly the protection you're paying for. We test every circuit at the changeover, so anything the new board flags gets found and fixed properly.
How long does it take to replace a fuse box?
Most are done in a day, with the power off for just a few hours in the middle. We test every circuit first so there are no surprises, then label the new board and walk you round it before we leave.
Ready for electrics done properly?
Free fixed quotes across Wishaw and North Lanarkshire. Certified work, an immaculate finish and a price that doesn't move.