House electrics

[dombanks]

Does anyone know if you can move your electric meter and if not how far away from the meter you can move the fuse box? 

My electrics ate a dogs dinner so i want to investigate 1. Combing the two separate fuse boxes into 1 and if possible moving it all.... Im kinda sizing up a rewire anyway. 

Im. Guessing not cheap... To move the gas meter literally the other side of a wall was 760 plus vat

[tolf]

9 hours ago, dombanks said:

Does anyone know if you can move your electric meter and if not how far away from the meter you can move the fuse box? 

My electrics ate a dogs dinner so i want to investigate 1. Combing the two separate fuse boxes into 1 and if possible moving it all.... Im kinda sizing up a rewire anyway. 

Im. Guessing not cheap... To move the gas meter literally the other side of a wall was 760 plus vat

Calling Paul Carey to the forum

[Ian Kinder (Bagpuss) - Joint Peak District AO]

I've  moved my meter. I had a friend of a friend who worked in the stores at a certain network connection company and he arranged it. Much cheaper than the official route. I'm not aware of any distance issues. I suggest visiting your local pub a tea time, if network utility vans are parked outside and see what buying them a drink leads too. 

 

[Rhett Turner - Black Country AO]

We had both our gas and electricity meters moved a while ago so the legislation may have changed. They were in a garage that we were going to convert to a kitchen. I seem to remember something about a meter max and we managed to make sure that I kept to within that. I had a plumber and electrician sort out the internal pipework and electrics. we two had two fuse boxes which we replace with a single unit. The house had been partially re-wired but some circuits had not yet been replaced, with the new circuits plenty of length or tails had been left, for the one still to be done, they extended with junction boxes. (these have now been replaced). I had a builder install the external boxes (which we sourced from the utility suppliers), they were installed higher than is normal but withing acceptable bounds to make sure that the distances were still withing limits, from memory when the Gas people came to install they did kick up a bit of a fuss (couldn't be bothered I think the problem was), my wife spoke to the supervising department who then told the engineers to get on with it. 

[Scarey]

The meter and supply cable belong to the utility company so therefore they have to move it. Not sure of cost but it’s gonna be big! 

A local electrician will be able to move your consumer unit to a new position. 

If you have two units, is one of them for storage heaters or do you just have multiple circuits and more than one board? 

All work would then have to be certified so it’s not really a DIY job anymore 

[BenD]

Not sure how true it is or not I just did what the electrician told me but when he moved my consumer unit roughly around 6meters from the meter we had to have thicker meter tails due to the length and also had to have a kmf fitted inside the meter box I think its a 60amp but I can't remember 

[dombanks]

Its definitely something not for DIY thats for sure... 

The second unit is cos there is a shower... The wiring is old i would say. Typical of old houses 1 plug ring 1light ring 1for cooker. So add in a separate box for the electric shower.... So i guess at a push i could put in a ring for the garage from this second box but this lot is a right old mess so before i decorate the whole house why not investigate getting it sorted properly. 

[dombanks]

This is the joy in the cupboard... You csn really feel the quality of the workmanship and care

Thats an ikea billy bookcase cupboard btw that when they fitted the second unit couldnt be bothered to cut a new hole or remove the back boardso just svrewed it on through it

[Sparkymart]

you will need to get your utility company to move the main fuse/meter  and depending on the run you will probably need to run in 25mm tails and a 16mm earth cable  to the new position and a 100A double pole isolator where you want the new main fuse which will take the incoming tails from the meter/main fuse  . Then fit a split load consumer unit so all your sockets shower etc are covered by the R.C.D and  the lighting circuit is on the side with just a main switch so if anything trips the RCD you dont get left in darkness . I've been out of the house bashing game now for a fair few years now so not up to date with all the new regs but that should still give you an idea 

[Thrustyjust]

All fuse boxes are now steel cased , but anything is doable. When we had the extension built, we had a new fuse box in the garage. There was one already there for the garage and ran in on an armoured cable from the fuse box which is about 6 mtres away. It was changed out and we have been advised to change the tails from the meter to the main board as this is now close to its limit. We dont use electric heating in there , so the main power useage is just computer, xbox and garage stuff. Just changed all fluorescent tubes to LED and keep consumption low, so I dont need to change the tails , as sure it will be expensive as it has to be chased through the dry lining in the room it is in and it may involve a fuse box change and the fuse needs to be anti tamper lead sealed.

[Kevin Wood]

If you can live with that wooden board supporting the meter staying where it is, then you just need an electrician to do what you want with the consumer unit, as you own everything downstream of that. If you need to move the wooden board too, then it will involve the distribution network operator and get much more "spendy".

It would also be worth checking the existing wiring out beforehand as there may be other issues which need to be brought up to standard when the CU is changed. Looking at the likely age of that wiring, I'd be checking that you have a protective earth conductor to each light fitting and switch for a start.

I'm taking a stab in the dark guess that a consumer unit swap would cost around £500 - £750 plus whatever it costs to relocate the wiring to the new location.

I am not an electrician.