Fuse boards explained
Your Fuseboxes – the fuse board also known as the consumer unit should be easy to find. You should know where it is, in case you need to turn the electricity off in an emergency, at any of your fuseboxes.
It usually contains many different safety components, and they are used to control and distribute electricity around your home. They are The main switch; Fuses and/or circuit breakers; and Residual Current Devices, and now SPD devices, which are all contained within you fuseboxes.
One simple piece of advice, get an Emergency light installed by your fuse board, that way when the power trips out you can at least see what is going on, not end up trying to find a torch or light a match or lighter, and potentially burn the house down!
A) MainSwitch– This allows you to turn off the electricity supply to your home. You might have more than one mains switch, for example, if your home has electric storage heaters. In this case, you may have a separate fuse board.
B) Residual Current Devices (RCD)These are switches that trip a circuit under dangerous conditions, and instantly disconnect the electricity.
Testing of RCDs and RCBOs.
If your home has one or more RCDs, test them regularly. Just follow the instruction label, which you should find near to the RCD. It should read as follows:
“This installation, or part of it, is protected by a device which automatically switches off the supply if an earth fault develops. Test every 6 months by pressing the button marked ‘T’ or ‘Test’.”
I normally advise clients to do it when the clocks go back or forward as you end up re-setting them anyway so turning the power off to test your safety device at the same time seems a much easier reminder.
Testing the button every 6 months is important. The device should switch off the electricity. You should then switch it back on to restore the electricity. Do not hold the test button for a long period if the RCD does not trip. If it doesn’t switch off the electricity when you press the button, contact a registered electrician.
Other protective devices.
C) Circuit Breakers – these are automatic protection devices in the fuse board that switch off a circuit if they detect a fault. They are similar in size to fuses but give more precise protection. When they ‘trip’, you can simply reset the switch. (Rather than hunting for a bit of fuse wire) But make sure you correct the fault first!
Fuses (not on the image, may be found in place of circuit breakers) –rewirable fuses have a piece of special fuse wire running between two screws. When a fault or overload current flows through the fuse wire, it will become hot and melt. The melted fuse breaks the circuit, disconnecting the faulty circuit and keeping you safe.
AFDDs
The latestes safety device to now be incorporated into our modern fuse boards is a combination of RCBO/MCB and AFDD, these devices are now the state of the art protection and will eventually be required in all locations, but they are at present only required in certain locations un BS 7671.
If your fuse board has a wooden back, cast iron switches, or a mixture of fuses, it likely dates back to before the 1960s and we will advise you to replace it with the far safer protection methods now available in modern-day boards for your safety.
For further information, Contact us today at: 07957-432-981