Advice needed.. Should i move consumer unit?

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About to under take a total house refurb

This consumer unit for the property is under a bay window in the living room

Having never come across a consumer unit in this location, i want to know whether it would be a good idea to get this moved to perhaps a cupboard under the stairs?

If so, what is the justification?

I also plan on having an EICR and changing the consumer unit

What would be the best order to have these works done?

1. EICR
2. Move consumer unit
3. Get it changed in conjunction with 2?
 

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I'd say the first thing to do is to get a general idea of the age and condition of the installation. To determine whether you are in "replace CU" territory or "rewire" territory. There isn't any point paying for a full inspection and test of the wiring if it's clear from a quick visual inspection that the property needs a rewire.

I could be wrong, but I think that box at the bottom is a *really* old-school fuse box and is feeding old rubber cables. If so and if that is representative of the installation as a whole then it's rewire time.

Regarding moving the CU it's IMO pretty pointless to move the CU without also getting the suppliers equipment moved and getting the suppliers equipment moved is not going to be cheap. I suspect most people would just keep it where it is and build a cupboard round it.
 
If that item under the meter is the 'consumer unit' then there is no point in any EICR.

Call the DNO and arrange to have the meter and cutout moved outside into a cabinet.
While that's being arranged (weeks/months), the property can be rewired and the new consumer unit installed wherever you want it.
 
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The more major part of the job will be moving the electricity board's mains and the meter. When you rewire (which looking at the age of what is there, you will be doing as a part of a major house renovation) the new consumer unit can go wherever you want it to (within reason). Get in touch with the power company sooner rather than later, though, to talk to them about moving the meter and the incoming power cable.
 
Regarding moving the CU it's IMO pretty pointless to move the CU without also getting the suppliers equipment moved and getting the suppliers equipment moved is not going to be cheap. I suspect most people would just keep it where it is and build a cupboard round it.
Over £2K was the indicative cost to move the supply

Me thinks that we will be building a cupboard around this :D

With a bay window directly above the supply, meter and consumer unit, will this pose any issues with the rewire?

Will this mean that there will be lots of unsightly trunking?
 
you could leave the meter and head there and put the consumer unit else where (they will be a lot bigger than that fusebox!)
Ideally within 3 meters of the meter.

You could put it on the other wall (and at head height). (I'm sure someone will give the regulation guidance for the height of CU's!)
 
My son decided where the fuse box was did not really work, so doing a full rewire over time, he put the consumer unit where he wanted it with an isolator along side it, with tails from isolator to new outside box for the DNO stuff so meter can be read without going into the house, and a 10 mm² cable from the biggest breaker he could find to fit old box to new consumer unit while waiting for DNO to move head.

So as soon as moved all he had to do was remove 10 mm² and fit tails from isolator to new consumer unit, and if they did it before he had finished rewire he could use the 10 mm² to feed in other direction, main reason for move was to get rid of cables around outside of house, as building work would cover them.

It took 3 years for them to finally move cables, the location of box was where cables came out of the ground, so should have been an easy job, and he was given a quote which he paid in advance, however it turned out that without the way-leave, some one had wired next door through the cables around the side of his house, and in that 3 years next door had changed hands and new owners laid a new drive.

Sons building work was stalled due to lack of funds, so it did not cause him much of a problem, but the point is the DNO are slow, where I worked we wanted a new supply, for a new building, they came to see what was involved, and said before you build those over heads need moving at your cost, my boss said I know I paid for them to be moved 15 years ago, think you have had enough time.

It is not like the builders, if they are too slow they are sacked and you get some one else, you have to wait until the DNO gets around to doing the job.

When my son was working as a sole trader the DNO was his biggest head ache, they would arrive early and late, and he would get a frantic phone call "DNO have been and moved meter, you need to move supply now before freezer defrosts." i.e. drop everything and do my job. I would get roped in to help when that happened, a few hours early OK but talking about a week early. OK with a firm with 10 electricians you can juggle things a bit.

With mothers house when doing a kitchen and house wiring well past its best, kitchen supply was a steel wire armoured cable around outside of house, there is usually a way around the problem, but the Part P charges unless other building work involved means it is not really DIY work, yes in theory you can DIY, in practice not worth it, cost more to DIY than get a scheme member.

So get a firm to look at it, and see what they suggest.
 

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