hi all, been a while since ive posted but need some advice, i currently rent out my old house to the sister in law, she's away on hols atm but her boyfriends family have been in the house doing some decorating before they get back, they got a family friend in to check out the fuse box as it kept on blowing the fuse wire, its still on the old style fuse wire system. the sparky said that the lighting circuit was overloading it and thats why its blowing, ive been down and it does seem when you turn on alot of the lights the fuse wire is glowing and smoking causing a really bad smell which ive been told is toxic, now the sister in law is in early pregnancy so id like to get this sorted asp, i was going to have the fuse box upgraded next year anyway to a new RCD but the sparky that took a look said the wiring for the lights is shite as well so it all need replacing, its never done this before its just started happening which is why im so confused, could some one give me a ball park figure to how much it should cost to fit a new RCD and rewire just the lights

i dont currently make any money on the house we just charge her what the house costs us to give her a helping hand so id prefer it not to cost an arm and a leg

if it helps the house is a small 2 up 2 down terrace, 5 lights down stairs with 4 light switch's and 3 lights up stairs with 3 light switch's

thanks for any advice

Something wrong here. Max lamp size = 100W more likely 60W and a 6A fuse will allow 1380W so you would need 14 x 100W or 23 x 60W lamps. Now 2 up and 2 down with 23 lights does not seem right. In fact you list lamps and even if all 100W it should work.

So something which should be on a socket supply is clearly connected to lights. So start looking again. Any flood lights out side? What have they added. With CFU instead of tungsten you should be well within limits so that must be first step.

hi, thanks for the reply

just been asking the wife as she picked all the light fittings and they were left when we moved, the front light fitting has 5 bulbs at 60w each, the dining room has 5 bulbs again with 60w bulbs, the kitchen has 5 halogen bulbs and there about 12w each and there is another 60w bulb near the back door and 3 halogen bulbs in the bathroom, again about 12w. there are 2 60w bulbs up stairs and 3 40w up stairs, i disconected all exterior lights years ago so they wont be causing a problem, as far as im aware they havnt added anything else or if they have they havnt consulted me about it

for me that works out around 1000w

we lived their for 8 years and this never happened, is it usual for this problem to occur without any human input to cause it

also its 5 amp fuse wire in the fuse

sorry for being dumb but whats CFU

CFU = low energy bulb (Compact flourescent unit)

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I Know it says I'm On-line, but I might have just left myself logged in, whilst I'm out....

It seems you are close to limit so first step would be to fit some compact fluorescent units. I don't like the word energy saving as only save energy in summer but that is a common name for them.

5A times 230 volt = 1150W so in theroy the fuse should not blow. So still think your looking as something connected to lights that should not be. Favourite is a 13A socket in loft fitted for the TV booster to be plugged into then something else plugged in instead. Another is taking a spur from bathroom socket which was originally fed from lights.

With no meters first step is use the main electric meter to see if something in use you don't know about. Switch off everything and look at meter. Clearly it should be stopped. Next remove lights fuse and try all non lights stuff and find if anything stopped working.

I can't really understand why the Electrician you had was not suspecting same as me? To just say overloaded and needs a re-wire seems a little off. I would have pointed out why it's overloaded.

cheers pal. im going to take down the multi bulb lights and fit singles then do what you say with the fuse box. ta

ok, ive swaped some lights over for singles, to my maths there is now about 700w of bulbs and the fuse wire aint glowibg bit if i add another 60w bulb it glows slightly. ive checked all the sockets and non are wired up to the lights so do you think i should start with having an rcd fitted? im thinking if the lights are split into upstairs and down stairs rather than all one circuit it should be ok. whats the cost of having an rcd fitted? thanks for any help

it's hard to say because it depends on your wiring test 1st. sometimes we find lazy sparks have borrowed the live from downstairs and used the neutral from upstairs, that knocks an RCD off as an imbalance. that has to be corrected before you can install it for separate circuits unless they are both on the same fuse.

if you have fuse wire i would honestly be changing the whole box to one with MCB's & RCD's or the lot for RCBO's.

a fusebox change usually costs between £350-£550 depending on your installation plus how many circuits.

however, as Eric said, the options should have been given to you to check everything 1st. to simply tell you that you need to change the box doesn't actually solve any problem you currently have.

ive got my sparky booked for wednesday to fit the new board and test everything for £300 thats with new bonding cable aswell does that sound ok?

personally i think that sounds slightly too cheap, enough to make me question what he is giving you?

you need to know what CU he is fitting, is it a 17th board?
how many MCB's
is he registering it and giving you a certificate?

if he is doing all of the above and you are getting at least an 8-10 way CU then yes you have an excellent price. i know you wouldn't get one done for anything less than £350 around here and that does NOT include bonding.

to be wary of additional extras. if you have faults as you have explained above you are likely to be hit with extra work. he should be testing 1st before he does a change of CU, that way you should know the costs involved before he changes the CU.

yea i got quotes a handfull of quotes at £350 everything included, this sparky is a doing it as a favor as his friends son lives in the house

well i nipped down to the house tday and checked all the switch's had to re-connect 2 loose earths and a loose live, new board is still going in on wednesday thou, thanks for the advice

cheers

craig