Am I allowed to move my consumer/fuse box?

[Noidea2020]

Hi all. We’re moving into a new build home in a few weeks and the one thing that’s bugging us is the location of the fuse box. It’s 1400mm from the floor near the front door and is in the way.

i’ve been doing some research as to why it’s in such a stupid place and have learnt its down to the regulations.They have to be that height to make it easier for disabled people.

Can I have this moved or not?

Thanks in advance.

 

[James]

You could have it moved.
Wherever you have it moved to will need to be accessible and at a suitable height to meet building control requirements.

The amount of work required will be huge, because all the cables are buried in the wall and may have to be chased out and replaced.

Not something I would recommend.

 

[SJD]

The photo doesn't show enough to really say, but it might be a lot easier and cheaper to replace the front door with one that opens the other way, if that is of any help!

 

[Baddegg]

What’s the other side of that wall?

 

[littlespark]

Perfect height for working on, and a handy shelf for your keys.
As mentioned, difficult now to have it moved, although I dont see any DNO equipment?
Im guessing its an outside wall, and the theres a meter box outside. Handy if its a built on garage, then the board could be moved in there.
You can get flush mounted fuseboards that are sunk into the wall and lie flat.

But realistically... i think its something youll get used to. Better than crawling under the stairs or needing a stepladder just to reset a breaker

 

[Noidea2020]

Thanks all. The other side of the wall is the outside and where the meter is. I’d just like it raised towards the ceiling if possible. Happy for it to stay by the door, just want it out of the way.

I suppose if not then maybe a flush mounted one will suffice. Could then put a little shelf around it or something. This one just protrudes out too much.

 

[James]

Use extreme caution if you mount anything to the wall in the area around it, you don’t want to drill through any of the many cables coming out of the consumer unit .
Possibly best left to someone with the correct tools to detect what is hidden behind the plaster.

 

[Noidea2020]

Use extreme caution if you mount anything to the wall in the area around it, you don’t want to drill through any of the many cables coming out of the consumer unit .
Possibly best left to someone with the correct tools to detect what is hidden behind the plaster.

Oh criky no I wouldn’t be doing anything myself lol.

 

[littlespark]

It looks like a concrete floor, so i imagine every outgoing cable goes up. Meaning if you want the board higher, its easier to make them shorter. (also means, dont hammer a nail directly above to hang a picture!)
The supply cable will come from behind from the meter box at the same height... not so easy to replace.

 

[Darkwood]

@Noidea2020 - This warrants a little thinking outside the box (pun intended)

Cheapest solution and no disturbing the set-up would be to extend the front door pillar, you could easily create a flush extended boxing, locate the switch onto the boxing if required and create an access hatch for the fuseboard, a professional joiner could give a very nice boxing with a aesthetically pleasing access hatch or even a hidden hatch.

PS - that really looks horrendous, regulations are regulations but a little bit of pride and creativity could have seen that fuseboard sited in a much better position and still maintained compliance, this is why we don't see a fuseboard stuck out the door entry at any new build I have ever seen.

 

[Noidea2020]

I’m still not sure if raising it will be legal. The regulations state they “should” be mounted 1350mm -1450mm off the floor. However, it doesn’t say they “must” be mounted that high.

Can anyone give me a definite answer as to wether this will be legal or not?

The house we’re living in now has it near the ceiling and it was only built 18 months ago. I’m totally confused.

 

[James]

The wiring regs are not a law, they are a set of recommendations that if complied with means any legal challenge to the safety of the installation is likely to fail.

Legal challenges are likely to come from the health and safety at work act, or disability discrimination laws, they would then use the 18th edition regs as a base to mount there legal challenge.
Non compliance will not necessarily mean that you loose, but it is likely that you would unless you can provide some substantial arguments as to why it needs to be like that or what has been done to mitigate the non compliance.

 

[SJD]

I've found in practice that some aspects are down to the building inspector at the time of the work (new build/extension, etc). Some are stricter than others, though in recent times anything relating to fire regulations has got stricter.

I remember an extension some years back, where the customer was adamant they did not want a fan in the new utility room, but they did have a cat flap fitted in the brick wall. The inspector took a pragmatic view and said the cat flap would suffice for ventilation! More recently, another similar job, again no fan wanted in the utility, this time the inspector insisted the builder retrofit it and I had to wire it up.

As to the current consumer unit location, you will see a lot of new builds with them low down by the front door. Possibly the developer knows that will cause no issue, and avoids having to justify why it is higher up. You could try asking your Building Control if they have any issue with it being moved, but at the risk of being told no (when it is then harder to do it anyway!).

Personally I like darkwood's suggestion to effectively box it in (with access, i.e. a discrete cupboard).