Best Consumer unit for home

[James]

I try to keep out of Domestic work but I have a problem at home.

Currently I have a wylex fuse board with re-wire fuses.
they are great because nuisance tripping never happens!!

however, it is an overhead TT supply and this is covered by a 30mA non delay rcd that covers the whole house.
this evening the rcd tripped and the wife got mad at me.
because in her mind being married to an electrician means that our electricity should be of a better quality than everybody else's and one stupid trip switch shouldn't turn everything off.

now no amount of waffle and bull faeces including flux capacitor integration into a 100 year old house is going to persuade her that it cant be done so I am now sadly looking into doing a job that is 10 years overdue.

If I am going to do it, I am going to do it properly so what are your recommendations for domestic consumer units?
may as well have all the mod cons in it SPD, RCBO, time delay rcd incomer.
are there any other bells, whistles or collections of random letters i should be thinking about?

might need a pen fault detector as i think in future they may upgrade the supply and i have a car charger.

 

[LukeD]

Depends.... Do a GOOD EICR first and see if the wiring will cause a RCBO board issues ... if so, stick on a twin RCD and hope for the best or do a full rewire .God know how many "stolen " neutrals and earth etc you have?

 

[James]

I have no continuity between N and E
global IR is good
I have already decided to replace it, any issues found when doing so will be rectified.
so really i am looking to find what the best gear is.
my normal go to for industrial is eaton but i think maybe Schneider might have a better reputation for domestic?

 

[LukeD]

Fusebox... might be most peoples answer ?

 

[James]

And before anybody tells me that i should get a registered electrician to come round and do it,
or the specification of something like this is to complex to suggest online because we think that you are about to take on a DIY project above your knowledge base.

Trust me when I tell you that i have changed several sockets and lights etc in the past and they all work fine so you have nothing to worry about ;-)

 

[SparkyChick]

I've been using Contactum, I think they are the Defenders, for a while and I've had no issues. They have nice space inside, look nice. Last one was in the summer replacing a couple of ancient Wylex 3036 boards. Plenty of device choice, if you need things like timers and such like.

I've only fitted one Schneider, Easy series, but I've worked on a few and there's just something that I can't quite put my finger on... I tried it, didn't like it and never did another one.

 

[westward10]

Crabtree Starbreaker.

 

[nicebutdim]

If it was my own house I'd go with something that guaranteed future availability for upgrades etc.

Hager or Crabtree would tick this box, along with being decent quality, but starbreaker would be top of the list - DP RCBOs ensuring no stray neutral currents give rise to angry wife and plug in busbar means no chance of having to switch the lot off if adding another circuit.


Edit: What @westward10 managed to post without the sales pitch.

 

[James]

Crabtree Starbreaker.

Glad you like them, I have one of there 3 phase boards in my workshop so the breakers would be the same as some i have in stock.

 

[James]

If it was my own house I'd go with something that guaranteed future availability for upgrades etc.

Hager or Crabtree would tick this box, along with being decent quality, but starbreaker would be top of the list - DP RCBOs ensuring no stray neutral currents give rise to angry wife and plug in busbar means no chance of having to switch the lot off if adding another circuit.


Edit: What @westward10 managed to post without the sales pitch.

ah, ok the starbreaker boards are not the same as the board i have in the workshop, that uses a more standard busbar type distribution.

 

[nicebutdim]

Are you sure it's starbreaker?

Didn't think they made 3 phase devices for the range.


Edit: answered as I was typing. Can't seem to get ahead of posts in this thread.

 

[Dustydazzler]

My own house would be the old plastic MK board I have collecting dust in the garage and use up all and any old RCBOs I have kicking about from other jobs that I can shoe horn onto the busbar

 

[nicebutdim]

this evening the rcd tripped and the wife got mad at me.
because in her mind being married to an electrician means that our electricity should be of a better quality than everybody else's and one stupid trip switch shouldn't turn everything off...

If I am going to do it, I am going to do it properly so what are your recommendations for domestic consumer units?
may as well have all the mod cons in it SPD, RCBO, time delay rcd incomer.

My own house would be the old plastic MK board I have collecting dust in the garage and use up all and any old RCBOs I have kicking about from other jobs that I can shoe horn onto the busbar

I feel a bit silly now, not having thought of that suggestion.

 

[SJD]

As mentioned by nicebutdim, if I was planning to live there long-term, I'd want something that will be supported long-term. So much though I like and routinely install Fusebox, I'd have to wonder will they be around in 10 or 20 years, or would I end up looking on eBay for spares. It is hard to know for sure of the decent brands which will survive long-term, my best guess is Hager.

 

[ipf]

Schneider acti9 3 phase is great but I'm not keen on the easy9 domestic single phase. Fusebox seems ok but it's Hager for me.
For donkeys years, I was a Wylex fan but not the latest stuff.

 

[Baddegg]

As above I like the fuse box range and fit the spd models as standard…..3 this week so far ….if I can’t get them I use contactum defender….both these balance quality against the amount people will pay in the domestic market…..but reading through I’m in agreement with the long term view and would probably stump up for Hager or Schneider in my own place when I inevitably find myself in your position @James….it won’t be long as my wife recently discovered that our “electric thingy” (not my work) doesn’t look as nice as the one I’ve just fitted in her friends place…

 

[AJshep]

I like the Electrium consumer units but the cost is still higher then others.

For my house I'd probably go for a Hager with built in SPD. The SPDs in the Hager consumer units are rated at 100amp so don't require any additional OCPD. However as it's a TT I'd be inclined to change the Main switch to a 100ma Time delayed.
Hager have recently dropped the price of their mixture SPSN miniature RCBOs to around £15 each.

 

[timhoward]

Hager have recently dropped the price of their mixture SPSN miniature RCBOs to around £15 each.

I was about to say that the benefit of Crabtree Starbreaker is they make SPSN RCBOs.
Then you wrote that; so maybe I'm wrong but I've never seen a single module SPSN RCBO from Hager, only SP+N. I know the AFDDs are SPSN.
I think I specifically asked this on here a while back and this was confirmed.

 

[ferg]

I went for Hager in mine and that is what I fit as standard.
I've fitted a few fusebox boards where cost was the primary concern and I have to say I much prefer Hager.
As above the RCBOs have come down in price lately making cost less of an issue.
When it came to changing mine I had a Fusebox and RCBOs in stock waiting for a home and I still fitted Hager.
I used to keep both brands but now I only keep Hager.
Due to my location I have to carry a fair bit of stock and have been using Hager for many years without issue.

 

[nicebutdim]

I went for Hager in mine and that is what I fit as standard.
I've fitted a few fusebox boards where cost was the primary concern and I have to say I much prefer Hager.
As above the RCBOs have come down in price lately making cost less of an issue.
When it came to changing mine I had a Fusebox and RCBOs in stock waiting for a home and I still fitted Hager.
I used to keep both brands but now I only keep Hager.
Due to my location I have to carry a fair bit of stock and have been using Hager for many years without issue.

Can you resolve the issue of whether or not Hager offer SP+N RCBOs (regardless of cost) in a single module width? My understanding was the same as @timhoward in that they don't.

For me the main selling point of Hager is the fact that backward compatibility has been maintained over many years, but would favour Starbreaker in that regard as the range also incorporates other beneficial features. I don't dislike Hager in the least, but often struggle to understand their popularity in the domestic distribution board market.