Collaborative Electrical Rewire – Part 5 : Installation Day 3 – Connecting Consumer Unit

Saturday 17th December 2016

Removing the original consumer unit

Ian quite likes them, but I’ve never enjoyed having to change fuse wire in old consumer units. Thankfully I’ve not had to since I moved in here, but I’ll be glad to see the back of this one.

This switch controlled the lighting upstairs and downstairs on a single circuit :

Ian & Sam worked hard to get everything done with the consumer unit, drilling a hole through the flat part of the cornice to reduce damage to it (It will be easier to repair & hide the damage in future on a flat or concave section)

I kept myself busy creating and fitting dochans, preparing back boxes, hammering in cable clips and wiring in the sockets & switches (which Sam then checked)

Removing the old consumer unit revealed this piece of wallpaper… could this have been the original decor from when the house was built 127 years ago, or is it from a later redecoration?

Installing the new consumer unit…

The isolation switch meant that Sam could easily & safely connect the new consumer unit to the meter & supply when everything was ready to go.

Sam very kindly fitted this all in around various family responsibilities, giving up the spare parts of his Saturday (including the evening) to ensure we were up and running! This was much appreciated and demonstrates his thorough and caring ethos.

He plans to return next week to test everything fully and complete any extra bits and pieces as needed.

Read about that here…