Swaffham Prior

Does my home need a new fuseboard?

This depends on several things, not just the age! As time goes on and new technologies become commonplace inside our homes, the level of circuit protection needs to be updated to ensure maximum protections against electric shock and fire risks

You may remember a time when you had your vehicle go through a MOT at the garage, When you received the paperwork, you may also remember looking at the test results obtained on the emissions and thinking it was a foreign language to you 

Well, its the exact same for test results on an electrical form, weather it be a certificate or a report. However, the information is important and has some use to you. I am going to carry on with the reasoning for this further on in this article 

I have recently just completed an EICR on a house in the heart of Huntingdon, along with the necessary remedial works needed to get the installation to reach a satisfactory standard for continued use 

The situation turned out that the previous occupant was keen in his DIY work, unfortunately, on this occasion, while his electrical work MAY have physically worked with his lights and socket outlets working as intended, his cable selection and methods of installation left much to be desired 

I get asked by a lot of homeowners in Huntingdon 'does my home need a full rewire'? 

The answer to this question depends on  a few things. Here is a small list on things to look out for when answering this question 

1. Fuse box? Is it an old style fuse box incorporating rewireable fuse's? This would suggest that the house has not had any major electrical renovation work from the 60/70s. At this stage, it would be wise to seen an inspection and report from a local, reliable electrician 

It has never been more important to get into the habit of testing your RCD's once every six months and here's why:

RCD's have been at the forefront of providing protection against electric shocks in the home for years and years. Traditional methods of providing protection have been substituted and shelved in favour of installing these devices instead 

I have recently had a number of existing customers from both the Cambridge and Huntingdon areas contact me, chasing copies of old certification on their properties because they have mislaid the documents and require them urgently for reasons such as selling/letting a property etc 

It seems to me that people are keen to keep a FSH on a car, but not as much as on an electrical installation of their property, which is a bit of a head scratcher for me 

Posh garden lighting is high in demand right now and my requests for quotations to install external lighting products still continue to rise 

I would like to share a few hints and tips with you when deciding on your project:

1. Decide on what colour lighting you wish to have in your garden and stick to the same colour throughout- I personally favour the warmer white coloured light (yellow like a candle). I believe this is the most relaxing type of lighting and the easiest on the eye. Perfect for the twilight on a warm summers evening 

It is not often I get the opportunity to carry out full rewires to houses for several reasons, but I am glad that I had the opportunity to carry out this one in December. A complete overhaul of a 5-bedroom house right in the heart of the town of Cambridge 

The property is to become a home of multiple occupants, meaning that extra considerations had to be given to the electrical installation to comply with standards and law, meaning that additional smoke detectors had to be installed in every room and emergency lighting present in the building 

A challenge for myself 

Blog 13: Electrical Installation Condition Reports

It was inevitable that I was going to put pen to paper about my thoughts about Electric cars and their place in the world today. With petrol and diesel cars slowly becoming a thing of the past and electric taking charge (no pun intended), I often wonder if things are going to go smoothly in the transition period