Rewiring

[coccinelle]

How often do you need to rewire your electrics in the house? This house was done in 1990 when we moved in, is it still OK?

[ummmm]

It should still be okay. Parts of our house is much older than that. Our fuse board is so old that the electrician had never seen one. We had it checked when we had a power cut and told there's absolutely nothing wrong with it.

[coccinelle]

That's good news then ummmm ; something less to worry about!!

[Hymie]

Even over zealous electricians would claim that house wiring is good for a minimum of 25 years. My house was built in around 1980 and I have no intention of having the wiring inspected, let alone replaced. I reckon modern PVC sheathed wiring should be good for at least 50 years, providing that it is not overloaded or subject to damage.

[dennisb66]

My home was built in 1930,when I
bought it 10 years ago I noticed it had old rubber sheafing which was in a bad state so i had the house rewired. Your home wiring should be fine for many years coccinelle.

[RATTER15]

^Ditto

[woofgang]

We had a new fuse board and had the house wiring tested and certificated when we got a new kitchen 2 years ago The house is 27 years old and the wiring was all fine.

[RAV1D]

Depends How wealthy and fussy you are and the age of the wiring and the condition of it all. If it seems faulty and old then best to be safe but if 1990 and all working fine then no need unless you have the cash to splash and feel better for it done again!

[The Builder]

It should be tested every 10 years. If it tests OK then nothing to worry about :o)

[shoota]

'Don't fix it if it ain't broke' -sic

[BRIGHT SPARK]

No wonder theres so many hungry sparkys about with attitudes like this:-(

[coccinelle]

Thanks so much for your replies. Looks fine then. The Builder how do I check it?

[woofgang]

I think you get an electrician in. She or he will test it and issue a certificate.

[tonyav]

coccinelle, you need to get an electrician to come and test it, have a look in your Yellow pages or similar.

[coccinelle]

What do they actually test? The fuse box?

[woofgang]

My bloke wandered around the house testing sockets. He explained to me IIRC that he was checking that the socket was delivering the full whack of power and that none was therefore "leaking" out of broken wiring or insulation. This is probably hideously over simplified but he knew he was talking to a technological idiot.

[The Builder]

They test the whole system, Cocci. I won't go into all the technical tests, but.......... they test the insulation on all the wiring (this will show up problems with older wiring.)
Also the earthing details, to make sure the fuses/circuit breakers etc operate properly if there's a fault.
The RCD (trip) is fully tested as well.
It's all designed to re-assure you that, even if the worst faults develop, then you'll always be safe.

[coccinelle]

Thank you woofgang and The Builder for your answers. Any idea how much this can cost to get tested? just don't want to be ripped off.

[woofgang]

We got ours as a freebie when we had our new fusebox installed as part of having a new fitted kitchen two years ago. The bloke who did it said that he charged the kitchen company 50 quid but that if he did it as a one off for a customer, it cost more.

[cupid04]

Mr. cupid and I are worried that we might have to fork out for updating the
electrics in the house. Lightbulbs keep blowing and we don't know why. We do have a circuit breaker.Ours hasn't been done since 1978!

[ummmm]

British Gas tested ours for nothing....

Parts of the house have been updated over the years. The sparky who fitted our kitchen lights fitted a trip switch.