We have inherited a bungalow, where the old consumer unit is in a small u shaped kitchen cupboard. You have to stick your head in the under sink cupboard and reach round to the left through the side of that unit to reach the trip fuses. It is old and used to have the fuses you needed to change the fuse wire in , when blown. These have been switched for resettable fuses.
I can't see any sign of cross bonding and earthing in either the kitchen or bathroom pipes and radiators.
Our intention is to have the consumer unit replaced, which I understand means that the latest guidelines need to be adhered to. The ideal place in this small kitchen would be on the same outside wall with a flush mounted box ( http://www.gil-lec.co.uk/hager-vmlf110- ... sumer-unit ) between the work surface and the wall units, to get the new height and accessibility regs. This means the front face of the metal unit would be650mm from the sink bowl and circa 1200mm from the sink tap.
My questions are:
1) Is it okay to have a consumer unit in this location please?
2) Does an electrician have to do all the work please? My thoughts are for me to make the hole and chasing to install the consumer unit and suitable metal trunking to bury the wires to the existing consumer unit location, leaving the actual wiring extentions etc. to my electrician, who is going to do a full electrical survey and carry out the work so that we can get a certificate on the bungalow.
Many thanks in anticipation.
