Board Changes
What is the difference between a fuse box and an electrical consumer unit?
Are you worried the fuse box in your home is old, unsafe and no longer complies with UK regulations? Then perhaps it is time to replace it with a more modern consumer unit.
A fuse box and a consumer unit serve the same purpose. They distribute electricity through multiple circuits and turn off the power when an overload occurs on one of the circuits. This is commonly known as ‘tripping’.
When tripping occurs, a consumer unit will switch the power off using the circuit breaker linked to the overloaded circuit. It will turn itself to the ‘off’ position so it is easy to identify where the fault lies. Once the issue is fixed, the circuit breaker can be switched back on and the power restored.
A fuse box uses fuses instead of circuit breakers. Each fuse contains a wire which will melt if there is an electrical overload and make the circuit trip and switch the power off. It is not as easy to identify the faulty circuit and the melted fuse has to be replaced before the power can be restored.
Consumer units are basically the modern and safer version of fuse boxes which in most cases are no longer compliant with current electrical regulations.
If your house is fitted with an old fuse box, it might be time to for you to replace it.
