Boscombe, Southbourne, Winton, Kinson and Westbourne
Fuse board replacement in Bournemouth: a new consumer unit, fixed price, fitted in a day
New fuse boards from £625
Rewireable fuses, a board with one RCD for the whole house, or a plastic box with extra units screwed on the side. We swap it for a modern board with surge protection and a separate trip for every circuit, and you know the price before we start.
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Fuse board replacement prices in Bournemouth
Two things set the figure: how many ways the new board needs, and whether you want the whole installation tested in the same visit. Every price below is fixed, and it is confirmed in writing before any work begins.
| The job | Fixed price |
|---|---|
| RCBO board with surge protection, up to 7 ways | £625 |
| RCBO board with surge protection, up to 15 ways | £745 |
| New board plus the full EICR, one visit | £675 |
| Separate 4 way RCBO board for an outbuilding | £180 |
| Main bonding to the water pipe or the gas pipe, each | £90 |
Not sure of the size? Send us a photo of the open board. No VAT is added to any figure here.
The EICR is included in the bundle. We fit the new consumer unit with surge protection, then test every circuit in the house in the same visit. The general fuseboard changes page explains the bundle, and the quote page shows every separate price.
Is it time for a new fuse board?
Age alone is not the test. These are the signs that usually tell us a Bournemouth board has reached the end:
- Fuse carriers you pull out and rewire. Rewireable fuses can be mended with the wrong thickness of wire, and nobody can see that from outside.
- No test button anywhere. That nearly always means there is no RCD, so a small leak through a person would never switch the power off.
- Scorch marks, a warm smell or a buzz. Stop using it and call us, because that is a loose or overheating connection.
If the problem is a breaker that trips and you cannot see why, start with a fault finding visit rather than a new board. A new board will not cure a fault on a circuit, and it may trip more often until the fault is fixed.
What a Bournemouth board change includes
The fixed price covers a complete job, not just the box on the wall:
- A new metal consumer unit with an RCBO on each circuit, so a fault on one circuit only turns off that circuit.
- A surge protection device, which guards the wiring and anything plugged in against spikes on the supply.
- Insulation tests on every circuit before we start, so any hidden fault is found and priced before the old board comes off.
- Every circuit reconnected, tested and labelled in plain words, so anyone can see which switch feeds what.
- Checks on the earth and the main bonding, with the result written down.
- Paperwork for the new board, with the test readings for each circuit, sent to you by email.
- The old board taken away and the area left tidy.
Not in the board price: repairs to a circuit that fails its test, new meter tails or a main fuse (the supplier's to arrange), and moving the board to another wall. Each is priced in writing first.
Bournemouth fuse boards, area by area
Bournemouth's housing changes every mile or so, and the boards change with it. What we tend to find:
Boscombe and Springbourne. Large Victorian villas split into flats, sometimes three or four times over the decades. Each flat often has its own small board, and some of those are the original fuse boxes from the conversion.
Southbourne and Pokesdown. Edwardian and inter war houses near the cliff top. Salt air works on outside lights and on garage supplies, so we often fit a small outbuilding board alongside the main change.
Winton and Moordown. Terraces and semis along the Wimborne Road corridor, many of them let. Boards here have usually been changed once already, often to a single RCD board that now trips the whole house at once.
Kinson, West Howe and Westbourne. Post war family houses with sheds and garages in Kinson, bigger houses with two boards in Westbourne. The 15 way board is common in both.
Pete is based in Poole, twenty to thirty minutes from most of Bournemouth, so a board change here is an ordinary day for us rather than a long trip.
New boards in Bournemouth flats
A flat board is usually just inside the front door or in a hall cupboard, with the meter elsewhere. In converted villas the meters are often lined up together in a communal cupboard under the stairs, and in purpose built blocks along the cliffs they can sit in a locked room on the ground floor.
To change your board we isolate the supply at your meter, so ask your managing agent or freeholder for access to that cupboard before we come.
Your lease says who owns the cables in the shared hallway. If you let the flat out, the landlords and letting agents page explains how we work with agents and tenants.
Landlords: student lets and shared houses
Winton, Charminster and the streets round the Talbot campus hold a lot of student and shared houses. In those homes the board does more work than in a family house.
A board with a separate RCBO per circuit is worth it here. One tenant's faulty heater takes out one circuit, not the whole house, and the label on each switch tells them which one to reset. For a house let room by room, the 15 way board usually suits because each floor tends to have its own circuits.
Under the 2020 rules, a C1 or C2 on your report has to be fixed within 28 days, and you need written proof that it was done. The bundle does both in one visit. Read more on EICRs in Bournemouth.
Why we test the circuits before the old board comes off
An old fuse box is forgiving. It only reacts to a big overload or a short circuit. A new board with RCBOs reacts to a tiny leak of current to earth as well, and that is exactly why it is safer.
It also means a hidden fault that the old fuses ignored will trip the new board straight away. The usual causes we find in older Bournemouth houses:
- Two circuits sharing a neutral, often from an extension wired off the nearest cable.
- Damp in an outside light or socket, common close to the sea.
So we measure every circuit first, and any failure is priced in writing before work starts.
How the day runs
We arrive, look at the board and the supply, and run the insulation tests while everything is still connected. Then the power goes off at the meter. The old board comes out, the new one goes up, and every circuit is connected to its own RCBO.
Once it is all in, we test each circuit again, time every RCBO with an instrument, check the earth reading at the board, and label the lot. We show you the new board and how to reset a switch.
Earthing, bonding and the supply coming in
A new board is only as safe as the earth behind it. Most Bournemouth homes take their earth from the supply cable, either through a terminal on the main fuse or from the lead sheath of an older cable.
Main bonding is the green and yellow cable clamped to the gas and water pipes where they come in. In older houses it is often missing, too thin, or clamped to a pipe that was later replaced in plastic. Each bond is a fixed price in the table above.
Your EICR codes and the board
If an EICR sent you here, the codes on it tell you how urgent the board is. Here is how they usually relate to an old consumer unit:
- C1 Danger present. Exposed live parts, a broken cover or signs of burning at the board. We make it safe there and then, and the board change follows as soon as you are ready.
- C2 Potentially dangerous. A missing RCD on circuits that need one, or a fuse that does not match its cable. A new board clears most of these in one go.
- C3 Improvement recommended. A plastic board in an ordinary position, or no surge protection. Worth doing, but it does not make a report unsatisfactory.
- FI Further investigation. Something we could not explain on the day, such as a reading that does not add up. It is traced before anyone decides on a new board.
You do not have to use us for the fix. If we do it, we give you the paperwork for the new board, and if we did the original report the retest is included and we update it. More on what each code means is on EICRs explained.
Bournemouth fuse board questions
What owners, landlords and tenants in Bournemouth ask before a board change.
How long does a fuse board replacement take in a Bournemouth house?
Most single board changes take the best part of a working day. The power is off for much of that time, and we tell you before we start roughly when it will come back on.
Can I keep my fridge and freezer cold while the power is off?
Yes, in most cases. Keep the doors shut and a full freezer stays frozen for many hours. If you rely on medical equipment, tell us when you book.
Does a new fuse board need an EICR as well?
It does not have to, but it makes sense. A board change proves the new board and its connections. An EICR tests every circuit beyond it, and done in the same visit it comes in at the bundle price shown on this page.
Is it a legal requirement to replace an old fuse box?
No law makes a home owner replace a fuse box because of its age. For a rented home, the 2020 regulations say any C1 or C2 on the report must be put right within 28 days, and an old board is often where those codes come from.
Will my new board keep tripping?
A board with an RCD on every circuit is far more sensitive than old fuses, which is the whole point of it. That is why we test each circuit first. If one has a fault that would trip the new board, we tell you and price the repair before the change goes ahead.
Do you change fuse boards in flats where the meter is in a shared cupboard?
Yes. The board inside your flat is the part we replace. If the meter and the main fuse sit in a communal cupboard, we need access to it on the day, so check with your managing agent or freeholder before we come.
Can you fit a separate board in my garage or garden office?
Yes. A small RCBO board for a garage, workshop or garden room is priced on its own in the table above. The cable from the house out to the building is priced once we have seen the route it has to take.
Do you replace fuse boards in Christchurch and Poole too?
Yes. The same prices apply across Bournemouth, Poole, Christchurch and the rest of Dorset. Pete works out of Poole, so most of the BH postcodes are a short drive away.
See the Christchurch EICR page and the Poole EICR page for the testing side.
Book a fuse board replacement in Bournemouth
Send a photo of your board and tell us where the property is. We confirm the size and the fixed price, then offer you a date.