Upgrading Fuse Box

[RenoGirl82]

Hi,
I currently have an old fuse box (from reading another post, i think they're 'porcelain' fuses) which i am looking at upgrading. Does anyone know the costs of getting these upgraded and the work involved? I will be getting an electrician in for my kitchen renovation, installing oven, cooktop, etc so am thinking of getting it replaced then, if it's in my budget.
Thanks

[bsrlee]

Ask for a quote on the combined job, and definitely make sure you get a few quotes - my parents had to have the wiring to the powerpoints replaced due to decayed insulation. One bloke quoted ~$4,000 just for the wiring & powerpoints, the bloke we got charged $1,600 for wiring, double p/points, new switchboard & Earth-leakage unit. It pays to ask around.

[Bluegum]

We had our mains upgraded here at home this year as well as an air con installed. Total cost was $4000.00. The mains upgrade was quoted at $1250. This included the metre box and all new wiring. I had other quotes ranging from $1250 - $1800 we went with the dual installation as we were given a discount on the power board.

[cross]

You have a few options here, depending on what you wish to acheive with the upgrade.

The first, and easiest option, is to replace your existing fuses with the "push-in" type circuit breakers. This wont make a great deal of difference, but its cheap and easy to do. This would cost well under $100 if you did it yourself.

Benifits of this include, low cost, can do it yourself, you wont have to rewire a fuse ever again.

The next is having the fuses replaced with a multi pole enclose that will hold all your new circuit breakers in place. This involves disconnection and removal of all the old fuses and bases, installation of the enclosure, connection of the new circuit breakers. This option would cost a few hundred dollars depending on the requirements, and should be done by a licenced electrician.

Benifits include, wont have to rewire fuses again, the addition of earth leakage protection to the required circuits (increased safety), usually looks neater and more compact, easier to see if a circuit has tripped, having an electrician look at the switchboard will allow them to inform you of any safety issues they find.

That is a fairly good option if you are set on getting rid of the old fuses. But that depends on the state of your current wiring. If some of the wiring in the board is 2 old or damaged it may need to be replaced. And depending on the additions you are making to the installation (in terms of new equipment being connected to circuits) the size of your mains may need to be upgraded. At that point you start paying a fair bit more for the work.

Lastly, if the existing box itself is not large enough to hold the new enclosure or just 2 old, it may need to be replaced also.

If you provide more information on what you hope to acheive from upgrading from the fuses, im sure we would be able to give you some more advice.

Hope this helps.

[Rossluck]

We recently replaced our fuse box because we needed 3-phase for an air con. A new box, riser bar, three phase and so on cost us around $1700 with me doing some of the leg work. A quote we got for it from another sparkie (who didn't turn up, but don't start me on tradies who don't show :mad: :mad: :mad: ) was for $2200 for the same work.

I have to point out that copper-cable prices are through the roof now, so try and reduce any cable running! Good luck with it.

[RenoGirl82]

Thanks for your advice. I was thinking of upgrading the whole box aswell as all the fuses as i am installing wall cabinets in the kitchen, one of which will enclose the fuse box into the cabinet. Rather than find at a later date it needs to be done i thought i may aswell get it done before the cabinet is installed that way i dont have any probs at a later date. I wasnt sure whether it was going to be an expensive job or not and just wanted to budget for it, but if the price of copper is on the way up i better get to it!

[Bluegum]

Yeah I'm glad we got ours done when we did. I hadn't realised the price of copper was going sky high.

[Roddas]

I got my 1910 villa rewired, with a new fuse fuse relocated outside for around $3000. I'm glad I did it when I did. I was shocked at the state of some of the wiring that came out of the house (the old red and black wire with minimal insulation run in groves in timber batterns).

Do it as soon as you can afford it.

[RenoGirl82]

Well, i got a quote today from the sparky and to put in power points for range, oven/cooktop, dishwasher, double power point, upgrade fuse box and install a safety switch it's gonna cost me $500. 200 odd for the power points and then 300 for the new box, fuses and safety switch.
Sounds kinda reasonable to me....

[Roddas]

Sounds pretty reasonable to me too.