Switchboard upgrades in Sydney
Replacing old fuse boards with a modern, RCD-protected switchboard that meets current standards.
Signs your board needs work
- Ceramic fuses with rewirable fuse wire rather than circuit breakers
- No safety switches, or a single RCD covering the whole property
- The board is full and there is no room for another circuit
- Breakers that trip when you run the kettle and the toaster together
- Any scorching, discolouration, buzzing or heat at the board
- Asbestos backing board, common in homes built before the mid-eighties
Fuses protect wiring. RCDs protect people.
This distinction is the whole reason upgrades matter. A fuse or circuit breaker cuts the supply when the current is high enough to damage the cable. It does nothing about the far smaller current that will stop a heart.
A residual current device compares the current flowing out against the current returning. When some of it is going somewhere else — through a person, for instance — the difference triggers a disconnection in around thirty milliseconds. Any board without RCD protection on its final subcircuits is leaving the occupants unprotected, regardless of how well the old fuses work.
What an upgrade involves
We inspect the existing board and the circuits running off it, then quote the work itself: enclosure, main switch, RCBOs on each circuit, labelling and full testing on completion.
Most straightforward domestic upgrades are done inside a day, with the power off for a few hours in the middle. We are a Level 1 electrical contractor, so we do the board and everything on your side of the meter. If a job also turns out to need work on the incoming supply, that part is Level 2 work and we will tell you up front rather than halfway through.
On completion you get a Certificate of Compliance for Electrical Work. Keep it — you will want it when you sell.
A recent upgrade in Glebe
An older Glebe apartment needed a full switchboard upgrade. We replaced the board, changed all the lighting and installed new power points throughout. The apartment also had no isolation switch for the cooktop, which is standard now, so we fitted one as part of the work. Three days.
Common questions
Do I have to upgrade a switchboard with ceramic fuses?
No. There is no law requiring you to replace a working fuse board in an existing installation. What does apply is that any new or altered circuit has to be RCD protected, so a renovation, a new circuit or a rewire will usually force the issue. The safety argument is separate from the legal one: a fuse protects the wiring, not the person touching a faulty appliance.
Will my power be off the whole time?
Not usually for the whole job. Most straightforward domestic upgrades need the supply off for a few hours in the middle while the board is changed over. If you have anything that cannot lose power for that long, tell us before the day and we will plan around it.
Do I get paperwork when it is finished?
Yes. Notifiable electrical work in NSW requires a Certificate of Compliance for Electrical Work, and you should receive one. Keep it. Conveyancers, insurers and strata managers all ask for it, and it is the simplest proof the work was done by a licensed electrician.
Asbestos backing boards
Plenty of Sydney homes from before the mid-eighties have switchboards mounted on asbestos sheeting. It is not dangerous while intact and undisturbed, but it cannot be drilled or cut during an upgrade, and removal is work for a licensed asbestos remover rather than an electrician. If we find it we will tell you before going any further, so you can arrange that separately.