Switchboards

As your switchboard is the beating heart of your home, it’s critical it’s kept up to date, safe and sound giving you peace of mind that your home is electrically safe.

All switchboards are different and unique to each other, but all age at the same rate. Components wear out and that’s just a fact of life.

Leaving your switch board in a non-maintained state for years and years will lead to a compounding list of issues.

As regulations change and technology improves, upgrading your switchboard to a new modern equivalent will remove those issues and give you peace of mind while you sleep.

You may well ask ’Why do I need to upgrade my switchboard’? It works just fine.

Well it may work but, but is it safe? This is the question.

If your switchboard has re-wireable fuses, under certain fault conditions that fuse may or may not blow.

To explain there are two main components to a modern switchboard, essentially two lines of defence.

You may well ask ’Why do I need to upgrade my switchboard’? It works just fine.

Well it may work but, but is it safe? This is the question.

If your switchboard has re-wireable fuses, under certain fault conditions that fuse may or may not blow.

To explain there are two main components to a modern switchboard, essentially two lines of defence.

The first line of defence
The first line of defence is the RCD or residual current device, and this will pick up any leakage of current to earth above 30mA (milli amps). A standard re-wireable fuse on its own does not have the ability to do that, EVER.

The second line of defence
The second line of defence is the circuit breaker or MCB (miniature circuit breaker) which replaces the rewireable fuse. One of the ratings a circuit breaker has (or fuse) is called the KA rating. This is the max breaking capacity it can handle before a complete meltdown/fire occurs. A re-wirable fuse has an approximate KA rating of 1KA (1000 amps), whereas a modern domestic circuit breaker has a KA rating of 6KA (6000 amps). So circuit breakers can essentially handle up to 600% more fault current than re-wireable fuses.

Points to note
The KA rating is not the amperage rating of a circuit breaker or fuse. It is the maximum breaking capacity of a circuit breaker or fuse that it can handle before a complete meltdown or fire occurs. It should be noted during a fault situation the fault current will increase exponentially instantaneously. This is why the KA rating is so important.

So you see it’s not as simple as you would like to think. Ask yourself again, yes my switch board works, but is it safe?

What’s behind your
switchboard?

Another factor when considering an upgrade is what’s actually behind the front of your switchboard. There are hidden secrets that your very old switchboard will harbour and fester away and you don’t even know about it.

You could very well have pre-1970’s cable, old and loose connections in porcelain fuse carriers, braded cable or even rubber cable which will eventually fall apart in your hands if touched. So yes, it may work, but is it safe? We are more than willing to visit your home for a no obligation free quotation to access your switch board and provide a price right there and then to upgrade.
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Don’t let insurance companies
decline your claim.

Houses built prior to the mid-1940s that have not been upgraded with new electrical wiring and switchboards have a greater risk of fire. A requirement of your insurance is to ensure your home is well maintained, and that includes electrical wiring.

Don’t let insurance companies
decline your claim.

Houses built prior to the mid-1940s that have not been upgraded with new electrical wiring and switchboards have a greater risk of fire. A requirement of your insurance is to ensure your home is well maintained, and that includes electrical wiring.

When taking out insurance, many insurance companies will ask the age of your property and if it was built prior to 1945. They may also ask additional questions regarding the electrical wiring throughout the home to establish whether or not the wiring has been replaced since, in order to handle the demands of modern living.

Insurers may require homeowners to have a qualified electrician to review the electrical wiring and switchboards in the home. More modern switchboards and wiring do not contain porcelain and ceramic fuses, or old rubber sheath wiring.

If your home contains these old switchboards or wiring types, you should consider replacing these in order to safeguard from injury or death or fire damage to your home.

At claims time, if the age or state of the wiring (including the switchboard) was incorrectly disclosed to the insurer, and the wiring was found to be the cause of the fire, there may be no insurance cover and your claim would likely be declined.

Here at Auckland Switchboards we take things seriously.
We do it once and do it right the first time. Simple really!

Attention to detail with price conscious
electricians dedicated to doing the job right!

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NOW!

“Nigel re-wired my 1940's house, under budget, to code, extremely professional all round. He's a bloody hard worker, thorough, straight to the point. Nigel appears to dislike short cuts and dicky work as he found screeds of it in our old house and put it right. I would hire him again and recommend others to do so without hesitation. ”

Stuart Millar - 09/01/17

“In the 15 years I've lived in Auckland I have never found an electrician who is as genuine, knowledgeable and honest as Nigel. The issue in my place was something called a shared neutral with next door. Nigel came equipped with lots of high tech gear and was able to diagnose the issue within 15 minutes. After this he explained to me in Layman's terms what it is, the risks etc... I have dealt with many electricians over the years. I just wish I had found Nigel earlier. He is beyond amazing. ”

Jenny Walter - 16/05/17

“Nigel's work ethic is absolutely brilliant, very punctual, friendly with a good sense of humour. I was desperate to find someone as fast as I could but no one gets back to me. After my fourth call I find Nigel and bang on he was there to sort the problem fast as 🙂 I am glad that I meet you and happy to do more business with you in the future. Highly recommended to anyone. Nigel's work, just read his reviews then I am sure that you will call him. Thanks for the extra bulb, mate...lol”

Ben Ou - 12/06/18

“Nigel is the BEST electrician I’ve ever used. I’ve had all sorts of complex problems in the wiring of my home due to the fact it is in two flats - Nigel has fixed everything in a timely and efficient way. The most recent has been the installation of a new board to replace the old 1960s one in the upstairs flat. As usual the work has been done quickly and to the highest standard. I live on the North Shore but to my knowledge Nigel works all over Auckland. ”

Catherine Foster - 23/12/19

“Thank you Nigel for your services rendered in upgrading our 80 year old messy switchboard to a shiny, new organised one and also upgrading all ‘out of date cables’ to current standards. Excellent job carried out in the most professional, timely manner!  Highly recommended for electrical services!!”

Ian Smith - 28/05/21

“Nigel is a total professional. He is tidy, organised, efficient and a great communicator. He provided some great advice about the job needed in my heritage apartment building. He turned up on time and ensured the work was completed exactly as I wanted. Given the age of the building, we had to investigate a couple of things but nothing deterred him from delivering a fantastic result. I would definitely recommend him and will use his services again for sure. Outstanding work!”

James McElwee - 02/07/21

“Exceptional service. Very quick communicator when I first reached out about the job. Set clear expectations when doing the quote, and delivered on those expectations. Very fast turnaround time, fantastic pricing. We have a very old house so expected some complications, but he was very patient and thought of practical solutions to get the job done. Friendly, genuine bloke as well. Wouldn't hesitate to deal with again!”

Mark Edmonson - 16/08/21

“I would definitely recommend Nigel and will use his services again. He's efficient, a great communicator, and priced competitively. Given my home's age, he was able to clearly discuss solutions to issues that came up, and adapt to them while focused on delivering the original desired outcomes and budget.”

Sok from Birkenhead - 15/10/21

“Nigel came highly recommended. He moved and replaced the main switchboard.  Nigel knows his stuff, worked tirelessly, kept up an ongoing discussion with me about what I wanted, and the end result is high quality.”

Adrian Metcalfe - 29/10/21

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