Ceramic fuses out, individual safety switches in

The cleanest before and after in our photo library, and a good example of what a straightforward switchboard upgrade actually involves.

We looked at it on the Wednesday afternoon, the quote was accepted that evening, and the work was done on the Friday morning.

What was there

An old board with ceramic fuses and the original red and green wiring behind it. Ceramic fuses do one job, which is to melt when a circuit draws too much current. They do not protect a person from a shock, they cannot be reset without a fuse wire and a torch, and they give you no way of knowing which circuit has gone until you have opened the lot.

What replaced it

Switchboard internals replaced including the main switch, single phase, with individual safety switches installed in the existing enclosure. The old equipment was disconnected, removed and safely disposed of, the corresponding cables stripped, terminated, loomed and tidied, and the whole board tested and commissioned.

Individual safety switches means each circuit is protected on its own rather than several sharing one device. When something faults, the affected circuit drops out and the rest of the house keeps running.

Why this one is a useful yardstick

This sits in the middle of the range for a straightforward board replacement where the consumer mains and the metering are sound and do not need touching. No mains upgrade, no meter panel rebuild, no Level 2 attendance.

Compare it against our Leumeah job, where the mains and the meter panel both had to be done as well, and the difference between those two jobs is not the board. It is everything upstream of it.

Still on ceramic fuses in Cecil Hills or nearby? The switchboard upgrade page explains what a modern board should have, and we are your electrician in Cecil Hills.