Switchboard Upgrades

If your home is more than 10 years old, then you probably have many more appliances than your electrical switchboard was ever designed to handle and is potentially quite unsafe.

The appliances which use the most power based on the average yearly cost of running (according to Choice) are:

As a general rule, the older your appliances are, the more likely they are to use more energy.

And of course we have a lot more these days than we ever did:

• cooking appliances like electric frypans, microwaves, toasters, slow cookers, coffee machines and kettles
• beauty and personal appliances like hairdryers, hair straighteners, electric toothbrushes, electric shavers and foot spas
• home appliances like clock radios, cordless phones, heated towel rails, electric blankets, dvd/video players, table lamps, pool pumps, outdoor lighting, etc
• portable appliances like heaters, fans, gaming machines, mobile phones, tablets, musical instruments, fitness machines, ipod docks, etc.

Signs that Your Switchboard Needs Upgrading

• You experience frequent powerouts and tripping
• Your lights are flickering
• Your fuses contain copper cable, which means it can stop blowing and potentially damage or melt cabling and can cause a fire
• You don’t have a safety switch fitted and it can’t be fitted to the design of your current switchboard.
• The existing fuse board contains burnt out fuse holders
• You have extended your home or purchased more electrical appliances, increasing the load on your current switchboard

How to Tell if your Switchboard Needs Upgrading

• Open the enclosure and see if fuses are fitted or circuit breakers are fitted. If fuses are fitted your switchboard will need upgrading sooner rather than later.
• If the switchboard is crowded and you are adding new electrical devices that require dedicated circuits e.g. pool pump, spa, air conditioner etc. you will need an upgrade.

How We Will Help You

The first thing we will do is conduct an audit on your switchboard and advise you of your options and solutions. These could be:

• Increase the electrical capacity to your home
• Potentially relocate your switchboard from the front of your house to the side, so it’s not the first thing people see
• Install it inside a weather resistant IP23 metal enclosure (your switchboard is installed inside a metal enclosure to help prevent the spread of fire, in case there was ever a fire in your switchboard)
• Install safety switches/ circuit breaker combinations, to give you and your equipment the correctly rated protection against overloading and electrocution
• Mount it at the correct height for easy access in an emergency situation and ease of meter reading
• Individually protect circuits, so that if you only lose power to one circuit, it won’t disrupt the rest of your circuits

Get Your Switchboard Audited