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Every single property in NSW has an electrical switchboard to get electricity into the property for home owners or businesses. It takes electricity from the local grid and supplies the wiring systems inside your property and if your power supply stops, you can trace it to the source of the issue in most cases in the fuse box, or electrical meter box.
Our team can install a new one, upgrade an existing one or help in the case of an emergency if there is a power outage.
Everyone has seen one of these boxes before, they are typically near the front of a house, on an internal or external wall that is housed inside a box & inside you will see;
Switchboard: This is the overall unit that houses the main switch and circuit breakers. Think of it like the control panel for the power supply to household circuits.
Main Switch: The electrical main switch is the overall master control. When it’s switched off or is tripped the whole home loses power.
Circuit Breakers: Circuit breakers provide protection for fuses. They prevent excess electrical current distribution and will trip and turn off to stop the power supply. There are often individual circuit breakers for lighting, hot water systems, air conditioning, etc, to prevent any one circuit from overloading.
RCD Safety Switches: Designed for human safety, residual current devices (RCD) cut off the power instantly when an imbalance is detected in the circuit. Although they essentially work the same as a circuit breaker, RCD safety switches react to more sensitive changes in power consumption and are mandatory in all new homes.
With our electricians they can carry out a wide range of electrical work relating to any type of switchboard requirement for new home builds, existing houses, units, apartments. townhouses or commercial properties. Each one of our electricians are licensed, experienced and can handle a wide range of electrical related tasks.
The cost to get your existing electrical switchboard upgrade will be between $800 and $1900 or up to $4,000 if all of the wiring in the property needs to be changed as well.
The reason there isn’t a single fixed price is because there are many variables to consider that include;
This is why you can’t get an electrical switchboard upgrade cost by looking online, you need to get an electrician to provide a quote once they have assessed your requirements. The reality is that the average power usage needs have evolved over the years for Sydney residents. Just having a washing machine and a TV used to be considered enough, these days a house is using so many more electrical appliances including the latest slow cookers, air fryers, large LCD televisions, lots of portable devices or laptops and smartphones.
Lots of older homes are still using the old type of switchboards which isn’t safe, old and inadequate residential electrical switchboards can be dangerous. Ceramic fuses are not designed with the same level of safety as modern fuses, there’s less protection against high voltage frequencies that can damage valuable appliances.
The actual property & people inside it can be at risk if an electrical fire is sparked & you don’t have smoke detectors. It is required by NSW law that a switchboard needs to be correctly installed and functioning at all times in every Sydney home to prevent electrical shocks, power outages and electrocution risks.
Upgrading to a brand new switchboard is the best way to avoid potential electrical problems in your home that can be a safety hazard. Our electricians can install a new one that is compliant with modern regulations, including the appropriate RCD protection.
Our team has a high attention to detail and will make sure all electrical circuits are neatly organised in a clutter-free style for easy maintenance and identification. We can even inspect your existing one to advise what you need.
We are an family run, local, electrician service. That means you can choose any brand or any product to have installed.
We can also repair or replace existing electrical products in your home, office, retail or commercial building.
If you are thinking about buying a residential or commercial property (or about to rent one) we can carry out an electrical safety inspection to ensure that every part of the system is working properly & there are no safety hazzards.
We can write a million words on our website, but finding a local electrician with great reviews is probably more important and here are a few samples with more on our online profiles.
A 3 phase upgrade is typically used when a property has high electricity requirements. A 3 phase switchboard is installed at commercial properties, factories and retail stores but can also be installed in larger residential homes that use a lot of appliances and electrical systems.
For example if you have multiple air conditioning units running, you will want a 3 phase switchboard to handle the extra voltage. Some of the benefits of this switchboard include that its power supply will never drop to zero, it is more energy efficient and there is multiple supply cables supplying power to the property. Only a level 2 asp electrician can carry out a 3 phase upgrade which will involve updating the existing switchboard, updating the incoming supply cables and replacing the electricity metering.
What our electricians discover in most properties is that most new appliances require more wattage, old switchboards are not equipped to deal with the new power consumption demands and over time appliances will trip or overload and possibly short circuit, resulting in damaged cabling. Upgrading your switchboard will prevent your appliances from randomly tripping due to the safety switch being more superior in protecting your circuit and appliances.
Any electrical faults could pose a serious injury or even a fire risk to your home. Some issues can be easily remedied, such as replacing a faulty appliance or circuit breaker. Other issues could be with the switchboard as a whole. An older switchboard that’s not decided for modern energy usage in one such concern. Therefore it’s important to upgrade before failure or injury. Warning signs like the following a a clear indication that it’s time for change:
Ceramic Fuses – The dangers of ceramic fuses can be quite hazardous and some Sydney homes today still have these old fuses protecting their homes. These types of fuses only protect against short circuit and overload protection and do NOT protect against electric shock which can be quite fatal. They have a bi metal element which is basically a small piece of wire wrapped around two screws and will heat up and melt when the circuit draws too much current from appliances or devices on a overload fault. When short circuits occur the piece of wire should break immediately and disconnect the circuit. Some fuse sizes will be different and the correct wire size must be used and installed by a licensed electrician. Using oversized wire on a circuit could become catastrophic causing damage to your electrical wiring and even starting a fire.
Over time as ceramic fuses age and become brittle, hot joints will form and loose connections will start appearing on the switchboard leading to power failure or even fire damage to your electrical circuits and home. Update your switchboard before it’s too late.
Plug-In Fuses – If you think plug-in fuses are the way to go, think again! The plug-in fuse is a silly step up invention from the ceramic fuse and yes it’s easy to switch it back on when a fault occurs. But like the ceramic fuse the plug-in fuse will only give you short circuit protection and overload protection which will provide limited protection to your home. Always safer to get a switchboard upgrade knowing you have RCDs /RCBOs installed that will protect you and your family from a fatal electric shock.
Old switchboards installed before 1987 will have the hazardous asbestos boards commonly used for mounting switches and fuses on and will be normally housed and recessed into the side wall of your house. They have a strong tar smell when tampered with and are dark brown or black in colour. The boards will most probably be stamped with their brand names labelled on either the front or the back of the board, such names will be either, lebah, zelemite or ausbestos. We highly recommend that these panels be replaced when upgrading your switchboard, any tampering with the board will become a health risk as any fibres released into the air will increase the chances of inhalation.
The Hi Quality Electrical Team will co-ordinate a consultation time that suits your schedule.