Has anyone had their switchboard upgraded/replaced? Your experiences?

Forums › Home Workshop DIY › Has anyone had their switchboard upgraded/replaced? Your experiences?

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snnet

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#2748946 23-Jul-2021 22:00

Fred99:

I was helping our (reg sparky) son with a job a week or so ago which entailed him putting an RCD on an existing circuit that was being extended. Almost had everything back in the van when he powered it up and the RCD tripped. Got lucky and guessed that a double switch he hadn't been near may have been the culprit, sure enough - two neutrals had been connected together from different circuits to each switch by someone long ago and for some unknown reason. Lucky because that only took a few minutes to fix. IIRC the RCD only tripped when a light was switched on that wasn't on the circuit he'd extended and put the RCD on, when the light was powered up there was 0.3V between the N on the new circuit and the neutral bar, when the light was off there was 0v. If he'd not checked then it would have been worse - the customer would have found it when he used the lights - not a good look really.

So he's recently self-employed and has learned that although almost everyone asks for fixed price quotes because "everybody knows" that's what consumers should do, but from his perspective it's not a great idea to give anything firmer than estimates. Most people seem to "get it" - but it's a PITA having to explain why each time.

And this thread reminds me that there's a box full of new RCDs, RCBOs and breakers in the basement and he's late with an important job to do for the fixed price quote of $0.00 as promised, to replace our ancient asbestos switchboard.

Another one re the neutral issue that can trip people up is if there's a separate distribution board in an outbuilding or garage with an MEN link installed :) Was quite common to install MEN links in all distribution boards years ago

I had the same issue with mixed neutrals in my own house - I have no idea why someone mixed the neutrals for my bathroom lights considering there's perfectly good roof access, laziness I suspect

Always pays to tag things out like faults if you want to be able to recuperate that labour cost. With a switchboard upgrade I tend to wear them if it's not too hard to trace the fault down

Fred99

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#2749230 24-Jul-2021 16:28

snnet:

Another one re the neutral issue that can trip people up is if there's a separate distribution board in an outbuilding or garage with an MEN link installed :) Was quite common to install MEN links in all distribution boards years ago

I had the same issue with mixed neutrals in my own house - I have no idea why someone mixed the neutrals for my bathroom lights considering there's perfectly good roof access, laziness I suspect

Always pays to tag things out like faults if you want to be able to recuperate that labour cost. With a switchboard upgrade I tend to wear them if it's not too hard to trace the fault down

Yeah - flicked off all the breakers to find the one on the light circuit that tripped the new RCD, I walked around the house flicking light switches on to find all the ones that were on that circuit, one had a double switch so was a reasonable guess, my son opened it up and sure enough different neutrals had been connected in the flush box.

One of my jobs as slave on that job was a rescue mission in the roof crawl space. He had to drill down a wall using extensions, finished drilling then started lifting the extensions apart and the crap quality allen key for the grub screws snapped in half with about 2m of extension and bit still in the wall. Couldn't let it go or it would disappear down the hole, not enough head room to lift it out, tool belt out of reach to find something to tape the bit or jam it in the hole. couldn't get extension on drill one-handed - so yells "heeeelp". Not sure what he would have done if I wasn't there, I think the drill extensions cost him a couple of hundred $$, so he'd have been very reluctant to just let go. Maybe he'd still be up there.

Bung

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#2749240 24-Jul-2021 17:07

Not a chance. He'd remember that he has some big holesaws and if you were lucky he'd know a plasterer.

snnet

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#2749429 25-Jul-2021 11:10

Fred99:

Yeah - flicked off all the breakers to find the one on the light circuit that tripped the new RCD, I walked around the house flicking light switches on to find all the ones that were on that circuit, one had a double switch so was a reasonable guess, my son opened it up and sure enough different neutrals had been connected in the flush box.

One of my jobs as slave on that job was a rescue mission in the roof crawl space. He had to drill down a wall using extensions, finished drilling then started lifting the extensions apart and the crap quality allen key for the grub screws snapped in half with about 2m of extension and bit still in the wall. Couldn't let it go or it would disappear down the hole, not enough head room to lift it out, tool belt out of reach to find something to tape the bit or jam it in the hole. couldn't get extension on drill one-handed - so yells "heeeelp". Not sure what he would have done if I wasn't there, I think the drill extensions cost him a couple of hundred $$, so he'd have been very reluctant to just let go. Maybe he'd still be up there.

Been there haha...dropped a few expensive bits down walls at times. Wouldn't have helped in this situation as the allen key was the issue but I now tape those extension bits up after putting them in place (didn't help a while back when I was using an expensive holesaw & shank down a top plate, finished the hole and bye bye holesaw and shank - came out of the roof sheepishly "whats wrong?" "dropped about $150 of drilling gear down the wall" "oh...just bill us for it" but of course I couldn't lol)

BiffTannen

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#2783909 24-Sep-2021 20:21

Just thought I'd provide an update, I have since upgraded the switchboard with the full AFDD detection.(buy once, cry once, if you're going to the trouble of upgrading the board, may as well go the whole hog) Only real issue was the lights tripped the RCD straightaway, something about a neutral removed from one circuit, I didn't really understand that part, and it was quickly fixed.

The day after installation, I've gone and identified which outlets etc on which circuits as its a useful thing to know if you ever have to isolate just one circuit. The interesting thing is, some items are now paired differently than on the old board eg in some cases, outlets that were previously sharing the same circuit are now on separate circuits, and those which were previously on separate circuits now are on the same circuit. The washer and dryer now share a circuit with two bedroom outlets whereas those 2 bedroom ones were previously separate from the laundry outlets. The lights were all previously on one breaker, now they're split between 2 AFDDs.

Other circuits have kept the same pairing. So far no issues with tripping and most of the loads I run on circuits are well well below the max amp rating for the circuit (although I suppose if I were to plug in a fan heater to the same circuit as the dryer while thats running, that would exceed 16amps)

Is it common for the circuit 'allocation' to be changed when getting a new switchboard? Do I need to be concerned and do I need to call the electrician back?

Jase2985

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#2783952 24-Sep-2021 23:20

as long as the load calculations have been done correctly it should be fine

if you plugged 2 fan heaters into 2 outlets anywhere thats on the same circuit it would be an issue

BlargHonk

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#3019562 10-Jan-2023 13:59

Jumping on this old thread, is anyone able to give me a rough ballpark cost estimate to replace an old Asbestos switchboard with a new compliant modern one? Am I looking at $1-2k or further north? We currently have the meter installed inside on the same switchboard. Is there any advantage to keeping it there vs moving it? Currently it looks very crammed with the meter on there as well as possibly non-compliant.

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Jase2985

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#3019667 10-Jan-2023 15:58

might depend on the wiring that's behind it and if that also needs upgraded

PolicyGuy

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#3019680 10-Jan-2023 16:34

Jase2985:
might depend on the wiring that's behind it and if that also needs upgraded

This

If your wiring is relatively modern - say 1980s or later - you might get away with $2k - $2.5k based on my fairly recent experience.
If it's the older cloth- or rubber-covered wiring, or best of all, in conduit, then most sparkies won't want to touch the switchboard except as part of a re-wire.

BlargHonk

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#3019682 10-Jan-2023 16:37

PolicyGuy:
Jase2985:
might depend on the wiring that's behind it and if that also needs upgraded

This

If your wiring is relatively modern - say 1980s or later - you might get away with $2k - $2.5k based on my fairly recent experience.
If it's the older cloth- or rubber-covered wiring, or best of all, in conduit, then most sparkies won't want to touch the switchboard except as part of a re-wire.

It all looks like white TPS wiring from what I have seen so far. Hopefully not a full rewire in my future!

timmmay

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#3019690 10-Jan-2023 16:55

I had mine done in 2022. I had estimates of $2600 from one firm, and $1400 from another. I went with the cheaper firm because when I asked questions I preferred their answers. I paid a little more to upgrade to commercial switchgear, from memory another $150.

richms

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#3019703 10-Jan-2023 17:52

timmmay:

I had mine done in 2022. I had estimates of $2600 from one firm, and $1400 from another. I went with the cheaper firm because when I asked questions I preferred their answers. I paid a little more to upgrade to commercial switchgear, from memory another $150.

That is crazy cheap!

The bigger issue you get is as mentioned further up, when other peoples hackjobs cause it to not work once it has RCD protection. shared neutral is one. Friend found that 3 rooms had wall lights where they had taken the live from the switch (no neutral present) and neutral from the closest power point to the light. All done in single core TPS which I didnt even know was a thing here. Clearly a 90's addon to the 70s wiring and done by just slashing the gib to get over the studs/nogs and then a lousy plaster job ontop of that.

Richard rich.ms

BlargHonk

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#3019719 10-Jan-2023 18:58

We are also due to get our meter upgraded in March. Would it pay to get the switchboard done before that, or would it not matter?

Jase2985

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#3019738 10-Jan-2023 19:31

get it done at the same time

timmmay

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#3019749 10-Jan-2023 20:13

Given the switchboard and meter are done by different companies I think it'd be best to have them done at different times. Though it probably doesn't much matter either way.

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