Why you should upgrade your switchboard

There are many houses these days that are still operating on old wiring and in turn, they have older switchboards. While older style electrical boards might have been great back in the day there is better and more modern equipment available to prevent electrical hazards, such as fires. If you have an older home that you know has a switchboard in it, you may want to think about upgrading to circuit breakers instead.

5 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD REPLACE CERAMIC FUSES WITH CIRCUIT BREAKERS

Related article.

Circuit Breakers Are Convenient

One important reason to upgrade your switchboard to circuit breakers is the simple fact that they are more convenient. If you’ve ever blown a fuse you’ll know how annoying it is to have to find the correct fuse wire, remove the fuse, re-wire it and plug it back in. It’s not too bad when everything goes smoothly (that is, you haven’t run out of the correct fuse wire!). But it’s a pain when you have to do it frequently, like when you have a faulty electrical device that is tripping the fuse repeatedly.

Circuit breakers have a switch that trips. To reset the circuit break you flip the switch.

If you’re none too familiar with your electrical switchboard, when you blow a fuse you’ll find a confronting array of fuses. They’re difficult to remove and you’ll probably have to inspect each one until you find the blow fuse. With circuit breakers you can see straight away which switch has tripped.
Circuit breakers also contain a fuse wire. You get double the protection with a circuit breaker. If, for some reason, the circuit breaker fails to trip, the fuse will still burn out.

Circuit Breakers Are Safer Than Fuses

Circuit breakers are safer than fuses. A fuse wire burns when it is overloaded, thus breaking the circuit. The wire can arc and cause fires. Fuses aren’t particularly fast or accurate when compared with circuit breakers. We have an entire article on the advantages of circuit breakers. 

Upgrading To Circuit Breakers

If you decide to upgrade, you will find that those old switchboards are full of old wiring. This can become a problem in a few different ways, mainly the fact that they can be too old to repair, and need to be replaced anyway. If you choose to replace them with a circuit breaker, you need to be assured that the wiring is new and modern. Getting a trusted Gold Coast electrical company to inspect and replace fuses can be a great opportunity for us to inspect and address any electrical problems you may have.

Having a more modern circuit breaker installed instead of the older switchboard, will give you a more secure electrical system in your home. You will feel better about having a more modern box in the house, and more importantly, protecting all the wiring in the house, giving you a better feeling about the safety of your house.

If you have any doubts about upgrading to a circuit breaker, you can always check in with your professional electrician. Call South East Electrical on 1300 997 621.

Home Renovation Electricians

We've worked with many home renovators to help them realise their dreams. See our article with tips for the home renovator.

Property Services Electricians

We have a suite of electrical services for anyone who owns or manages a property.

A Note About Safety Switches

Safety switches save lives. That’s a point we can’t stress often enough. Older switchboards will probably have at least one safety switch. (If you have no safety switches, then upgrade straight away.) That doesn’t mean your whole home is protected. It’s not uncommon to see separate circuits in the same home, or for a pool, shed or other building. Every circuit should be protected by a safety switch.  

If you touch a live wire 
safety switches flick off in 0.03 seconds 
saving your life
safety switch

Safety switches come in many forms, with different colours and sizes, and they’re sometimes hard to tell apart from circuit breakers. When trying to identify a safety switch, the important thing to know is they always have a button with a T on it. In the image above, the blue circular button has a T embossed on it. 

For more information about how to identify and test your safety switch see our safety switch page.

Subscribe