Ceramic fuse board replaced in a 1980s family home
A 1980s brick home still running on ceramic rewireable fuses, with no safety switches and a fuse that blew whenever the kettle and the air conditioner ran together. We replaced the board with a modern one, put every circuit on its own RCBO and had the family back on power by mid-afternoon.
Location
Helensvale
Service
Switchboard upgrade
Duration
1 day on site
Client
Private homeowner
The brief
This lowset brick home in Helensvale was built in 1986 and still had its original switchboard: a row of ceramic rewireable fuses on a black backing panel in the meter box beside the carport. The owners had replaced fuse wire twice that summer, both times on the kitchen circuit, and their insurer had flagged the board during a policy renewal.
With two young children in the house, their main worry was safety. There were no safety switches on any circuit, so a fault in an appliance or a damaged cord had nothing to cut the power quickly. They wanted a board that met current standards, room for an EV charger later, and as little time without power as possible.
What we did
Dan Kerrigan inspected the board before quoting. The backing panel tested positive for asbestos, which is common in boards of this age, so we planned its removal under our asbestos procedure rather than drilling or cutting it. We also tested the insulation on every circuit so the owners knew up front whether any wiring needed attention before we connected it to new protection.
Testing turned up one problem: an old garden light circuit with low insulation resistance, caused by a corroded junction box behind the pergola. We replaced the junction box with a weatherproof one before connecting that circuit, because a new RCBO would otherwise have tripped on it within a week. Power was off from 8am to just after 2pm.
Left: testing each circuit before it went onto the new board. Right: fitting the RCBOs and labelling the circuits.
The result
The house now has a fully enclosed board with every circuit protected by its own RCBO, each one labelled in plain English so the owners can tell the kitchen from the bedrooms at a glance. The kitchen has not tripped since, even with the kettle, oven and split system running at once.
The owners sent the certificate of testing to their insurer the same week, and the board has a spare pole and capacity set aside for the EV charger they are planning next year, so that job will be a short one.
11
Circuits on individual RCBOs
6 hours
Without power
1
Hidden fault fixed
Project at a glance
Fixed-price quote
Still on ceramic fuses?
Send a photo of your switchboard with the cover open. We reply within the hour in business hours with what it needs.
What the owners said
“Dan explained everything before he started, including the asbestos, and the board was done before school pickup. It's a relief knowing every circuit is protected now.”
Rachel D.
Homeowner, Helensvale · Switchboard upgrade
The service
Switchboard upgrades
Old fuse boards replaced with modern RCBO boards across the Gold Coast, including asbestos panels, with a fixed written quote and power back the same day.
The area
Electricians in Helensvale
Established brick homes from the 1980s, newer estates and units near the train station. See recent Helensvale jobs, local reviews and typical arrival times from our Coomera base.
More projects
Related switchboard projects
Get in touch
Is your switchboard due for an upgrade?
Send us a photo of your board and we will come back with a fixed price, usually within the hour.