Switchboard upgrades
Ceramic fuses replaced with circuit breakers and safety switches, with capacity left for what you add next.
Electrician Ashburton
Ashburton is roughly six kilometres from our Hawthorn East workshop, about fifteen minutes outside peak hour.
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- Registered Electrical Contractor REC 20101
- 25 years trading
Ashburton 3147
What goes wrong in Ashburton
Ashburton is a post-war suburb, and that single fact explains most of what we find here. Much of the housing went up between the late 1940s and the 1960s on uniform blocks, wired to a standard that assumed a fridge, a radio and a light in each room.
Original post-war boards
A surprising number of Ashburton houses still have their first switchboard, with rewireable ceramic fuses and no residual current device of any kind. That was normal and compliant when it was installed. It is now the oldest part of the house doing the most important job. Anything wired before the early 1990s usually has no RCD at all, and here that describes a lot of the stock.
One power point per room
The wiring density of a 1950s house is the thing people notice first. A bedroom with a single outlet becomes a bedroom with a four-way adaptor and a lead running under the bed. The circuit is not faulty, it is outnumbered. Adding outlets on a properly sized circuit is straightforward, and it is the cheapest safety improvement available in this suburb.
Extensions and second storeys
Ashburton has had years of extension and knockdown rebuild activity, and a second storey roughly doubles what the house draws. The original mains were sized for the original house. Going up without checking the supply is how people end up paying for the same trench twice.
Solar and chargers on a 1950s supply
Solar inverters and EV chargers both land on the switchboard, and a post-war board has nowhere to put them. On these houses the answer is often a board and sometimes a mains upgrade first, which is worth knowing before the solar quote is accepted rather than after the installer arrives.
High Street and the shopping strip
The retail strip around High Street and Ashburton station is small, local and steady. Fitouts here are modest in scale, and the usual constraint is a tenancy that was provisioned decades ago for something much simpler than what is going in.
Getting to you
About six kilometres from our Hawthorn East workshop, roughly fifteen minutes outside peak. Same-day attendance is usual for morning calls. For genuine emergencies we aim to be on site within two hours, with the phone answered 24 hours a day.
We also cover Glen Iris, Camberwell, Chadstone.
Services in Ashburton
What we are usually called out for here
Power point installation
New outlets, USB points and outdoor weatherproof power, added on a circuit that can carry them.
House rewiring
Period homes with cloth or rubber-insulated wiring brought up to AS/NZS 3000, in stages if needed.
EV charger installation
Wall box installed and tested, after we check your board can actually carry the load.
Electrical safety inspections
A written check of the board, the wiring and the safety switches, for a purchase, a rental or peace of mind.
Questions
Ashburton questions we get asked
Our Ashburton house still has ceramic fuses. How urgent is that?
Not an emergency, but it should be the next electrical job you do. Rewireable fuses protect the wiring and nothing protects the person, because there is no residual current device. It also means there is no spare capacity for anything you add.
We are adding a second storey. What should we sort out first?
The switchboard and the consumer mains, and ideally before the build starts. A second storey roughly doubles the load and the original supply was sized for the original house. Doing it while the site is open costs a fraction of doing it afterwards.
The solar installer says our switchboard needs upgrading. Is that a real requirement?
On a post-war Ashburton board, usually yes. An inverter needs its own protected way and the board has none free, and older boards often cannot be brought to current standards with a part replacement. We can look at it and give you a fixed price so you can compare it against what the solar company quoted.
Can you add power points without rewiring the whole house?
In most cases yes. What matters is whether the existing circuit can carry the extra load, which we check first. Sometimes the right answer is a new circuit from the board rather than extending an old one, and we will tell you which before starting.
How long does it take you to get to Ashburton?
Around fifteen minutes from Hawthorn East outside peak hour. Faults reported in the morning are normally attended the same day, and for genuine emergencies we aim to be there within two hours.
Get it sorted
Book a Ashburton electrician
Fastest way to get an answer is the phone. It is answered 24 hours a day, seven days.
03 9889 3341Not urgent? Send the details and we will come back to you within one business day.