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What an electrical safety certificate offers both home and property owners as well as tenants is peace of mind. However, if you’re going to get an electrical certificate, you’d probably want to know just how much it’s going to cost. In this post, we aim to give you an idea of the electrical safety certificate pricing in order to help you make a budget and start planning. Let’s take a look!

Generally, the cost of getting an electrical safety certificate in the UK is usually within the range of £80 to about £150 for a medium sized home. With that in mind, it’s also important to note that the price you’ll have to pay to acquire an electrical safety certificate is based on a number of factors which includes the complexity of the job, the size of your property amongst many others. All home and property owners including landlords should invest in getting an electrical safety certificate. The certificate can only be legally issued by a qualified and certified electrician and it must document that all electrical appliances as well as connectors within a property are totally safe and in a proper working condition. What’s more? More often than not, an electrical safety certificate test will most likely be completed in less than 24 hours.

The Electrical Safety report bring to life an concerns as regards the status of all electrical appliances and circuits. At present, it isn’t a legal requirement for home owners. However for landlords, it is an obligation to acquire an up to date Electrical Safety Certificate.

How Many Solar Panels And Batteries To Power A House?

Do you wish to know the number of solar panels and batteries sufficient for a house? Well, this is a frequently asked question in the solar world which would be very difficult to provide an accurate answer. This is basically down to the fact that all homes are unique with different sizes as well as amount of daily energy requirements. As a result, the number of solar panels and batteries needed would be unique to the house in question. However, we’ll consider the varying influencing factors that will go a long way to help calculate the number of panels and batteries needed to power a house.

First and foremost, let’s take a look at the solar panels. You’d have to start here by putting into consideration all household appliances that makes use of power in the house to get a good idea of how many that’ll be needed.

• How Many Watts Is Being Used In The House On A Daily Basis?

To determine this, simply go through your utility bill for kilowatt-hours (kWh). This varies amongst homes and being able to identify your daily average energy usage will assist you in getting your solar needs.

• What Is The Number Of The Peak Sunlight Hours At The House’s Location?

Having in mind that the solar panels only work when under direct sunlight, the first step to determine the peak sunlight hours. Once determined, you can then multiply the figure in hours by the house’s hourly energy usage and divide by the solar panel’s wattage.

Overall for a 1500 square foot house, the number of solar panels that’ll be required should fall around 15 to 18.

Meanwhile for batteries, there are also some factors to be considered to determine the number of batteries that is required to power a house. These factors include the house’s power or electricity usage, the period of time in which the battery will be used as well as the battery’ specifications.

Can You Replace A Gas Boiler With An Electric Boiler?

In the UK, there are about 22 million households that are heated with the use of a gas boiler. However, do not assume that they’re the best type of boiler to install. The fact is, if your house isn’t connected to the main gas supply, the best option is for you to install an electric boiler rather than a gas boiler. So is it possible to replace a gas boiler with an electric boiler? The simple answer is yes. Both heating system options work in varying ways and also with a different impact on the environment.

The gas boiler is able to generate heat with the help of a gas burner. A heat exchanger is linked to the burner and heats the water available in its chamber. The hot water is then supplied to the heating circuit.

However, the thing is that natural gas can actually be more affordable when compared to using electricity to operate your boiler, but they have a negative impact on the environment. This is because gas boilers make use of an odourless, colourless and poisonous gas - carbon monoxide.

Meanwhile electric boilers are powered by electrical energy, hence, no carbon monoxide leak risks. Instead of using gas to heat up water, electric boilers distribute energy to heating elements which, in turn, heats up the water. So thinking about what’s best for the environment, you’d go for electric boilers. However, they’re more costly and are not as efficient as oil boilers.

If you reside in a smaller house that’s not connected to the main gas supply, then you might want to consider installing an electric boiler. However, if you live in a larger house, an electric boiler may not be the best option as they’re mostly designed to generate little quantity of hot water.

If you’re considering getting a solar thermal system, one of the first things that comes to mind is the possibility of the system functioning properly during the cold months. The short and simple answer to this question is yes, a solar thermal system works in the winter. However, the downside here is that it’ll be a lot less efficient when compared to how it operates during the warmer months or summer. As a result of this fact, you’ll likely need to rely more on your boiler, immersion heater or any other backup heating system during this period as your solar thermal system will fail to contribute as much as it does during the warmer months. So what exactly is the reason why solar thermal is less effective and less efficient in the winter period? Let’s have a look!

As you know, solar thermal system banks on the sun’s energy to heat the water for your home’s use. During the cold months or winter, the sunlight becomes a lot less available when compared to the warmer months, as a result, there’s less sunlight that’s available to be used for its solar energy. And even more so at the periods when the days are shorter or skies are clearly overcast.

Also having a great impact on a solar thermal system’s output is heavy snow. Flat plate collectors normally have the capacity to cope better during snowy conditions as the light that’s able to travel through the snow will heat up the absorber plate - thereby making the snow slide off more quickly. However, the case is contrary with evacuated tube collectors which possesses a form of vacuum insulation that’s crafted to minimize the loss of heat, meaning they can’t generate heat to melt and cause the snow to slide off in a similar way.

Also commonly referred to as a consumer unit in recent times, a fuse box is responsible for controlling and allocating of the electricity in your home. They hold the power any time there’s an overload in one of the circuits which in turn, prevents fire as well as electrical damage. Fuse boxes are often incorporated in homes but consumer units are very rapidly replacing them. Therefore, when your fuse box breaks down, it’s always a smart decision to replace them with consumer units due to the fact that they’re safer and also comply with building regulations while also being a lot easier to use. If you’re extending your home, upgrading to a larger capacity model enables you to make use of more power with the power overloading. In this post, we’re going to cover the amount you’re expected to pay to replace or install a new fuse box or consumer unit as well as the factors that may affect the cost.

For a 10 way dual RCD consumer unit, the typical cost range will be between £250 to £600, meanwhile 15 way dual RCD consumer unit should cost within the range of £300 to £700. Overall, the smaller the house, the fewer the circuits that’ll be needed, hence the difference in the aforementioned prices.

There a number of factors that can affect the cost of replacing a fuse box. These factors includes the the size of the house in question ( the bigger the house , the more the circuits there are and the bigger the fuse box needed), the location ( for instance, places like London where there are higher demands are likely to be more expensive than other regions ).

If your fuse box keeps tripping or blowing fuses, it may need replacing. Other signs that your fuse box is not working properly include humming, sparking and lack of power. Contact an electrician and ask for a safety report, this will diagnose the problem and lead to a quick fix.

Unlike in houses built in the 1970s where a good majority of the houses will not need to be rewired, for houses built in the 1960s you’d probably need to rewire the entire house unless the wiring is the modern PVCu coated type. Generally, the homes built especially in the 1960s and 1970s brought about enormous changes. This is because over the years our way of living began to change and as a result, our need for electricity became even greater. In response to this, the electrical systems we incorporate needed to change in order to match the new set standards.

In the 1960s, the amperage normally used was increased to 100, which enables home and property owners to power their dishwasher, microwave as well as refrigerator all on one circuit. However, while this may be a remarkable improvement for our grand parents, this is just enough to cater for our modern day appliances. In recent times, new homes are constructed using a wide range of dedicated circuits due to the fact that each of our appliances makes use of much more electricity to function. Consequently because the 100 amp panels of the 1960s possessed restricted space for breakers, home and property owners who still had the units in their homes will inevitably require a sub panel or a new panel entirely - meaning a total rewiring of their property.

Furthermore in the 1960s, builders turned to aluminium from the previously used copper as it was a great conductor and also happens to be relatively cheap. However, after a couple of years a host of electrical fires cropped up in houses that are wired using aluminium. It was later discovered that when the switch to aluminium was made, the light switches or receptacles which were originally made for the previously used copper was overlooked. It was learned that there’s a corrosive chemical reaction that arises as a result of the two dissimilar metals when connected. Hence, the more reason why aluminium wired houses in the 1960s needs to be rewired.

If you’re thinking of adding a solar battery to your home, you might be wondering whether or not it’s going to work in a power cut. If yes, then you’re not alone as this is one of the most common questions asked when it comes to solar batteries. In this post, we aim to provide you with a detailed answer to solve this concern once and for all.

The answer to this question is, it depends. The main reason why your solar batteries will usually not work or provide your home with the much-needed back up power is as a result of the several threats it poses. You should be aware that both your solar panels and battery are connected to the main grid. When a power cut occurs, your engineers will have to operate on the grid. If the solar panels or batteries are in operation at the period there’s a high chance the engineers would be electrocuted by the electricity that’s being produced. As a result of this, solar inverters are usually designed to automatically switch off once a power cut occurs. However, it should also be noted that if your solar battery possesses backup functionality, you’ll be able to make use of your solar energy in the event of a power cut. In other words, what determines if your home battery would work in a power cut is the availability or otherwise of a backup functionality.

Furthermore, you might also wish to know if your solar panels will continue to charge the battery in a power cut. Well, this depends on the type of backup system you possess. There are some more affordable batteries that are designed to automatically release their stored energy upon the detection of a power cut. And this is mostly because the battery inverter is usually smaller than the solar inverter which allows the energy from the solar inverter to the transmitted to the battery - risking an overload. However, if otherwise, then energy can continue to be transmitted to the battery until its fully charged.