House is dangerous. Electrical advice anyone?

ByronB

My grandparents house is very dangerous with regard to the risk of getting electrocuted.. all the wiring was done years ago by my grandfather and about 2 years ago something went wrong and now there is no earth wire for anything!
There is a big cobwebbed fuse box in the hall using improvised fuses because they kept blowing, some relations use things like powerwashers and hand held electrical appliances outside.. to be honest it's a miracle no one has being seriously injured but i predict a disaster one of these days.

What can be done? My grandparents are not well off and said they won't be paying an electrician thousands to fix it so what can i say like.. i mean is there anyway of getting a circuit breaker box installed or something that would make this a safer house without having to spend a huge amount of money?

Thanks for any help much appreciated.

deandean

Your grandparents need to find 5000+ for a full re-wire. There are no other options. Heck they would spend that on a hip replacement / upgrading the car / whatever. Suggest you work on re-adjusting their priorities!.

2011

ByronB wrote: »

about 2 years ago something went wrong and now there is no earth wire for anything!

The earthing situation may be easy to reslove, but it is impossible to know whithout seeing it.

There is a big cobwebbed fuse box in the hall using improvised fuses because they kept blowing, some relations use things like powerwashers and hand held electrical appliances outside.. to be honest it's a miracle no one has being seriously injured but i predict a disaster one of these days.

The cobweb situation is easy to fix
The rest sounds a little more involved.

What can be done?

Find a good registered electrical contractor, explain the situation and see what he reccommends.

is there anyway of getting a circuit breaker box installed or something that would make this a safer house without having to spend a huge amount of money?

Perhaps, but it is impossible to know without seeing it.
Most electrical contractors will quote for free nowadays.
At this stage there is no point in doing anything until you get a professional opinion.

If the cabling installed is PVC and the correct sizes have been used this may not be as bad as it appears.

Solair

It should definitely be completely upgraded as there's a fire and also a major shock risk.

If you are using any power-tools / outdoor devices in the meantime only use them with a plug-in RCD. You can get these in any hardware store. They will prevent risks of shock.

brightspark

It might be worth seeing if they can get a grant

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/housing/housing_grants_and_schemes/housing_aid_for_older_persons_scheme.html

Local authorities vary as regards what type of work they will grant aid under the scheme. You should check with your own local authority to see which types of work its scheme will cover.

The type of work that is grant aided can include some or all of the following:

•Structural repairs or improvements
•Re-wiring, repair or replacement of windows and doors
•The provision of water, sanitary services and heating
•Cleaning and painting
•Radon remediation
•Re-wiring and any other repair or improvement work considered necessary.
Many older people may be eligible for the Scheme. However, priority will be given to people on the basis of financial need.

The grant can be paid to people in:

•Owner-occupied housing

(not sure if it is still or ever was available in your area, but if you don't ask you don't get!)

M cebee

i did some grant work for oap's
fuseboard upgrades
smoke alarms
-it may not be available now?

hohojojo

listen if they are oap there is a home improvement grant they can get of up to 10000 euro my gran got it 2 years ago but just be very careful of some of the electricians that do grant as they over charge and do shabby work I have seen the results and as an electrician myself I would recommend getting someone that would know what should be done and how it should be done and the first first poster that said just get 5500 together it doesn,'t cost that to wire a house nowadays you'd be looking closer to 3000 for a standard 3 bed house in Dublin and that suggestion isn't helpful

ByronB

Solair wrote: »

It should definitely be completely upgraded as there's a fire and also a major shock risk.

If you are using any power-tools / outdoor devices in the meantime only use them with a plug-in RCD. You can get these in any hardware store. They will prevent risks of shock.

Getting one of these!! There're excellent.

Thanks for all the replies, i really have to check out this grant now.

intbn

hohojojo wrote: »

listen if they are oap there is a home improvement grant they can get of up to 10000 euro my gran got it 2 years ago but just be very careful of some of the electricians that do grant as they over charge and do shabby work I have seen the results and as an electrician myself I would recommend getting someone that would know what should be done and how it should be done and the first first poster that said just get 5500 together it doesn,'t cost that to wire a house nowadays you'd be looking closer to 3000 for a standard 3 bed house in Dublin and that suggestion isn't helpful

Just out of interest, where did you get that 3000 figure from? Are you wiring 3 bed houses/or rewiring for that price hohojojo? That's not a bad price! I'm a sparks meself:D

@OP: Bein' an electrician, I'd naturally have to advise a rewire here meself, the plug in RCDs would definitely be an improvement.
They won't completely remove the risk of electric shock or fire and at that I'd be advising you get them for every socket in the house(if you find a pound shop selling them, you're set!)
It's worth noting too that elderly people take worse to electric shocks(the same goes for kids).
I don't mean to come across ott here and I don't want ye to miss any sleep but an electric shock could very well be fatal to one of your grandparents and if they've received shocks already, they should count themselves very lucky!

I hope you get something sorted out, your grandparents must be very proud of their independence but what's it going to take to make them take you seriously, an intervention?
Your grandad had some balls to wire it himself, I have to say:rolleyes:

Good luck

TPM

2011 wrote: »

The earthing situation may be easy to reslove, but it is impossible to know whithout seeing it.

Find a good registered electrical contractor, explain the situation and see what he reccommends.

Perhaps, but it is impossible to know without seeing it.
Most electrical contractors will quote for free nowadays.
At this stage there is no point in doing anything until you get a professional opinion.

If the cabling installed is PVC and the correct sizes have been used this may not be as bad as it appears.

+1
There may be major problems or a few small ones it may need a full rewire or not but no one can know without looking at it, the only thing to do is to get an electrician to check it out then go through the work required and quote for it, and if in doubt get a second or third opinion.

@op as you posted here about this it shows you are concerned about the situation and with due cause imo. you should get things moving on this as quickly as possible

Hannibal

deandean wrote: »

Your grandparents need to find 5000+ for a full re-wire. There are no other options. Heck they would spend that on a hip replacement / upgrading the car / whatever. Suggest you work on re-adjusting their priorities!.

That's 2007 prices. I got mine done recently for €2250

2011

Dotsey wrote: »

That's 2007 prices. I got mine done recently for €2250

...and I bought a car for €100 whereas my friend paid €20,000

Both are meaningless statements.

Each house has to be seen and assessed to see exactly what is involved, the specifications, size, how easy it is to route cables, what the customers requirements are etc... You can not simply compare the price of rewiring one house to another without having a look to see what is involved.