Skip to main content Skip to footer 
Three names, one box. The brain of the whole house.
A consumer unit, a fuse board and a fuse box are all the same thing, the unit that takes the incoming supply and distributes and protects every circuit in the home. It is the single most important piece of electrical equipment in your Cults property, and the difference between an old one and a modern one is the difference between hoping a fuse melts in time and knowing each circuit has its own protection.
A modern board under BS 7671, the 18th Edition, has four things an old one usually does not. A non combustible enclosure, normally metal, so a fault inside is contained. An RCBO per circuit, which protects each circuit individually against both overload and earth fault, the shock protection that saves lives. Surge protection, an SPD, to defend sensitive electronics against spikes. And an AFDD where appropriate, to detect the arcing faults that start fires.
The practical win of one RCBO per circuit is simple. If a single circuit faults, only that circuit drops out. The rest of the house, the freezer, the heating, the broadband, stays on. Older split load boards group circuits behind a shared RCD, so one fault can take out half the house at once.
