In these strange times, we are all spending a lot more time at home and in the garden (if we are lucky enough!)  So we thought we’d give you a mini guide to something we all have in our homes and probably take for granted that they’re keeping us safe.

Fuse Boxes – also known as Consumer Units – are used to control and distribute electricity around our homes.

You probably know where your fuse box is located in your home.  It is important in case we ever need to turn the electricity off in an emergency.

A fuse box contains three things:

1. Mains Switch

This allows you to turn off the electricity supply, and so should be easily accessible.  Some homes will have more than one mains switch if there is more than one fuse box.

2. Circuit Breakers or Fuses

Most homes built after 1960 will have circuit breakers. These are automatic protection devices that switch off a circuit if they detect a fault.  Despite being a similar size to fuses, they offer more precise protection.  If they “trip”, you can reset the switch after finding and correcting the fault.

Fuses have a piece of special fuse running between two screws.  If a fault occurs, or in the event of an overload, the fuse wire will become hot and melt.  The melted fuse then breaks the circuit, disconnecting it and keeping you safe.

3. RCDs

RCDs (residual current devices) are switches that trip a circuit under certain conditions and disconnect the electricity supply.  If it detects an imbalance in current, or electricity flowing down an unintended path, it will switch the circuit off, reducing the risk of death or serious injury from an electric shock.

If you have a wooden back on your fuse box, a mixture of fuses and circuit breakers, or no RCD protection, then you might benefit from upgrading to a new consumer unit that would offer you more protection.  It is also worth considering if you are planning an extension or an improvement project or your fuse box is overloaded.

A professionally installed consumer unit by a certified electrician will improve your electrical safety as well as put your mind at rest by checking the integrity of the existing circuits in your property.

Fulcher Edwards carries out all types of electrical services, including fuse box replacement in homes in and around St. Albans. Why not give us a call us today for a free quotation on 01923 616985 or drop us an email on our Contact Us Page.

Following the Governments recent announcement regarding the Coronavirus lockdown, the construction and manufacturing industry are encouraged to start operating again as long as they can provide and maintain social distancing and good hygiene.

Some of our clients have been in touch with us ahead of them returning to their workplace to make sure their building is ready for their return so whether that be relamping, carrying out remedial works following recent electrical testing or making sure they are still compliant with their buildings safety testing.

Where to start? – One area we really want clients to think about prior to their return, whether thats as soon as this week or in the coming months, is their emergency lighting.

If your emergency lighting hasn’t been tested recently then it should be before the premises reopens and staff return to an operational building. This then ensures the batteries are charged and all the emergency luminaries are going to work in an emergency as they will be how your staff will be able to evacuate safely from the building.

It’s important to remember that emergency lighting in a building also assists the emergency services such as The Fire Brigade to enter, carry out their important work and leave the building safely also.

Emergency Lighting Testing  – We are still able to go in and test your emergency lighting in your business premises even if you are not there as it is classed as essential maintenance. We just need access to be given and social distancing to be adhered to for the sake of our electricians and any staff that may be on site.

How can we help? – If you want to discuss if your building is ready prior to returning then why not get in touch with us. We can assist any businesses in St. Albans and surrounding areas not just the manufacturing and Construction industry, so please let us know if we can be of any assistance.

For now we hope everyone continues to stay safe!

We hope everyone is keeping safe and well during this lockdown period. We are still following Government Guidelines and our electricians only carrying out essential electrical works and maintenance mainly in and around the St. Albans area.

We wanted to share some happy news with you as some of our customers were aware that our Operations Manager Claire, (she’s the one you are likely to speak to first when you contact us!) was expecting a baby in April, well we are pleased to let you know that baby girl Darcy has now arrived safely and mother and baby are doing really well.

Of course the Coronavirus has made this a difficult time in terms of Darcy meeting her family for now and the team at Fulcher Edwards but we hope it won’t be long!!!

As we are a family business this time is still uncertain for us, like many small businesses, though we are hopeful that once the lockdown has been lifted we may get some enquiries that will keep us afloat. For now we will remain positive and will be enjoying our new family member even if it is mainly on FaceTime!

We are still monitoring emails and can assist with any emergency call outs you may have so feel free to contact us still via our website, call us on 01923 616985 or drop us an email at info@fulcheredwards.co.uk

Stay safe everyone!

You may have noticed Fulcher Edwards like to remind you guys each week to Test It Tuesday aka #TestItTuesday via our Twitter, Facebook and our Instagram page. We do this EVERY Tuesday!

The reason we do this life can get in the way and its very easy to forget to test your smoke alarm and it could save your life.

We know with everything going on right now with Coronavirus is taking up a lot of our attention and rightly so, its a scary unusual time for us all. However, as most of us our working from home and schooling from home currently, its never been a better time to get into the habit of testing your smoke alarm each week.

Smoke alarms require very little maintenance but you want to know it will work should a fire break out at your property and you will only know if it will work effectively if it is tested regularly to make sure it’s working. A simple press of the test button on the alarm will show you instantly and could save lives.

If you don’t have any smoke alarms in your home or landlords property currently then why not get in touch and we can advise what you need, how many and where. All our electricians are Aico Approved Installers and can suggest the right ones for you. Quotations are free.

Though we are only carrying out essential works we can still provide you with quotations and discuss any requirements you may have

smoke detector of fire alarm in action, white background

. Just contact us via our website or give us a call on 01923 616985.

What a week eh! I don’t think any of us could have prepared for what we are currently facing with the Coronavirus pandemic.

Like many businesses, big or small in St. Albans Fulcher Edwards Ltd have had to temporarily close our electrical services family business following Government Guidelines but also thinking of the health and wellbeing of our customers, electricians, wholesalers and all members of our team.

Like the rest of the country, this will be short lived but in the meantime we wanted to assure our customers that you can still contact us by calling us on 01923 616985 or email us at info@fulcheredwards.co.uk should you be in need of an emergency electrician in St Albans, London or Hertfordshire with any urgent queries.

We will still be contacting our customers whose fire alarm and emergency lighting we maintain as this is classed as essential maintenance works. If you have an emergency call out still please still call the emergency call out number on your fire alarm panel.

We hope it won’t be too long before we are back to normal and our electricians are back assisting you in your homes and businesses in and around St. Albans, but until then please keep safe and well, we will get through this! You may still see us update our Social Media platforms like our Facebook page, Twitter or Instagram during this is time and we will try and share any useful information on our blog.

For now take care and a big thank you to our wonderful NHS, from all the team at FE.

Well there goes another year and very quickly it did too! We are not going to lie though that 2019 was a tough year for Fulcher Edwards Ltd like many other small businesses. It came with way to many lows unfortunately, but we are hopeful that 2020 will be much better and with a lot less uncertainty surrounding the UK.

We can’t thank our customers enough for their instructions and support as they have really helped us to keep Fulcher Edwards going for another year. We have a loyal customer base and we really do believe that is because we offer a quality personable service as well as our accreditations such as NICEIC and Safecontractor.

If you are considering any electrical works or maintenance for your home or business this year then please support local businesses as by doing this you really are in most cases helping a family to pay their bills. Fulcher Edwards has been established since 1981 but at the end of the day it is still a family working very hard to keep it going.

Our electricians cover St. Albans, Watford, Radlett, Bushey, Hemel Hempstead and most of Hertfordshire and even London so please get in touch if you would like a free quotation. Our Contact Us form can be found on our blog or our website or if preferred you can call us on 01923 616985 or email info@fulcheredwards.co.uk

From all of us at Fulcher Edwards Ltd Happy New Year!

We would like to wish all our customers a safe and happy Christmas and make you aware of our shutdown period over the festive season.

Our office is closed from the afternoon of Monday 23rd December 2019 through to Thursday 2nd January 2020. Our office hours resume back to normal on Friday 3rd January 2020. Please note if you have works booked in over this period that they will still go ahead and one of our electricians will be with you as planned.

If we maintain your fire alarm system and you have an emergency call out over our shutdown period please call the emergency call out number on your fire alarm panel. Please leave a voicemail if no immediate answer and an electrician will call you back as soon as possible.

All enquiries will be responded to on our return on the 3rd January.

Traditional Christmas Tree lights lying on a wooden floor.

From all of us at Fulcher Edwards Ltd we would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Electrical mistakes can happen easily and it’s every day mistakes that quickly land homeowners in deep water.

According to recent research, more than 80 million accidents happen in British homes each year causing injury or property damage due to unnecessarily risky behaviour.

Simple Electrical Mistakes That Endanger The Lives Of Homeowners

As electricians in Hertfordshire we come across these problems on an almost daily basis in peoples homes. If you are making any of these mistakes you are putting yourself at risk of electrical danger. Take a look at the list below to see what mistakes you could be making in your home. Any of these things could quickly land you in deep water and put you at serious risk of electric shock or injury:

1. Drying clothes on an electrical heater
2. Repairing an appliance while it is still plugged in
3. Leaving a hair straightener on unattended
4. Taking batteries out of smoke alarms to silence them
5. Drilling through wires in the wall to hang pictures
6. Trailing cables under a rug or carpet to keep them out of the way
7. Trying to dry objects that aren’t food in the microwave
8. Overloading electrical sockets and adapters
9. Using damaged electrical sockets that have burn marks on them
10. Using unregistered tradesmen

For further electrical safety advice within the home, check out one of our recent blog posts HERE.

Please do not hesitate to contact us HERE for all your electrical needs or for further electrical advice.

All homes have a fuse box, otherwise known as a consumer unit. It is our homes electrical hub as it controls and distributes the electricity around the home. Your fuse box is your first point of call if you need to turn your electricity off in an emergency. Or if the electricity in your house suddenly stops working.

We would hope that you all know where you fuse box is located, but how many of you understand what each switch does?

Understanding Your Fuse Box

At an initial glance you fuse box can look complicated. Therefore we hope the following explanations will help you feel more comfortable managing your fuse box, especially in an emergency.

1. The main switch: The main switch will enable you to instantly turn off your homes electrical supply. This will be the switch to flick off in the event of an emergency. However beware that if you have electric storage heaters you will have a separate fuse box for these. Therefore they will have their own main switch which you would also need to turn off to cut all electricity in your property.
2. Residual Current Device (RCD): The RCD is the main safety feature within your fuse box. RCDs are a sensitive switching device that quickly turn off electricity when danger arises to reduce the risk of death or serious injury. RCDs turn off electricity in a fraction of a second. Last year we did a blog about the importance of RCD protection, therefore you can read that blog post HERE to find out more.
3. Circuit Breakers: Circuit Breakers will automatically switch off a circuit if it detects a fault. By looking at your fuse box you would be able to see if a circuit breaker has ‘tripped’ as one or more of the switches would be flicked down. You can easily reset the switches yourself by flicking them back up, however its important to first identify the initial fault.
4. Fuses: Older fuse boxes may have fuse wiring in place of circuit breakers. Similarly to circuit breakers they switch off a circuit if a fault is detected. However it does this by the fuse wiring overheating and melting which then switches off the circuit.

The above photo shows a modern fuse box which I have labelled accordingly. As explained above, older fuse boxes would have fuse wiring in replace of circuit breakers. We recommend all family members have familirisation with the workings of the fuse box.

Older homes might still have a fuse box which dates back to the 1960s. This can be identified if there are cast iron switches, a wooden back, and fuses. We would highly recommend you get this updated to a modern fuse box.

If you would like further advice or think your fuse box needs updating, please do not hesitate to contact us HERE.