If you have an older home, you might be considering getting it rewired. Getting your home rewired makes the property more safe and thus more desirable to potential buyers if you are thinking about putting it on the market. Aside from this it also ensures that your family are safe from electrical dangers. For instance, you might be mowing the lawn and you could accidentally cut through a cable. If you touched the live wire, then you could be electrocuted.

That’s why you might want to think about upgrading from wire fuses to RCD fuse boxes.

Many older homes don’t have RCDs and instead use rewireable fuses. It is important to be aware that it is not illegal to have rewireable fuses in your home. During the time that your home was built, they were probably the safest option. But most modern home these days use residual current devices instead which are a lot safer.

What Are The Benefits Of Wire Fuses?

If your home uses wire fuses, it does provide you and your family some level of safety. These automatically disconnect the circuit to avoid a possible danger. For instance, if a fault is detected or an overload current travels through the fuel wire it will get hot and will quickly melt if the current reaches above a safe level. The fuse that has melted creates a break in the circuit that is faulty and stops it from overloading but they are not that reliable.

What Is An RCD?

An RCD or residual current device isn’t just designed to stop a circuit from overloading. It is used to prevent a fatal shock if someone touches a live wire. As well as this, it provides a certain degree of protection against electrical fires. This level of protection is far beyond what you can get with the typical older wire fuses found in homes that were built more than a decade ago.

With an RCD, the electricity is switched off if there is any fault. This protects you from the danger of electrocution and fires caused by earth faults.

How Does An RCD Work?

The RCD is constantly monitoring the electric current that is flowing to different circuits that it is connected to. If it finds that electricity is flowing down the wrong path such as through a person who may have a touched a live wire it cuts the power very quickly. As such, it can literally save your life in certain scenarios.

How Reliable Is The RCD?

RCDs are approximately 97 percent reliable and certainly the best way to protect you and other family members from the danger of an electric shock or even a potential home fire. You might have a faulty piece of equipment in your home. If there is a chance that this could cause a fire the RCD will ensure that the flow of electricity is stopped almost immediately.

There are a variety of different types of RCD to consider that will suit any price range or budget. When it comes to safety comparing wire fuses to RCDs really is night and day, so don’t wait. Consider upgrading your home wiring today.