Why Your Fuse Box Keeps Tripping in Andover and What It Costs to Fix

Published September 2026 | Why your fuse box keeps tripping and how to fix it

Quick Cost Summary for Fuse Box Tripping Issues

The price range for fuse box work varies depending on what's causing the trip. Here's a clear overview of what you're likely to pay for the most common scenarios:

• Fault diagnosis / call-out: 80 to 150 pounds
• MCB (miniature circuit breaker) replacement: 100 to 200 pounds, labour and parts included
• RCD (residual current device) replacement: 120 to 250 pounds
• Single circuit rewire: 150 to 400 pounds
• Full consumer unit replacement: 500 to 1,200 pounds
• Emergency out-of-hours call-out surcharge: 50 to 150 pounds on top of standard rates

These figures reflect what our engineers see across jobs in Andover and the wider Hampshire area. Your final price will depend on the root cause, the age of your installation, and how much access is needed to trace any fault.

What Factors Affect the Price of Fixing a Tripping Fuse Box

The cost of sorting a tripping fuse box isn't fixed. Several things push the price up or down, and understanding them helps you gauge whether a quote is fair before you commit to anything.

The root cause of the tripping

The cheapest outcome is a faulty appliance triggering the RCD. You can check for this yourself by unplugging everything on the circuit, resetting the breaker, then plugging things back in one at a time. If the breaker holds until you reconnect one specific appliance, that's your culprit, and you may not need an electrician at all.

Where it gets more expensive is when the fault lies in the fixed wiring of the property. Our engineers commonly encounter five causes:

1. Overloaded circuit: Too many high-draw appliances running simultaneously on the same circuit. Kitchen circuits are particularly prone to this, with a kettle, microwave, and toaster all competing for capacity.
2. Short circuit: A live wire touching a neutral wire somewhere in the circuit, either in the property wiring or inside an appliance. The MCB trips immediately when the circuit is energised.
3. Earth fault: Current leaking to earth through damaged wiring or a faulty appliance. The RCD detects this and cuts the supply to protect you.
4. Worn MCB: Breakers can wear out over years of use, particularly in older consumer units, and may begin tripping at lower loads than their rated capacity.
5. Nuisance RCD tripping: Some older RCDs have a very sensitive threshold and will trip under conditions that aren't hazardous, such as switching on certain types of LED lighting or motors.

The age and type of your consumer unit

If your fuse box is more than 20 years old, it may still use rewirable fuses rather than modern MCBs and RCDs. These older units generally can't be partially upgraded, so a fault often prompts a recommendation to replace the whole unit rather than patch the existing hardware. A modern consumer unit with split RCD protection typically costs 500 to 800 pounds installed. Larger properties or those opting for RCBO (residual current breaker with overcurrent) protection on every individual circuit will sit closer to 1,200 pounds.

Whether the fault is in the wiring or an appliance

A fault in a fixed circuit means the electrician needs to trace, repair, or rewire that run of cable. This adds labour time and can become significantly more expensive if the wiring passes through walls, under concrete floors, or into hard-to-access voids. An appliance fault, by contrast, keeps your electrician's bill to the diagnostic visit only.

Property type and access

A modern open-plan house is faster to work on than an older Victorian property where wiring runs through solid walls or original floor joists. If cables are buried in plaster or require lifting floor coverings to access, expect the labour time to increase.

Time of day and urgency

Emergency evening and weekend call-outs typically add 50 to 150 pounds to whatever the standard rate would be. If the situation can wait until a weekday morning booking, it'll cost you less.

Regional Pricing: What Andover and Hampshire Residents Typically Pay

Andover sits in a mid-range pricing zone for electrical work within Hampshire. You'll typically pay slightly less than you would in Winchester or Southampton, and broadly in line with Basingstoke. Electricians travelling from further afield to cover rural parts of the county may include a higher call-out charge to cover the drive time.

In Andover, most qualified electricians charge between 50 and 65 pounds per hour, with a call-out or minimum charge of 80 to 120 pounds. A simple visit where the fault is identified and a single component is repaired during the same call typically comes in at 100 to 180 pounds all-in. Anything requiring circuit tracing or rewiring will be quoted on inspection once the electrician can assess the scope properly.

Our engineers use the Voltrade GoFIX diagnostic tool to help narrow down the likely category of fault before the visit. When a homeowner in Andover runs their symptoms through GoFIX ahead of the appointment, it reduces the time spent on-site identifying the problem, which means a lower final bill in most cases.

Labour Costs vs Parts Costs

With fuse box work, labour consistently makes up the larger portion of the invoice. Understanding the split helps you sense-check any quote you receive.

Labour costs

Most fuse box faults take between one and three hours to diagnose and fix, assuming the fault is traceable without major disruption to the property. At 50 to 65 pounds per hour plus a call-out fee, a two-hour job puts you at 130 to 270 pounds in labour alone. Complex faults requiring a full circuit rewire can take half a day or longer, and the total cost reflects that.

Parts costs

Individual MCBs from reputable manufacturers such as Hager, Schneider Electric, or Wylex typically cost 10 to 25 pounds each. RCDs sit in the 30 to 80 pound range. A complete consumer unit for a three or four bedroom home costs 80 to 300 pounds for the unit itself, with labour and certification added on top. The parts bill for a standard repair is modest. It's the labour that drives the cost.

What not to do to cut costs

How to Avoid Getting Overcharged

Electrical work is an area where overcharging is relatively easy to hide from a homeowner who isn't familiar with what the job involves. Here's how to protect yourself.

Get multiple quotes for larger jobs

For a consumer unit replacement or a circuit rewire, get at least two or three quotes before you agree to anything. For a small diagnostic call-out, the time spent shopping around probably isn't worth it, but for any job over 300 to 400 pounds it absolutely is.

Ask for an itemised breakdown

Any reputable electrician will separate labour and parts on the quote if you ask. This makes it possible to compare quotes properly rather than just comparing totals. If someone is reluctant to break down their pricing, treat that as a warning sign.

Verify their registration

In the UK, certain electrical work is "notifiable" under Part P of the Building Regulations. Consumer unit replacements fall into this category. The electrician must either be registered with a recognised competent person scheme, such as NICEIC, NAPIT, or ELECSA, or the work must be inspected by your local building control. Ask any electrician quoting on notifiable work to confirm their scheme registration. A registered professional will give you a certificate on completion. An unregistered one who skips this step is cutting a corner that could cost you later.

Use the Voltrade GoFIX tool before you book

Running your fault through the Voltrade GoFIX diagnostic tool gives you a baseline understanding of what you're likely dealing with and what a fair price range looks like. It also reduces the risk of a well-intentioned but inexperienced electrician widening the scope of work beyond what's actually needed.

Get the quote in writing

A verbal quote is difficult to enforce if the bill comes in higher than discussed. Ask for written confirmation before any work starts, even if it's just an email or a text message setting out the agreed scope and price.

Is It Worth Repairing or Should You Replace Your Consumer Unit?

This is the question our engineers get asked most often on fuse box jobs, and the answer is nearly always determined by the age and specification of your existing unit.

If your consumer unit was installed within the last 10 to 15 years, has modern MCBs and RCDs, and the tripping is down to a specific identifiable fault, repair is almost always the right call. You're dealing with a targeted problem that has a targeted fix.

If the unit is older, uses rewirable fuse wire instead of MCBs, or lacks RCD protection on circuits, replacement is likely better value. An installation without RCD protection doesn't meet current BS 7671 wiring regulations. While existing installations aren't automatically required to be upgraded just because the regulations have changed, any significant work on the property is typically a good trigger to bring things up to standard at the same time.

The other scenario where replacement beats repair is repeated tripping across multiple circuits over a short period. This pattern can suggest the unit itself is deteriorating, and the cost of replacing individual worn breakers starts to compare unfavourably with the cost of a single complete upgrade that solves the problem definitively.

For most properties, a full consumer unit replacement takes a qualified electrician five to eight hours, including testing, inspection, and issuing the Electrical Installation Certificate that is required on completion of notifiable work.

Getting Quotes: What to Ask For

The more detail you can give an electrician before they visit, the more accurate their estimate will be. Before calling anyone, try to gather the following information:

1. Which circuit is tripping - is it lights, sockets, the cooker, the shower, or another dedicated circuit?
2. Is the main RCD tripping, or is it an individual MCB?
3. When did the tripping start, and does it happen every time you try to reset it or only occasionally?
4. Is there anything that seems to coincide with the trip, such as switching on a specific appliance, damp weather, or a time of day?
5. How old is your consumer unit, and what does it look like - does it have individual switches for each circuit, or older fuses with wire?
6. What type of property is it and how is it built?

With these answers, a competent electrician can give you a meaningful estimate over the phone rather than a very broad range that only narrows once they arrive. It also helps identify less experienced operators who struggle to engage with the specifics.

Ask whether any work they plan to carry out is notifiable under Part P, and ask how they handle certification. The answer tells you quickly whether they operate professionally and understand their regulatory obligations.

Price-Related Questions About Fuse Box Tripping

How much does a call-out to diagnose a tripping fuse box cost in Andover?

A diagnostic visit from a qualified electrician in Andover typically costs between 80 and 150 pounds. Some electricians include the first hour of labour within that fee, while others charge it separately. If the fault is found and fixed during the same visit, you pay for the additional labour and any parts on top. Always ask upfront exactly what the call-out fee covers before anyone arrives.

Is replacing an MCB an expensive job?

The component itself is cheap, typically 10 to 25 pounds for a quality breaker from manufacturers like Hager or Wylex. Most of the cost is in labour. Because the supply to the consumer unit needs to be isolated before anyone works safely inside it, electricians typically charge a minimum of one hour plus the call-out fee for this kind of job. In total, expect to pay 100 to 200 pounds for an MCB swap in most cases.

Can I fix a tripping fuse box myself without calling an electrician?

You can carry out basic, safe troubleshooting yourself without touching any wiring. Resetting the breaker, unplugging appliances one at a time to isolate a faulty device, and noting patterns around the timing of trips are all things a homeowner can do safely. What you must not attempt is opening the consumer unit or swapping any components inside it. This requires isolating the mains supply at the meter tails and carries a serious risk of electrocution if approached incorrectly. The completed work also needs to be certified.

What does a full consumer unit replacement cost in Andover?

In Andover and the wider Hampshire area, a full consumer unit replacement typically costs between 500 and 1,200 pounds, including labour, the new unit, and the Electrical Installation Certificate. The main variables are the number of circuits in your home and the specification of the unit chosen. A standard split-load unit for a three-bedroom house usually sits toward the lower end; a larger property opting for RCBO protection on every circuit will sit toward the upper end.

Why does my fuse box trip mainly at night?

Tripping that happens at night is often linked to heating equipment cycling on during off-peak hours, such as storage heaters, immersion heaters, or Economy 7 loads. It can also point to an appliance that develops a fault as it warms up over time. Older properties can also experience this pattern due to condensation in wiring, where moisture levels change as temperatures drop overnight. If this is happening regularly, it needs a proper electrical inspection rather than just resetting the breaker each morning.

Standard UK buildings insurance policies don't typically cover electrical faults caused by wear and tear, which is how most fuse box problems are classified. Home emergency cover, sometimes available as an optional add-on to your policy, may cover a call-out if you lose power to part of your home. It's worth checking your policy wording carefully before paying an out-of-hours surcharge, since some providers will dispatch their own approved electrician at no upfront cost to you under emergency cover.