Home charge points (purchase/problems/questions) (See mod note post#1)

Did the installers/electricians do the Periodic Inspection, which is how they tell whether the house wiring is up to code? I ask because I was in a similar situation: needed mains tails upgrade to install electric charger and couldn't find any EV charger specialist to take on the work. I gather that the reason they don't like this kind of job is that, for the actual installation of the mains tails, the ESB have to have a representative present and that requires a second visit to the site usually at short notice and that can tie their installer up for hours (since the ESB only give a 4-hour tine window for when they'll be there).

I eventually did find a specialist installer--expensive enough but fair--and they did everything, including a periodic inspection, which is required before the mains tails upgrade (I think). If you haven't had a periodic inspection but just a general going over by an electrician, it might be an idea to have that done. Costs about €500 but will give a definitive answer about whether a re-wiring is actually needed.

@[Deleted User] Thanks. I don't think an external socket & granny cable would be a long term solution. I am using the granny cable during my waking hours for a few hours to get 10-20% but only because it's cheaper than the eCar chargers. It's a bit inconvenient but I'm getting by using a rapid charger that is close to my house in conjunction with the occasional use of the granny cable.

@Sam the Sham I've never heard of the phrase Periodic Inspection. I suspect the electrician who did my house call didn't mention it because he knew from experience that my house needed a full rewire. It's a good idea though if I ever get the money together for the house rewire.

I suspect my best option is to wait for a few months - things might be cheaper next year? One, I believe ESBN have a plan to install smart meters in every house by 2024 so they might upgrade their portion of the tails free of charge? Two, the Govt are talking about grants for retrofitting houses. I'm not sure of the phrase but there might be grants for air heat exchangers (?) so that might soften the cost of a full rewire.

Thank you to everyone for their advice. I've spent too much time reading around the subject and ended up confusing myself!

They will swap the meter in your meter box and that will be all they will do.

The tails, which goes from the meter box to your consumer unit, is your property and your responsibility. They wont touch it.

Complete amateur here but I was thinking that there are two tails connected to the meter. One is on the external side of the meter and that belongs to ESBN while the internal tails belongs to me... I'll never find the link now but I thought I read on here that KN came out to upgrade someone's meter and did the ESBN tails free of charge since ESB have them as sub-contractor for both jobs. I probably misread it though.

No. The idea of a higher rated fuse on the ESB side is that you can pull more current into your house. That involves needing a suitably sized tails but then also ensuring that the consumer unit can take that increased current too.

There may be very little to do beyond pulling the new tails in, but there could also be alot to do if the wiring is old and needs upgrading and once you open the can of worms the electrician may then find a bunch of other issues (earth rods, gas bonding etc etc) which need remediating before he can bring it up to regs and give you a cert. And that cert is what the ESB need before they will give you that uprated fuse.

When the m

when the meters are upgraded for a smart meter then a notice of potential hazard will be issued to the account holder if the main cables aren’t correctly rated.

Sorry I should have been clearer. If the cables from the meter to the distribution board are undersized then a notice of potential hazard will be issued. This is not esbn responsibility, it’s the account holders.

Are we talking about fuses or wiring? Surely any house built from the 1970s should have internal wiring sufficient to supply 13A continuously to the sockets, a separate circuit for the cooker and immersion even if they're on the old screw in fuses. All that needs to done is an extra standalone breaker and a run of cable to the chargepoint...

Both.

Heh.

Seriously though, a std install coming from the meter box will include a PEN compliant Consumer unit. This makes the CU in the house defunct.

The cert issue then becomes a boundary problem which you can argue with the installer as you are not influencing anything to do with the housing wiring.

It can vary but generally a standard domestic scenario in Ireland will have a 12kVA supply and hence a 60A fuse. Newer houses have heat pumps so would get the "enhanced supply" so 16kVA which gives you an 80A fuse.

A 100A fuse would be "rare".

As I said, before the ESB will give you that 80A fuse they will want to see an electricians cert to ensure that the house can take the higher current. So, nothing stopping you other than the small wrinkle that you have to pay an electrician first to test and possibly upgrade your house wiring and bring it to current regulations first. So you have to pay him (which could be hundreds or thousands) and then you also have to pay the ESB for that uprated fuse (€1744)!

And to be clear, that doesnt mean you need that uprated fuse to add a charge point. You can stick with the 60A fuse and just use a priority switch or a load sensing charge point but you will still need an electrician to signoff on that and he may not like the wiring that he sees in the house and tell you that you need a rewire to bring it up to regulation.... you can certainly question why thats required but thems the rules. Up to you whether you want to follow them or not.

Because its part of the regulations and it keeps all those sparks in work!

I know the regs were updated earlier this year and you can now wire a charge point off the meter but I thought it had to be done via a sub board and not as an entirely independent CU. I guess we'd need to hear from a registered spark for the official answer on that.

If it does have to be wired as a sub board then I think you would find it harder to argue that you are not influencing the rest of the house.

e.g. Lets say your main fuse is 60A right now. You add a 32A charge point at the meter. You now fire up your 40A shower and pop goes the fuse. Therefore the electrician has to "do something" on the house side to prevent that or, again, a load sensing charge point but its not as clear cut as might seem.

It does tend to be down to the spark you get though. Some will throw the book at you and some will be more reasonable.

The fella that installed mine said they were no longer allowed to access the meter box cabling, it would have saved him a lot of drilling had he been able to. He just inspected the wiring and fuse and moved on to the cu.

You haven't a clue pal.

And installers wonder why the public don't trust them.

I'd better get onto the guys who fitted mine last week and tell them to rip it out.