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House Rewiring Technical Glossary

Plain-English definitions of 15 electrical, testing and regulatory terms you will see on an Irish house rewiring quote or inspection report.

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Free, no obligation. One registered electrician prices it, not five.

  • €7,000 to €14,500a full rewire of a 3-bed house
  • 4 to 10 dayson site for a 3-bed rewire
  • 42%of Irish homes were built before 1981 (Census 2022)
  • €10,700the most the council grant for over-66s pays

What will your rewire cost?

Four quick taps. You see our price range for your home and whether it sounds like a full rewire, a partial one, a new fuse board or an inspection first. Want a written price? One Safe Electric registered electrician who covers your county rings you.

Step 1 of 5

How many bedrooms?

Size is the biggest thing in the price.

When was it built, or last rewired?

A rough guess is fine. The age of the wiring matters more than the age of the house.

Do you see any of these?

Tick all that apply.

The whole house, or part of it?

A partial rewire only makes sense when the rest is sound.

Our price range

€7,000 to €14,500

A full rewire of a 3-bed house: new cables, a new fuse board, testing and the Safe Electric certificate.

Answer the four questionsYou'll see whether it sounds like a full rewire, a partial one, a new fuse board or an inspection first.
  • About 4 to 10 days on site for a 3-bed house.
  • A new fuse board on its own: €350 to €1,400.
  • An inspection and report: €150 to €350.
  • A guide, not a quote. The written price comes after the electrician has seen and tested the house.

Get a written price

Only your county and phone number are needed. Your answers go with it, so the electrician knows the job before ringing.

Free, no obligation. One electrician, not a list. Nothing is booked until you say yes.

15 terms defined A to Z

AFDD (Arc Fault Detection Device)

Protective device installed in modern consumer units to detect dangerous series and parallel electrical arcing in final circuits before heat build-up can ignite nearby timber or insulation.

Bonding of Extraneous Conductive Parts

10 square millimetre green-and-yellow protective equipotential bonding conductors connecting incoming metallic water, gas and oil service pipes to the main earthing terminal under I.S. 10101.

Consumer Unit (Distribution Board)

Metal-clad domestic fuseboard housing the main isolating switch, Type 2 surge protection device (SPD), and individual RCBO or MCB circuit breakers for each lighting and power circuit.

Containment & Oval Conduit

PVC oval tubing and galvanised steel capping installed inside wall chases to protect twin-and-earth cables from plasterers' trowels and allow future cable replacement.

Continuity & Insulation Resistance Testing

Dead tests carried out with a calibrated multifunction tester at 500V DC to verify that ring or radial conductors are continuous and that cable insulation exceeds minimum megohm thresholds before energising.

Earth Fault Loop Impedance (Zs)

Measured resistance of the fault path from the furthest socket or light fitting back through the earth conductor and supply transformer, confirming protective devices will trip within 0.4 seconds.

ESB Networks Meter Isolation & Reconnection

Procedure where a Registered Electrical Contractor submits a completion cert via Safe Electric so ESB Networks can energise a newly wired meter cabinet or upgrade the incoming service fuse.

First Fix vs Second Fix Electrical

First fix covers chasing walls, lifting floorboards, pulling cables, fitting back-boxes and installing the consumer unit; second fix happens after plastering to wire sockets, switches, pendants and appliances.

I.S. 10101 National Rules for Electrical Installations

The Irish wiring standard produced by the NSAI that governs cable sizing, circuit protection, bathroom zones, EV charger circuits and verification testing across all domestic and commercial work.

MIC (Maximum Import Capacity)

Contracted kilovolt-ampere (kVA) supply limit agreed with ESB Networks; a standard single-phase domestic connection is 12 kVA (63A) or 16 kVA (80A) when adding a heat pump and EV charger.

Part P / Safe Electric Completion Certificate

Numbered statutory compliance certificate issued only by a Registered Electrical Contractor (REC) after testing a full house rewire or new consumer unit installation.

Radial vs Ring Final Socket Circuit

A radial circuit runs a 2.5 or 4.0 square millimetre cable from a 20A or 32A breaker to the last socket in a line, whereas a ring circuit loops both ends of a 2.5 square millimetre cable back into a single 32A breaker.

RCBO (Residual Current Breaker with Overcurrent)

Combined safety breaker that provides both 30 mA earth-leakage protection and overload/short-circuit protection on a single circuit so a fault in one room does not trip the rest of the house.

Registered Electrical Contractor (REC)

Electrician or electrical firm registered with Safe Electric (administered by the CRU) and legally authorised to carry out, test and certify restricted electrical works in Irish homes.

SPD (Type 2 Surge Protection Device)

DIN-rail device fitted inside the consumer unit to divert transient voltage spikes from lightning or grid switching safely to earth before they damage heat pump PCBs, boilers or electronics.

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