Safety switches added to your existing board, tested, or brought up to what a sale or lease requires in WA. For owners, sellers, landlords and property managers.
Why It Matters
A safety switch, or RCD (residual current device), watches for electricity leaking to earth, for example through a person, and cuts the power immediately. Circuit breakers and fuses do a different job: they protect the wiring from overload and short circuits, but not people from electric shock. The WA Government describes the RCD as the only device designed to do that. (WA Government: RCD safety switches)
Many older Perth homes have one RCD covering the power points and none on the lights, or none at all. That is what an inspection before a sale or lease usually turns up.
Selling or Renting
Sources: WA Government, RCD safety switches; Consumer Protection WA, rental home safety. Fitting an EV charger? See whether your home can handle one. Businesses: RCD testing in workplaces is covered in commercial electrical compliance. For smoke alarms, the other half of a sale or lease, see smoke alarm installation and the pre-sale electrical inspection.
Your Board
If your switchboard is in good condition and has room, RCDs can usually be added to it. That is the quicker and cheaper option, and it is what many sellers and landlords need.
If the board still has old ceramic fuses, it usually needs a switchboard upgrade instead. A rewireable fuse cannot be replaced with another rewireable fuse; it has to be replaced with a circuit breaker. (Building and Energy fact sheet) Older boards can also be mounted on a panel that contains asbestos, which changes the job: see asbestos switchboards.
RCD or RCBO? An RCD protects a group of circuits. An RCBO is a combined circuit breaker and RCD that protects one circuit on its own. Two RCDs meet the minimum. With RCBOs, a fault on one circuit only switches that circuit off, instead of taking the lights or the fridge with it.
What’s Included
Prices
Prices include GST and are for a standard home in the Perth metro area. A replaced smoke alarm goes in the same position on the existing mains wiring; a new position assumes access through the roof space. RCD prices assume the switchboard is in good condition and has room. Anything else is quoted after a look. See our terms →
Testing
The WA Government recommends testing every three months, or more often if the manufacturer says so:
Tenants should test every three months and tell the property manager if an RCD does not work. (Consumer Protection WA)
Why Dextel
Licensed Electrical Contractor EC12377 | Security Agent SA54405. $10 million public liability insurance.
On the tools since 1995, which is long enough to have seen most of the ways a board gets wired badly.
Nothing up front under $1,000. Above that, 20% on acceptance and the balance when it is finished.
Common Questions
Yes. Safety switch is the everyday name for an RCD, a residual current device. It cuts the power when electricity leaks to earth, for example through a person, which a circuit breaker or fuse does not do.
At least two, protecting all power point and lighting circuits, when a WA home is sold or rented. Two is the minimum and more may be needed, depending on how many circuits the house has. I work out the right number when I look at the board.
Yes. RCDs must protect all power point and lighting circuits before the title is transferred, and a rental home must have at least two RCDs on the switchboard before it can be leased.
Often, yes, if the board has room and is in good condition. A board with old ceramic fuses usually needs upgrading instead, because a rewireable fuse cannot be replaced with another rewireable fuse.
Every three months, or more often if the manufacturer says so. Press the button marked T: the switch should flip off straight away. If it does not, or will not stay on when you reset it, call a licensed electrical contractor.
Yes. I install and test RCDs and smoke alarms in rental homes, and I can arrange access with the tenants directly.
Where We Work
Dextel is based in Spearwood and works across Perth metro. Where we work →
Most service work needs nothing up front: jobs under $1,000 carry no deposit, and quoted work above that takes a 20% deposit on acceptance, as set out in our terms →
Tell me what is tripping and when, or just ask for a price on the safety switches. I will come back to you today.