Hi Gordon,
You shouldn't have any worries connecting an extra circuit for an A/C into your board. So long as 1 - You have the physical space on the board. 2 - adding the A/C won't exceed your available power for the size mains coming into the house.
Now if you have two unused circuits (Stove and HWS) I would imagine space won't be a problem as you can remove the old fuses and this would also mean spare capacity on the mains.
If the board is really old and you plan to live there for a while it might be an advantage to get the board upgraded. A change over to a new smart meter does not mean you must go onto the new time of use tariffs, you can stay on your old tariff system (at least in Energy Aust area, and I am 90% sure it is the same for the rest of NSW).
A new board would give you the following advantages:
- Each power and light circuit would have its own safety switch which means if you have a problem on one power circuit your lights and some power will keep working.
- It can be safer having a neat clean board, makes identifying circuits easier. Safer to flick a circuit breaker switch than pull a fuse.
- Normally when doing a full board upgrade each circuit is tested for insulation breakdown giving you a health check on the rest of the house wiring.
- If you decide to get a PV solar system, your board will be ready to have a gross meter added. Energy Aust have been knocking back work by contractors that add a gross meter to a "un-safe" board. (I think this might be what you may have been reading about in regards to upgrading a board when making alterations)
A rough estimate to upgrade a board including metering would be $1000, maybe a bit less.
anyway I hope this info helps
cheers
Jim
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