What to expect
| Typical duration | Full rewire 2–5 weeks · board upgrade 1–2 days · fault-finding same day |
|---|---|
| Cost band | Figures live in the cost index |
| Permit required | Not usually · certification required |
| Seasonal constraint | Year-round |
What actually fails here
Inland, an external socket lasts twenty years. Two hundred metres from the caldera face it can be unusable in three, and the failure is rarely dramatic — it is a green crust on a terminal, a gland that has lost its seal, and an RCD that starts tripping in wet weather for no traceable reason.
- External enclosures and glands. Anything outside gets a properly rated enclosure with intact seals and stainless fixings. Steel screws in an external box on this island are a service call with a date on it.
- Pool and terrace circuits. Wet, salty and outdoors at once. These get their own protection and a specification that assumes the environment rather than hoping.
- Air conditioning condensers. Frequently the worst-treated part of an installation — mounted where nobody looks, wired in whatever was on the van, and directly in the spray.
- Earthing. Dry volcanic ground has high resistivity, so a single rod that would give a good reading on the mainland often will not here. It is measured, not assumed, and where the reading is poor the arrangement changes.
The distribution board problem
A large share of the island's residential stock was wired for a house with a fridge, a water heater and some lights. Since then owners have added split air conditioning in three rooms, an induction hob, a pool pump, a booster set for water pressure, and increasingly an EV charger — each addition made in isolation onto a board that was adequate for none of them.
The symptoms are nuisance tripping in August, warm accessories, and circuits that were extended rather than added. Before any renovation the incoming supply capacity should be checked and the board against what you plan to run, because discovering it at second fix is expensive and discovering it in your first busy August is worse.
Cable routes in old and cave buildings
Chasing cable into welded tuff or a rubble stone wall is not the same job as chasing into blockwork. In a yposkafo it is a structural question: a chase cut deep through a vault haunch removes material from exactly the part carrying thrust.
So routes are planned around the structure — surface conduit in traditional finishes where it is honest and reversible, shallow chases where the material allows, and service voids formed during the build rather than cut afterwards.
Everything gets recorded. As-built cable route drawings sound like paperwork until someone needs to hang a picture, or until a leak has to be traced in a building where nobody knows where anything runs.
What this trade covers
- Full rewires and new installations, first and second fix.
- Distribution board replacement and upgrade, including supply capacity assessment.
- External, terrace, pool and garden circuits specified for coastal exposure.
- Air conditioning, pool plant, booster set and EV charger circuits.
- Fault-finding and repair — including the intermittent faults that only appear in wet weather.
- Lighting design and installation, and the low-voltage work that goes with it.
- Coordination with photovoltaic and solar hot water installation.
- Certification and documentation for the installation.
Questions people actually ask
How much does it cost to rewire a house on Santorini?
It depends on size, the wall construction and access more than on anything else — chasing tuff or rubble stone is slower than chasing blockwork, and a property with no vehicle access adds material handling. Bands are in the cost index.
Do I need a permit to rewire?
Generally not for like-for-like rewiring. A new supply connection or a capacity increase involves the utility, and if the rewire is part of larger structural work the permit covers that. The installation still needs proper certification either way.
My RCD trips when it rains. Why?
Almost always water reaching an external accessory, a degraded gland, or an outdoor light that lost its seal. It is genuinely common here and it is straightforward to trace — but it should be traced rather than reset, because it is doing its job.
Can you install an EV charger?
Yes, subject to the supply capacity, which is the real question on older properties. That check happens before anything is ordered.
Can you work from my electrician's design?
Yes. We also work as one package within a larger contract, which avoids the common problem of a rewire finishing before the plasterer has agreed where anything goes.