17th edition on new consumer unit compliance. All RCBO's for best?

RCBO defo best practice and fully 17th edition compliant, however there are occassions when not suitable, ie RCD at a more distant location , ie external garage.An electrician would be the one to decide when this was the case. regards nigel.

 

I am an advocate of all-RCBO consumer units simply because it guarantees compliance with the Regs. with regards to minimizing inconvenience in the event of a fault. There is never any guarantee of future proofing anything, so I would disregard that from the equation. In essence it will come down to cost and what you are willing to pay. An all RCBO CU is the best solution, but also the costliest. Dual RCD units are fully compliant in respect of 30mA RCD protection, but do not, in my opinion, satisfy minimizing inconvenience in the event of a fault. There is probably one case where you may consider an RCD is best avoided and that is a fridge/freezer circuit. If you can see your way to having a dedicated socket for that you are best leaving the RCD protection off.

 

A high integrity db would be worth considering

 

If you do have such a setup you will need to ensure the cabling is in with the requirments of 7671, ie surface mounted, swa etc

 

Hey, the stuff we ave to know!!. How hard can it be to "join a few bits of wire together" The man in the street!. Lol

 

It's not really a case of picking a choosing which ctts are rcd'ed or not. The requirements of BS7671 need to be met in terms of rcd protection

 

Hi integrity board! = feed to garage on non rcd circuit, simplies.

 

RCBO board all the waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay

They have taken a significant price tumble over the years, dual RCD Nah!

 

I had hoped once I had attended the IET lecture on amendment 3 I would have the answers. However the "We are waiting for clarification on this" was an all to frequent answer. It would seem some manufacturers are doing something about the problem and are going back to two screws to clamp the cables. It would seem not only not tight enough but also too tight has been causing a problem with terminals being warped due to over tightening. The dissimilar metals used in terminals is it would seem a major problem years ago everything was brass today the mixture steel and brass is causing a major problem.

I would agree RCBO with neutral switching would seem to be the best option. But each manufacturer seems to be taking a different approach and one now has to compare a top opening cover over the MCB/RCBO to a side opening cover clearly top hinge means it can't be left open but with side opening it can.

As to all plastic glands v metal glands with rubber inserts this is still waiting for guidance as to which is going to be accepted. I expect plastic consumer units will plummet in price but as to enclosures to fit the plastic consumer units in we are still waiting with baited breath to see what will be offered.

The manufacturers may have started to produce steel consumer units but the whole sale outlets will have many pre-3rd amendment units which they will want to get rid of so likely there will be some really good deals.

To me a consumer unit in a attached garage are we really worried likely no. But under the stairs then yes we are what ever the regulations say. Are we worried about how much we pay? Well clearly we are and in the current climate we have to take all into consideration. It is all very well saying I want a metal consumer unit with all double pole switching RBCO's but in the main we also consider what it costs.

It would seem odd but in real terms it is us as electricians who really want the input from a fire fighter rather than the other way around. So what do you think we should be fitting?

 

There was an issue a while ago about Metal Clad CU's having an effect on RCD's on the supply side and it may not 'see' the fault,so why are we reverting back to it is my query?

All insulated CU's should be Mandatory for domestics installs, I bet some insurance company has had to shell out a tasty claim for this stupid reason for Metal enclosures. . .

What a ferkin mess we are now, dictated not by electrically trained individuals but B.S. rules

Quicker I can get out this game the better IMHO.

 

The changes in escape route rules once explained make sense but we tend to consider escape routes are just for escape and forget firemen go in using those routes and we never even think of the problem of getting a BA set tangled in fallen wires. Sorry it caused two deaths but surprised it had to wait for regulations before making people aware of the problem.

I am sure it is lack of torque screwdrivers when fitting consumer units which has caused the problem but again why wait for regulations why was not the problem publicised more? Until the lecture I took the attitude tighten the terminal as tight as you can then give it a little more. I had not realised it was over tightening which damaged the terminals which caused as many problems as under tightening. Again lack of public awareness.

But looked in Screwfix website and could not find a single consumer unit which complies with 2016 regulations. Even the metal ones have plastic drop down lids. Manufactures are making them but non in the suppliers. As to the special glands!

 

Virtually all of the circuits on my TPN Dis-Brd in our House has RCBO's and has had since 2010 when I put it in.

Big cost but far cheaper now they cost £28 back then to me and there's 13 in all plus a 6A MCB feeding the Fire Alarm Panel and a 63A TPN MCB feeding the 16mm 4C SWA submain feeding the Workshop.


Nowts burning down in my Gaff!

 

You obviously don't live with females, that one has to go behind to make sure they have turned off their hair straighteners, curlers & such

 

TP+N in your house Sine??. . .lets have some piccys me old cable joint?!

 

Subject to all reg criteria being met with ref to above. I love high integrity db's - they are cost effective.