Have I got to RCD it?

[Robin Spark]

Been to a friends moms house today and she wants some wall lights fitted (there arent any at the moment) in the lounge.

The house is old victorian with high ceilings and the consumer unit 8 way Hager with no RCD protection is mounted at the top of the wall and you need a step ladder to access it. His Mom is over 70 and I dont want to cause any problems with nuisance tripping or her getting confused on what to do if I add a standalone RCD or can get a RCBO to fit.

Oh I havent done any testing as it was a personal visit and they just mentioned it whilst I was there.

Does anybody have any feasible not too costly option around this?

thanks

 

[steptoe]

Been to a friends moms house today and she wants some wall lights fitted (there arent any at the moment) in the lounge.The house is old victorian with high ceilings and the consumer unit 8 way Hager with no RCD protection is mounted at the top of the wall and you need a step ladder to access it. His Mom is over 70 and I dont want to cause any problems with nuisance tripping or her getting confused on what to do if I add a standalone RCD or can get a RCBO to fit.

Oh I havent done any testing as it was a personal visit and they just mentioned it whilst I was there.

Does anybody have any feasible not too costly option around this?

thanks

firstly it would help us all if you used English,

secondly,

if you are going to bury the cables <50mm then they deffo need 30mA protection, whether by RCD or RCBO, the choice is up to you,

sorry if that doesnt help much, only other option is use mechanically protected cable (FP200 - the jury is out on this one!?) or surface.

 

[NozSpark]

I don't think the shield on FP200 can carry the fault current,, you'd need something like Flexishield or Guardian BS8436 cable

 

[batty]

There are ways of getting over not RCD protecting cable you could put an earthed conduit in the wall if you wanted but to me an RCBO is the easiest option hopefully there are no faults on circuit though.

 

[steptoe]

I would agree Noz, but I think some others think it is OK,

not for me tho, but that is why I left the option for OP, to make his own decision.

Guardian BS8436 , not used this I dont think, any links.?

 

[NozSpark]

It's batt cables version of Flexishield mate

Both Flexishield and guardian are BS8436

Here's the link

Guardian cable BS8436 | building wire | BASEC

 

[steptoe]

???

if its just an aluminium screen then isnt FP the same,? screened with a cpc in contact with it ?

Im not sure as to how these cables would stand up to mech protection compliance TBH,

 

[Robin Spark]

Steptoe, I thought my english was easy enough to understand? I'll try and take more care in the future and fully explain myself. However I did not want to make the post too long winded.

Noz, any ideas on the price for flexishield or Guardian cable?

Thanks

 

[NozSpark]

I've used it,,,, once...

And the aluminium shield is much thicker than what FP has,,,, and I have some of that as well if you remember

FP is more of a foil whereas Guardian is probably at least 0.5mm thick (if not more)

---------- Post Auto-Merged at 22:53 ---------- Previous post was made at 22:53 ----------

If I've an off cut of guardian left then I'll take a photo to show the comparison

---------- Post Auto-Merged at 22:54 ---------- Previous post was made at 22:53 ----------

Won't be for a couple of days though

 

[steptoe]

lol, yep Noz, no worries, I well get myself a few metres and give it a go.

Robin, mom is not a word I recognise or can find in any English dictionary or even slang one,

maybe its one of those B******ised american words?!

I could be very much mistaken though, English isnt my first language so please forgive me if Im wrong.

 

[NozSpark]

You'll be lucky,, unless you have a contact..

All my local wholesalers would only get by the reel, I ended up getting a 10m off cut direct off batt cables...

In all honesty it wasn't worth buying the 10m, I should have got the reel

 

[Robin Spark]

Oh ok, thats fine, I just thought you were being pedantic and wanted perfect Queens english.

Mom is a word I have always used, as my Mom never ever likes to be called Mother! She prefers Mom or Nan

lol, yep Noz, no worries, I well get myself a few metres and give it a go.Robin, mom is not a word I recognise or can find in any English dictionary or even slang one,

maybe its one of those B******ised american words?!

I could be very much mistaken though, English isnt my first language so please forgive me if Im wrong.

 

[ian932]

firstly it would help us all if you used English,

OMG the dictionary police are a bit OTT. It

 

[Badger]

OMG the dictionary police are a bit OTT. It

 

[revjames]

whats the big deal here? victorian house - no lights in the lounge? that means a new circuit. Conduit, FP200.... all to avoid having an RCD.... is it worth avoiding the RCD - if theres no lights then you need a new circuit.

New Circuit

New cable

good workmanship

should equal trouble free operation

Even an MCB will nuicance trip every time a tungsten bulb blows so whats the beef?

 

[Andy™]

???if its just an aluminium screen then isnt FP the same,? screened with a cpc in contact with it ?

Im not sure as to how these cables would stand up to mech protection compliance TBH,

FP200 foil is more for shielding. in case of fault, the foil would probably 'blow' away from the fault before the OPD does

 

[kme]

if, and it`s a big if, you can`t or won`t be allowed to do the full, proper job (remember, there ought to be RCD protection to S/O,s shower etc. anyway - note on the cert.) ; then why not take the wall lights from an RCD fused spur from the nearest available socket circuit? Why get "bogged down" with all this avoidance stuff????

n.b. A tungsten filament will not generally take out a C6 breaker - which I`ve gone to using where possible.

KME

 

[Evans Electric]

Oh come on Steps, did you get out of the wrong side of the bed today ? I may be getting Robin Spark mixed up with another Forumite, but I thought he was from the Midlands and if that is so , then like me and everyone else in the region ......the lady who gave us life and raised us is called Mom . Not Ma or Mam or Mammy, or Mater or Mother or Mommy .......... its Mom.

As regards the wall lights , we've all read the 17th . If you were doing the job to the 16th you'd know exactly how to proceed, and it would be deemed as the bee's knees.

Regarding FP200 , the sheath is deemed not to be able to carry a fault current , Flexishield is OK , trouble is you'd have to buy a drum or scrounge a couple of metres from someone and JB the bit down the wall . If I had some I'd let you have some .

 

[NozSpark]

I sent this to steps as a PM but I've now decided to post it... possibly a bit controversial????

I was told on my assessment visit that the NICEIC might recommend that you could avoid RCD protection for burried cables as long as you carry out a risk assessment as suggested in the AMD1 DFC and note it as a deviation

Not for me at the moment as I work to current regs

 

[Sidewinder]

Not until the Amendment is out for me.

However, IF you READ the full detail of the regs this has always been allowed.

Tricky to prove that you have followed the regs but it can be done