new AFDD's

[steptoe]

Not unusual in Europe to have a three phase supply, supplying three single phase's in one room.
View attachment 13393

And different voltages
I've currently got a 380v supply and a 660v supply in the same building.
The UK and Ireland is in the dark ages when it comes to electricity supplies and wiring methods, IMO

 

[Andy™]

The consumer units we use in the UK are not big enough to supply everything by a radial circuit, especially if supplying the white goods on individual radials.

easy enough to fit a TP board and single phase kit. plenty space there, just finding enough wall space in some places will be the issue

 

[Mike.J]

Its strange how the consumer units in different countries evolve, in France you can get 1,2,3,4 and 5 row boards and they will all generally be 13 module, in Germany you can get the same row boards, but generally they will be 12 module, no idea why the difference, big difference is all MCB etc are two module and live comes in the top and feed out the bottom, they do have some very convenient side bars to distribute the Phase and Neutral to each row.

 

[mainline]

Interesting take on it from the NIC
Quote from less than a week ago ' they're not there to protect the ring main ( as they won't , they will only protect Spurs. ) They are there to protect what is plugged in"

Contrary to common belief, AFDD’s do offer protection against arc faults in ring final circuits and to the equipment being fed from this circuit. A series arc fault in one leg however, is unlikely to be at a dangerous level so will not be detected. This is due to current in this instance flowing around the other leg of the ring. A series arc fault will be detected in equipment and in flexible cables connected to the ring final circuit. Parallel arc faults are detected and disconnected in all parts of the ring circuit and on all connected equipment.

 

[Sparksfly]

So ... with copper prices gping up...its back to ring mains then.
As for AFDDs I dont doubt their usefulness.... but what a cost. It looks too commercially driven. Nice explanation Mainline

 

[Murdoch]

From a position of relative ignorance what is the testing procedure for a RFC with an AFDD?

Serious question