Anyone else getting headaches over the plethora of different RCD types now available .............. and the decided lack of decent straight forward information about their selection and use?
RCD types
- Thread starter Murdoch
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It does get complicated .
Type AC
Detects AC sinusoidal residual current only .
Type A.
Alternating sinusoidal residual and residual pulsating DC suddenly applied or smoothly increasing.
Type F .
Responds to HF residual current & pulsating DC current .
Type B
Responds to all types of residual current including smooth DC .
Type AC
Detects AC sinusoidal residual current only .
Type A.
Alternating sinusoidal residual and residual pulsating DC suddenly applied or smoothly increasing.
Type F .
Responds to HF residual current & pulsating DC current .
Type B
Responds to all types of residual current including smooth DC .
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quite - but how many people know this?
just waiting to see my first EICR handing out C2’s for having the wrong ones ....
I note that as with those AFFDDS & SPU , whatever they're called , my wholesaler only stocks basic RCD s .
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Im waiting for us to be told we have to go on a new course to be able to fit these!
OOO yes I 'll look forward to that ...another £200 perhaps .
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That's just for the best practice guidance noted. How can you fit them if you havnt got a book...
and then you also have a Residual Direct Current Detecting Devices (RDC-DD) for DC
boltonsparky
Senior Member
With all these new fan-dangled inverter driven appliances and chargers, LEDs, TVs etc being plugged in leaking DC current and DC current masking type AC RCDs, I believe any new consumer unit should be fitted with type A RCDs/RCBOs to future proof against this. As mentioned above the problem is on the shelf stock and some wholesalers not having the knowledge, "an RCD is an RCD isn't it".
The EV chargers require a specific type as well but can't remember which.
The EV chargers require a specific type as well but can't remember which.
so what do we get over the counter at Joe Bloggs wholesalers?
Trying to think whre you would use a Type F?
The usual jobby is a type AC as far as I know .
Has anyone yet to fit any of the other types yet. ?
We have now left fuse wire soooo far behind have we not ?
Has anyone yet to fit any of the other types yet. ?
We have now left fuse wire soooo far behind have we not ?
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Sharpend
"It Just Is"
the young modern sparks think that fuse wire is something they only find in their fireworks!
That brought back a memory of the common conception about fuses .
" The fuse keeps blowing so I 've put bigger wire in it " !!!
Theres still one fusewire board left at the printer I look after , I've been pushing to upgrade it for the last 20 yrs but its down to budget.
" The fuse keeps blowing so I 've put bigger wire in it " !!!
Theres still one fusewire board left at the printer I look after , I've been pushing to upgrade it for the last 20 yrs but its down to budget.
boltonsparky
Senior Member
Yeah bog standard is Type AC.
There's still rewire-able fuses in abundance round my way.
There's still rewire-able fuses in abundance round my way.
for members who listen to podcasts find time to listen to this:
https://podtail.com/en/podcast/the-e5-group/e5-9-paul-on-rcd-selection/
https://podtail.com/en/podcast/the-e5-group/e5-9-paul-on-rcd-selection/
Probably not , they're from the top of my van !! I've had them for 30 yrs .
Like Trigger's Broom they've had new treads , new ropes , new hinges etc.
Even worse , as we pan back , OMG! Metal steps !! Call The HSE !!
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Bring back wooden decorators steps. The one with the lattice-work sides no piece of timber greater that 1/2" sq
The aluminium ladder reminds me of an amusing, (but could have been tragic!) incident some years ago.
Visiting my newsagent, who I was on friendly terms with, I was greeted with, "Geoff, can you spare two minutes to tell me what I'm doing wrong with the lounge light?"
We went through the back of the shop to the accommodation. He was trying to reinstall a fancy fitting with the usual loop in connections, having decorated the room. Like many before him he had mixed up the connections and was using trial and error to try to get it working again.
Picture this though:
To finish off the decorating he had shampooed the carpet, quite enthusiastically I think, because it was like walking on wet grass. Because he didn't want to mark his newly cleaned carpet he had then taken his shoes off, so is now wearing wet socks. In the centre of the room was a pair of aluminium step ladders from which he was carrying out his experimentation.
I did point to him what he was doing wrong.
Visiting my newsagent, who I was on friendly terms with, I was greeted with, "Geoff, can you spare two minutes to tell me what I'm doing wrong with the lounge light?"
We went through the back of the shop to the accommodation. He was trying to reinstall a fancy fitting with the usual loop in connections, having decorated the room. Like many before him he had mixed up the connections and was using trial and error to try to get it working again.
Picture this though:
To finish off the decorating he had shampooed the carpet, quite enthusiastically I think, because it was like walking on wet grass. Because he didn't want to mark his newly cleaned carpet he had then taken his shoes off, so is now wearing wet socks. In the centre of the room was a pair of aluminium step ladders from which he was carrying out his experimentation.
I did point to him what he was doing wrong.
phil d
Well-known member
Geoff's post reminded me of an incident some years ago just up the road from me, a builder mate rang me, 'can you get over here quick, the plasterer has sparks coming off the ceiling' he told me, sounding very excited. I jumped in my van and went round to the house, the plasterer had started to skim a ceiling, it was a typical bodge job, leave the light fitting up and skim aorund it, you've all seen them.
Well it was all going well until he came to the plaster around the fitting, a large brass three arm thing, he'd felt a couple of tingles as he'd been putting the plaster on the ceiling but ignored it, then he'd seen a couple of flashes. I tested from a neutral at a socket to the metal of the fitting, 240v! It would even light a test lamp with a 15W lamp in it.
I turned off the power and removed the fitting, there was no earth on the main cables, they were the old twin type, so we had live in, live out, connected with the ubiquitous terminal block, neutral in and out, connected in the same manner, we then had the switch wire, red into the live in and out, and black to the fitting (no sleeving).on the fitting we had a brown, a blue and a green/yellow, the blue went to the neutral, the brown to the switch wire (single black) and the earth went to the 3 reds (loop live)!
At this point the customer walks in and asks what all the fuss is about, 'that fitting has been in for years mate, fitted it myself and we've never had a shock off it, in fact the wife wipes it with a damp cloth every weekend' . The reason he'd stuck the earth in with the lives was because he 'knew it had to go somewhere and that was the only spare wires he could connnect it to' ,it's amazing that a good carpet (foam backed) and a pair of wooden steps can give such a good level of insulation, otherwise he could have ended up with a dead wife!
Believe it or not I had an identical fault a couple of weeks later, a freind of my wife's was moving home and wanted all her fancy lights taking down and replacing with pendants so she cold take them with her to the new house, ' you shouldn't have any problems, I fitted them myself so they were done properly' she proudly informed me. The first fitting I removed was a large brass chandelier in the lounge, again the supply cables were the old twins with no earth, and once again the earth had been connected to the loop live.
Well it was all going well until he came to the plaster around the fitting, a large brass three arm thing, he'd felt a couple of tingles as he'd been putting the plaster on the ceiling but ignored it, then he'd seen a couple of flashes. I tested from a neutral at a socket to the metal of the fitting, 240v! It would even light a test lamp with a 15W lamp in it.
I turned off the power and removed the fitting, there was no earth on the main cables, they were the old twin type, so we had live in, live out, connected with the ubiquitous terminal block, neutral in and out, connected in the same manner, we then had the switch wire, red into the live in and out, and black to the fitting (no sleeving).on the fitting we had a brown, a blue and a green/yellow, the blue went to the neutral, the brown to the switch wire (single black) and the earth went to the 3 reds (loop live)!
At this point the customer walks in and asks what all the fuss is about, 'that fitting has been in for years mate, fitted it myself and we've never had a shock off it, in fact the wife wipes it with a damp cloth every weekend' . The reason he'd stuck the earth in with the lives was because he 'knew it had to go somewhere and that was the only spare wires he could connnect it to' ,it's amazing that a good carpet (foam backed) and a pair of wooden steps can give such a good level of insulation, otherwise he could have ended up with a dead wife!
Believe it or not I had an identical fault a couple of weeks later, a freind of my wife's was moving home and wanted all her fancy lights taking down and replacing with pendants so she cold take them with her to the new house, ' you shouldn't have any problems, I fitted them myself so they were done properly' she proudly informed me. The first fitting I removed was a large brass chandelier in the lounge, again the supply cables were the old twins with no earth, and once again the earth had been connected to the loop live.
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