Qualified Sparkies - am I speaking out of my ...

[breamster]

..arse?

We had a new consumer unit fitted a few months ago by a qualified electrician.

Three circuits (lighting, sockets and (yet to be used) garage extension) have been installed in the "Not RCD protected" side of a Crabtree board. All three breakers are marked MCB. Does this sound correct?

Should they not be RCBO breakers to overcome the fact they are not installed on the RCD protected side of the board?

I have the electrician coming round on Thursday so I need to make sure I get my facts straight and not look like a prat.

There are other issues to resolve as well but this is the main one I'm not sure about.

Thanks.

[grumbas]

I'm not a sparky, but if you've got sockets on the non protected side and the cables supplying them are buried in the wall at any stage (highly likely!) then I'm 99% certain they need RCD protection.

[Ganglandboss]

breamster said:

..arse?

We had a new consumer unit fitted a few months ago by a qualified electrician.

Three circuits (lighting, sockets and (yet to be used) garage extension) have been installed in the "Not RCD protected" side of a Crabtree board. All three breakers are marked MCB. Does this sound correct?

Should they not be RCBO breakers to overcome the fact they are not installed on the RCD protected side of the board?

I have the electrician coming round on Thursday so I need to make sure I get my facts straight and not look like a prat.

There are other issues to resolve as well but this is the main one I'm not sure about.

Thanks.

The following must be RCD protected:

• Any socket circuit
• Any circuit in a bathroom
• Any circuit buried in the building fabric (unless greater than 50mm deep or in earthed metalic conduit)

An RCBO (Residual Current Breaker with Overload) provides the necessary protection if it is on the non-RCD side.

Did the electrician give you the necessary certification for the works he completed?

[Raverbaby]

It should be a dual RCD consumer unit your spark fitted unless he has made other means of complying with BS7671 ( 17th edition), which I presume he hasn't if he's fitting sockets on a non RCD protected MCB.
Did he carry out any tests on your circuits?
As above, ensure you get certification when he comes back, if its a cash in hand job you'll probably not get any

[breamster]

Sounds like my suspicions have been confirmed. Thanks for feedback.

I'll update this thread once it has been settled - I've deliberately left this topic a little vague as it would be just my luck that he is on ph...(does anyone else worry about this?)



Thanks.

[davethebunny]

needing rcd protection:

Sockets, Circuits within a bathroom, cables concealed in a wall (if less than 50mm cover)

Basically in a house you want all circuits to be rcd protected except perhaps a socket for a freezer and perhaps smoke detector circuit.

Most 17th edition consumer units have two halfs each protected by an RCD with a number of ways for mcbs to be fitted.

In your case though, get him to swap the mcbs out for rcbos for the affected circuits.

He won't like it though as it'll cost him about £25 a circuit.

[Raverbaby]

breamster said:

it would be just my luck that he is on ph...(does anyone else worry about this?)



Thanks.

yes!