earth trips at the consumer unit

[nigelsz]

A guy from the electricity board called at my house to move / remove meters and take out old storage heater /economy 7 stuff.
I had previously got an electrician to install a new consumer unit (its a hager) with loads of free bays cos i am extending into the loft and rewiring etc.
Anyway the electricity board man moved all he had to move and said I needed earth trips installed and that i could fit these into the hager consumer unit as i had plenty of free bays. He said that unless I undertook to either do this or get them fitted pronto he would 'close me down' by which he meant he would state the electrics dont come up to scratch .
I am handy enough with electrics and dont mind tackling jobs that I understand .Will someone tell me exactly what i need and how to fit them,I have fitted - installed -new circuits before, lighting and ring mains and of course installed back to consumer unit.and obviously take great care and want to pay particular attention to my safety both during installation and general day to day household use of the power supply.
These earth trip things cant be all that difficult to install ,I just need a bit of guindance.
Thanks to the people who took time to answer my previous post on earth cross bonding

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Did you use a "proper" electrician, or one that said "yee-haa!" a lot?

If the former then you should have got a certificate to say that your CU is "up to scratch" - if he didn't give you one, phone him up and ask for it.

I can only assume that the man from the supply company means RCBOs when he talks about "earth trips" and that you can fit "these" into the CU, i.e. plural devices, not a single RCD.

Did your electrician fit a CU without an RCD in it????

Did the guy from the electricity board offer to do the job for you, cash in hand by any chance?

 

[nigelsz]

The electrician i got to install the new cu is a bit fond of the drink but i guess he does know his stuff but his prioritys are more drink oriented .
The guy from the electricity board just said what he said and didnt offer to do the job for cash . there was no indication he was looking for a homer ,hobble , on the side job , or whatever , he seemed straight enough .
Sorry he didnt talk plural at all , ie: these as opposed to one . its just my way of talking or speaking .i am not the best when it comes to queens english or concerning the correct use of grammatical english .
Anyway i got all these circuits which are all ok and have followed everything to the book as far as i am aware ......... and if something gets overloaded , it trips,and i try to understand why this event has occured and endeavour to fix it , or if I need to work on anything i just flick the appropriate circuit switch on the consumer unit and do what i have to do .
so what do I need to do about this earth trip thingy or thingys ??
thank you for your time and thought ...ban_all _sheds
i know you are trying to help

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Don't know which Hager you've got, but have a close look at these photos and the main switch on the right - does yours look similar to this one:

or this one:

?

If the main switch on the CU says something about RCD, and has a test button, then you have what the leccy man meant by an "earth trip". If it's just a switch like the first photo then you don't.

RCD protection is a Good Idea, and the wiring regulations say that RCD protection is required for socket outlets where:

1. - they are part of a TT system (no earth terminal provided by the Electricity Supply Company),

2. - they are installed in a bedroom which contains a shower cubicle, or

3. - the socket outlet(s) are likely to feed portable equipment used outdoors.

4. - they are installed in zones B or C of a swimming pool and comply with BS EN 60309-2.

Protection by an RCD with a rating of 30 mA is required for fixed electrical equipment installed in a bathroom or in zone C of a swimming pool.

If you don't have an RCD, and 1) or 2) applies to you then your dipso electrician has screwed up. If 1) or 2) don't apply then the bone of contention becomes 3) - are any of your sockets likely to be used to supply equipment outdoors, and of course "likely" is an imprecise term.

HOWEVER, unless you have a TT supply (ask the electricity company) I don't think that they are within their rights to refuse to connect you if you don't have RCD protection.

Confirmation from someone here who knows the rules better than I would be helpful....

 

[nigelsz]

BAN_ALL_SHEDS
You are a gentleman. Thank you for your advice .I have example 1 in your photo post , I guess I would like to have the rcd thing fitted to my cu and i know that it is something i wont attempt cos it means messing with raw mains coming into the house and I aint going down that road. I take it that the main switch that I have photo 1 can be changed for the rcd button type thing that is in photo 2. If you can possibly confirm this then i will buy the thingy and get a man in to do it .I dont want to change the whole consumer unit if i can avoid it .
If its possible to buy the thingy please tell me what to ask the man in the shop for cos that way i dont appear to be the dork that i am when it comes to this subject

Again thank you ban_all_sheds

 

[breezer]

you could even print this page take it with you and point at it and mumble some "foreign language"

or you could order it on line (its where ban_all_the_sheds got the picture from see) here

 

[securespark]

Hi

Yes, I reckon the board man was talking about an RCD, but cannot say why he just didn't use the correct terminology.

Your spark should really have fitted a board with an RCD in.

I fit split-load boards as standard now, primarily because of the afore-mentioned clause from the regs "likely to be used to supply equipment outdoors", and I wire all ring mains to through the RCD.

The non-protected side I use to feed lighting and anything else I don't want to go off if the RCD trips.

All is not lost, though. You can retro-fit an RCD to the tails, but that means the whole board will be protected, so if there is an earth fault, then all your electricity will die.

You could ask the spark nicely to change it and show him the bit of paper the leccy bloke gave you.

One final thought. I've never heard of a leccy bloke insisting on work being done or else.

Last time that happened to me was back in 1992 before the eb's changed. Now they're not bothered about that kind of thing (or at least in the NW they're not).

Good luck.

 

[il78]

I thought it was quite common for the electricty board to isolate installations for being "dangerous" (no main earth etc).

Nigelsz....is your earthing upto date, what condition is the rest of the installation..

I know you have a new(ish) board but the rest of the wiring could be unsatisfactory.....not saying it is, but just wondering why the engineer said he would cut you off.....

 

[nigelsz]

thanks to all you guys ..I am now clear what i need ...
I am based in n.ireland ,maybe thats why the leccy man was being a bit tough. .............. I will retrofit rcd .......... if fact what i will do is ask the leccyboard how much it will cost me if they do it and if they say its gonna cost somewthing stupid I will ask if the can fit a douple pole switch between meter and consumer unit ...I think i read somewhere that they sometimes will fit this for free .i will then fit the rcd myself........

Thanks again guys for all your help

 

[nigelsz]

Hi thanks for your post

The leccy man didnt look at much .he just said something bout "I know you country folk dont always do this but in Belfast we insist " We live in a town of 50,000 people 30 miles from Belfast.
Some belfast folk think we all cave dwellers lol. anyway I think he was just being pernickity but He did take my word that I would get it sorted so He cant be all that bad .
I am In the process of total re wire and loft conversion anyway so earthing is in process of being brought up to date have a few sockets on a radial circuit with the old separate bare wire earth under the floor boards and between the joists in the loft. These will soon be sorted and i can then rip out all that old bare wire earthing stuff and i will then fit the rcds.
Also the earth bonding is in a pretty bad way .in fact almost non existent , so its time i got myself sorted.
Yes I have gathered that earthbonding is a priority and by monday i will be properly bonded I have all the stuff here for that .
but to perhaps answer your question more fully the leccy man didnt look anywere apart from the new consumer unit .He would have however seen the old earthing stuff I guess but He never said a word bout that or passed comment on anything else of note . neither did he seem to be angling for a bit of work ....lol
thanks for your contribution iL78