Rcbo ?? Outside of CU.

[JohnD]

If buying RCBOs, see if you can get Type A (sensitive to pulsating DC) which is the only type allowed in Germany, because it is not inactivated by certain common electronic devices (including I think phone chargers). I am lucky enough to have these but they are not common. It's possible that they may become obligatory in UK.

See also https://www.diynot.com/diy/threads/type-b-rcds.548939/page-2#post-4692873

This is of interest to Electrical Engineers but has not yet entered public consciousness.

The "Type A" refers to the RCD performance. Confusingly, the MCB within the same unit is usually "Type B" which means something completely different.

 

[joesoap13]

Whatever happened to a bit if tin foil, or nail !
It was all so simple then.
This CU had mcb’s in when I viewed it before buying,1995, the owner, a gaffer electrician for YEB, and now has his own electric business, swapped them for fuses.
Tight so and so.
I meant to change them back, 26 years ago.
Reckon only 2or 3 times has a fuse blown, and it was a bulb blown on ceiling lights.
No mice damage that I know of !
New mcb’s not tripped either, in 6 months since changed fuses.
Thought they would have tripped if cables were chewed?
Costs me a fortune for chocolate to catch them.
Perhaps 20 to 30 every year.
Tempus fugit !

 

[EFLImpudence]

Thanks very much.
Can I ask for the kite mark, or registered body said person should be qualified to.

You will have to notify the CU change to the Local Authority.

You can do this at a cost of a hundred or two or more pounds depending on the LA, or
you employ a 'registered' electrician who can do it for a couple of pounds.

Registered means belonging to one of the registration schemes {NAPIT, Elecsa/NICEIC etc.} and he can 'self-notify' which they actually call 'self-certify' (it's not supposed to make sense) but being registered is no guarantee of quality.

 

[JohnW2]

If buying RCBOs, see if you can get Type A (sensitive to pulsating DC) which is the only type allowed in Germany, because it is not inactivated by certain common electronic devices (including I think phone chargers).

I know I've asked many times (without useful responses), but has anyone come across any 'chapter and verse' which would help one to understand the details/extent of this potential problem, hence 'how real a problem' it actually is in practice (since I have so far failed fairly miserably in my searching)?

Those in 'authority'/influence' (in the widest of senses) are not universally stupid, so I would have thought that if there were good evidence that the required ('safety') function of Type AC RCDs/RCBOs was being significantly undermined in a substantial proportion of UK homes (because things s ubiquitous as phone chargers could do this 'undermining') then, at the very least, we would be hearing some very loud campaigning for Type ACs to be outlawed, if not hearing of them already having been 'outlawed'!

Kind Regards, John

 

[JohnD]

I think I saw a test report somewhere....

 

[joesoap13]

You will have to notify the CU change to the Local Authority.

You can do this at a cost of a hundred or two or more pounds depending on the LA, or
you employ a 'registered' electrician who can do it for a couple of pounds.

Registered means belonging to one of the registration schemes {NAPIT, Elecsa/NICEIC etc.} and he can 'self-notify' which they actually call 'self-certify' (it's not supposed to make sense) but being registered is no guarantee of quality.

 

[JohnD]

On the other hand, NOT being registered is even less a sign of quality.

 

[joesoap13]

Thanks

get a different domestic elec. in to fit you an all RCBO board (£700 ish) or do an EICR in advance (£125) to look for faults
They are very busy ATM

Are Eicr allowed to issue a certificate of they find and fix any faults in my wiring as the CU stands now ?

 

[EFLImpudence]

On the other hand, NOT being registered is even less a sign of quality.

No it isn't.

The electrician in question who was a commercial electrician does not need to be registered - which might be why he didn't want to do the CU change, or, like many others, he might just not like 'house-bashing'.

 

[joesoap13]

I would leave that to the electrician, that the norm isn,t it ?

 

[EFLImpudence]

Are Eicr allowed to issue a certificate of they find and fix any faults in my wiring as the CU stands now ?

Yes, anyone can issue a certificate and should for any work.

 

[joesoap13]

No it isn't.

The electrician in question who was a commercial electrician does not need to be registered - which might be why he didn't want to do the CU change, or, like many others, he might just not like 'house-bashing'.

He kept pointing to his lapel with initials of his expertise and saying this means more than anything.
Didn,t know if he was a registered house electrician.
Presumed he was !
The well reputed joiner who fitted kitchen chose him,uses him regularlly,and plumbers etc.
He project managed it.
Had to come at all hours because of his office work.
If anyone can issue a ceft, cannot understand why he didn,t put pen to paper and give me one for the work he carried out ?
Got nothing at all.
The Eicr is the very O ne I am concerned about
Another one will have to test his work which could be at fault ?

 

[EFLImpudence]

I was forgetting about the ceiling lights.

He should have tested the circuit and if he did, might as well have written down the results - especially as that is one of the circuits which caused the RCD to trip.

 

[JohnW2]

On the other hand, NOT being registered is even less a sign of quality.

I wouldn't say that. I know, and know of, some very competent and 'high quality' electricians who have chosen not to 'register' (to 'self-certify/notify').

Kind Regards, John

 

[joesoap13]

I was forgetting about the ceiling lights.

He should have tested the circuit and if he did, might as well have written down the results - especially as that is one of the circuits which caused the RCD to trip.

I only wanted him for ceiling lights at the start.I
That,s the only light wiring carried out since I bought the house.
Then the circuit fails rcd!
That,s when he went on to change fuses, to mcb,s but not change the CU because of the work entailed if faults
Occured!
Is the CU as it stands ok to have a Eicr cert if wiring, or other faults are located and fixed ?