Buying new consumer unit

[artbag10]

Hi all. My house is a bog std 3 bed mid terrace. I currently have a 5 slot wylex box that needs upgrading. Is a '10 way dual rcd' the way to go?

Thanks.

Arthur

[The Natural Philosopher]

Stuff in as a big a frame as you can fit.

I'd recommend an overall 100mA RCD which is pretty safe from nuisance trips and 10mA-30mA RCBOS wherever you feel there is a genuine shock danger.

Basically anywhere with a 13A socket.

[harryagain]

Don't forget, you can get mcbs that plug into the fuse slots to upgrade it.

[ARW]

Would that be a 100mA time delayed RCD?

My NICEIC inspector would have a heart attack at your recommendation:-)

[ARW]

Upgrade in what way?

[The Natural Philosopher]

"Under the current rules, the chances are most if not all circuits will need RCD protection at 30mA. Hence most 17th Edition style insulated CUs can be used on a TT system without further change or modification. A high integrity type can be used, but with the incomer switch replaced with a 100mA trip time delay RCD. All RCBO installations are also acceptable. "

If the game is now 'all RCBO' on every circuit then that's no bad thing.

If you cant hold normal leakage on a ring down to that you have a problem anyway.

[Bill]

In message , [e-mail] writes

Without a doubt I would go for all RCBOs You then have individual protection on each circuit and if anything does cause a leak then you only loose that one circuit, you will appreciate this when it happens, rather than loosing 50% of the circuits. I recently did this and although I've not had any trips since I still feel that it was well worth the effort.

Choose a box that will take more RCBOs than you need at the moment, you are bound to want more at some point, as there is a bit more wiring to do than with MCBs choose a box with as much space inside as possible too.

How do you plan on isolating the incoming feed to the CU while you make the change?

[ARW]

The wiki article says time delayed 100mA main switch.

[Tim Watts]

If you can afford a little more, all RCBO is nice.

When the washing machine or combi oven throws a wobbler[1] it will not knock out half your circuits.

and I like Hager personally - as they don't seem to obselete their devices as fast as say, GE[2]

[1] Seem both happen in the last 2 years. [2] 10-12 year old unit, RCBOs just gone out of fashion, but Hager devices are a perfect fit...

[The Natural Philosopher]

thats hwat I said

[harryagain]

Closer overload protection.

[spuorgelgoog]

But most of those plug-in replacement MCBs have lower short circuit ratings than the fuses they replace.

Owain

[ARW]

And does nothing to improve the lack of RCD protection

[ARW]

Normally you just pull the main fuse:-)

[ARW]

That's where the high integrity units fill the gap between cheap and expensive. You get to share some of the circuits between the two RCDs and have a RCBO or two seperate to the RCDs.

[Bill]

In message , ARW writes

Indeed! :-)

I was just wondering what Arthur's plans were.

[F]

And isolate the feed from any solar PV you might have on the roof...?

[Andy Burns]

Don't you trust the anti-islanding on your grid-tie inverter?

[F]

Belt and braces...