Type C mcb's

[gazz]

parents house was built in the early '90's, has 3 x 6 amp circuits before the RCD for the lights,

Every yime a light bulb blows, it trips the relevent mcb, which is a pain for my mum to re-set as the breaker box is just below celing height over the back end of a kitchen worktop, much fuddeling with a broom handle gets them re-set, fun when the kitchen light breaker is the one that's tripped tho.

they have compact fluorexcents in most of the light fixtures nowadays, but certian fittings need to use the old tugsten bulbs (multiple light fixtures on dimmers etc)

i've read that lighting circuits should really have type C breakers, as these are better able to handle the surge/arc you get when a tugsten filament bulb blows,

But reading on here it seems type C breakers are used on different protection systems, all this TT stuff about earthing arangements i dont understand just yet,

Could i just get 3 type C 6 amp breakers and put them in place of the type B ones that are in the box already and stop the damn things being triped every time a bulb blows? or is there more to it than that?

[John Rumm]

I would suggest fitting an non maintained emergency light near the CU (about £14 from TLC). That will ensure there is always light available to reset a MCB etc.

A type C takes a bigger surge current to trip, and so is less likely to trip when a bulb blows. Having said that, GZ10 mains halogen spotlights can still take out even those.

I routinely use type C breakers on lighting circuits.

You can try, and it will probably help (but there are other factors that will affect how high the surge current from a bulb blowing will be, so not everyone will get a satisfactory solution). Type C and an emergency light is probably the best all round solution. You can also get HRC fuse carriers shaped like a MCB, again these are less likely to trip, but they are harder to reset when it does happen.

[James Salisbury]

You mentioned TT, could you take a picture of the mains meter and the box that connects it to the big cable? Thanks