That displays a fundamental misunderstanding about what the 30 mA RCD in a split load CU (in a TN earthed installation) is for. It's not there as a form of backup protection in case the earthing is dodgy. Its primary purpose is to provide supplementary protection against direct contact with live conductors, particularly outdoors - the cut hedge trimmer flex scenario, if you like.
The On-Site Guide is quite unequivocal about which circuits should be on the RCD side of the board:
"30 mA RCDs installed to provide protection to socket outlets likely to feed portable equipment outdoors should protect only those sockets, see Fig 3b."
The guide goes on to state that RCDs installed for indirect contact protection (where the earth fault loop impedance is too high to allow an OPD to perform this role) should have a rated tripping current of 100 mA or more.
That quote doesnt back up your assertion. It simply means dont put the sockets in the garage on the main 30 mA RCD but put them on the non protected side and let them have their own RCDs.
There is no fundamental misunderstanding, and I also know full well what has been written on the subject. The facts are that in the circumstances mentioned, placing the cooker on the RCD protected side could have prevented a situation that may have lead to death. The cooker still had a functioning grill for which there was opportunity to use on a few occasions prior to the oven element being replaced. As it was, the simple action of switching off at the cooker point inadvertently prevented a fatal shock. If I hadn't had a socket tester to hand I wouldn't have immediately picked up on the missing earth until the whole installation was scheduled to be tested a few weeks later, in more normal circumstances the missing earth could have been undetected for years.
While I'm not in favour of Part P, is it right to follow the head in the sand "it will never happen" approach and wait until it kills someone "important" like MP's daughter or other "celebrity" or do we get the engineering right in the first place so that faults that may go undetected do not later lead to a dangerous situation?
The downside of placing almost everything on a 30mA RCD when the installation and equipment are in good condition is absolutely minimal, nor does fitting a 30mA RCD doesn't immediately make the installation less safe. Not that I think that instantly plunging the house into total darkness is a good idea, given the choice I would put everything on the 30mA RCD including the lights and provide maintained lighting at strategic points.
In the case of a central pendant lamp failing where RCD protection is not provided for the lighting, the user might use table lamps in that room for the evening so that replacement can take place next day. Sometimes the user cannot always be sure the light switch is off (ok they shouldn't be used for isolation purposes but they often are) In these circumstances accidental contact with live objects such as the remains of the lamp base, or the contacts in the lamp holder are possible, and in the case of the elderly or someone not immediately familiar with lamp replacement quite likely. You wouldn't permit unshrouded socket outlets which leave exposed live parts, yet go up a step ladder and reach up to the ceiling and they are deemed "acceptable"
But it really doesn't matter where you come into contact with mains electricity, live conductors in the garden or live unearthed metalwork in the kitchen, either can kill. That a 30mA RCD is deemed completely suitable in one set of circumstances in the garden, yet in the kitchen, where damp hands and portable electrical equipment such as blenders are operated round devices like hobs that may burn through power cords, RCD protection is frowned upon. Utterly ridiculous. You might not operate a hedge trimmer or lawnmower in the kitchen but the potential for injury is probably just as great especially given the frequency of use. Lawnmower usage of once a week for 6 months of the year vs cooking once/twice/three times a day for 50 weeks a year.
Full or partial failure of earths can happen due to many circumstances, of course on a well installed and regularly inspected system the chances of an earth conductor failing AND a live to earth fault are probably remote, but the backup can be provided at zero cost, there is no need to duplicate RCD's, one rated at 30mA trip can operate in a safe and predicable manner and not be prone to false tripping. The idea promulgated that 100mA RCD's are suitable as backup protection for inadvertent contact is laughable in the extreme. Yes you might prevent someone else getting zapped but one body on the kitchen floor is one too many. I might end up being the only one in here holding that view but there are many who totally disagree with what the IEE place into print on both this subject and it must be said many others.
I intended to reply to this a while ago as it raises some interesting points... only just remembered to do it!
Phrases like "Could have", "may have", and "in the circumstances mentioned", highlight a significant point: that the incidence of deaths caused by fixed wiring in any circumstance are vanishingly small[1], and one must presume that those caused from this particular scenario even smaller.
[1] I appreciate if you are a relative of one of the handful of people killed in this way, you will derive little comfort from this - but we are talking bigger picture here!
What did you plug the socket tester into though? A socket on the cooker point? If so then it would be correct for the oven to be on a RCD protected supply anyway, simply because of this socket being there.
Good engineering not only requires that you analyse risks, but also look at the likelihood of those risks manifesting and causing harm.
It is very easy to take a specific example as say "a RCD protected supply would be better because it would mitigate the risks in this circumstance", however that in itself does not suggest it would be good engineering. Take your example of the oven: the RCD would reduce the electrocution risk in the circumstance you described, however how probable is that particular combination of faults? Now assess how probable a nuisance trip might be as a result of placing the oven on the RCD. If the likelihood of causing a trip is significantly greater (and I suspect it would be), then the likelihood of causing injury due to a trip or fall is also significantly raised. Thousands die each year from the latter remember.
Much depends on what "everything" is, and how much of it there is. One could argue that the best possible protection would be offered by having a dedicated RCBO on every circuit. However this is not something you see often, because cost must also come into the equation.
That is a viable solution - and one permitted by the wiring regs. However again there is a risk to be assessed there. It is only viable so long as the emergency lighting is subject to routine maintenance and testing, otherwise it becomes a liability.
Placing "out of reach" is acceptable in many circumstances. The effort required to reach the lamp holder is much greater than a socket (especially for the most likely candidates to go sticking metal things in sockets - i.e. kids) and hence the probability of accidental contact much less. There is also very little danger of the lamp holder being used to power a device outside via an extension lead. Serious shock injury in most living rooms due to direct contact with live parts is in reality going to be very small, since you will typically be well insulated from any earth reference by carpets and shoes etc.
Either can, however the former is far more likely to.
I am not sure how you have arrived at this interpretation.
RCD protection for kitchen *sockets* is certainly *not* frowned upon, and in fact, is required in all but a very few cases (where it is nevertheless still strongly recommenced). As you say, it is the blender in your hand with its flex melted on the hob that is far more likely to cause you harm.
The probability of the event itself occurring is in many ways less important than its severity. You may survive 20 minor shocks in a kitchen environment while relatively well insulated by flooring and shoes etc, however survivability of one shock in a damp garden is much reduced. Also note again that RCD protection would be required in both circumstances anyway, with the exception of for the fixed kitchen appliance (cooker, boiler etc).
Assuming the combined leakage of the devices it supplies is low enough. The more traditionally "leaky" devices you knowingly connect to it, the more likely you to have problems I would have thought.
Not sure I follow this. The only time a 100mA trip RCD would be mandated for protection from direct or indirect contact is when EEBADS alone cannot be relied on to do this (e.g. non power circuits on a TT install with a high impedance earth connection). In these circumstances a 100mA RCD will provide very effective protection from indirect contact caused by a phase to earth fault, and massively improved chances of survival in the case of direct contact, while not accentuating the risk of injury as a consequence of a nuisance trip.
That is my point exactly. I don't want any non RCD protected stuff in my house
30mA overall is too sensitive.
100mA seems just right.
Anything more is a separate RCBO on such circuits where the leakage under non fault conditions is less, and the danger overall of being electrocuted is higher.
Except in the case where there's little or no chance of the socket being used to supply portable equipment outdoors. In that situation no RCD is required - unless of course it's a TT-earthed installation (in which case RCD protection is required, but need not necessarily be 30 mA).
The probability of an open circuit CPC should be very low indeed, if the installation has been done in accordance with BS 7671 [see all of
543-03-xx]. With T&E cable the chance of the CPC being severed in some way, but not the phase & neutral conductors seems extremely unlikely - so where was the open circuit? A bad (loose) connection, or one never made, perhaps. Why was this not picked up in the initial testing of the installation? Continuity of protective conductors is the very first test...
It's quite true that if everything is (and remains) in good condition you can go for years and years with a single whole-house 30 mA RCD and have no trips. The arrangement still doesn't comply with 314-01-01 though because "inconvenience in the event of a fault" hasn't been minimised. Nobody would put all their circuits on to a single fuse or MCB (using suitably rated cable throughout) and then use the argument that it's OK because the risk of such a fuse blowing "when the installation and equipment are in good condition is absolutely minimal!"
[Lampholders]
That isn't the measure (as defined in BS 7671) being used here though, to avoid shock by direct contact. The measure is still "protection by barriers or enclosures" [412-03-xx] with an assumption that the barrier/enclosure is completed by the lamp itself. Reg. 412-03-04 in general requires that enclosures can't be opened without the use of a tool, or some interlocking mechanism to disconnect the power first, but this reg. goes on to make specific (historical) exemptions for ceiling roses, pull cord switches and lampholders.
As well as the points you made, another is that the area of skin contact with the live terminal in a lampholder is too small to give rise to a shock current likely to be high enough to prove fatal.
Again it seems that he is not understanding the difference between the use of an RCD to provide supplementary protection against shock by direct contact (30 mA RCD, as required for outdoor equipment sockets by
471-16-01, 412-06-02(ii) and in certain other situations, e.g. bathrooms, in Part 6) and the use of an RCD to provide protection against shock by indirect contact. This is a very fundamental misunderstanding, despite the denial.
Careful... This is still EEBADS, it's just that the RCD (of whatever trip current) is providing the Automatic Disconnection of Supply, rather than an OPD [see all of 413-02-xx]. Also it's not actually mandated in BS 7671 that such an RCD be 100 mA, merely that one may be used. The advice that an RCD provided /only/ for this purpose should be at least
Yup, appreciate that, but was just highlighting that "out of reach" is still an effective policy for many circumstances.
Yes, that is a good point I had not considered. Is there actually any published details on the relationship of contact area with shock current (or lethality)?
Yup, sorry my bad - being sloppy with terminology.
I know that's what the regs say, but I always make sure the socket where the kettle is going to be plugged in is RCD protected. With kettles being very frequently moved, containing water, handled with wet hands, never checked/tested in domestic premises, used until they actually die, and nowadays built as consumables with limited lives, they seem to me to merit an RCD. I would never fit a cooker switch with combined socket*, but if there was one, then I would put that circuit on an RCD (or better, an RCBO), or swap the cooker switch for one without a socket.
*At least, I would never fit a cooker switch with combined socket for that purpose. When I was putting in circuit for the outdoor sockets on a 10mA RCBO, switched from inside the garage, one of these combined switch/socket units was ideal. It gives me a single switch to switch off all the outdoor sockets, combined with a separately switched socket in the garage where outdoor appliances might also be plugged in, with the same 10mA protection.
I searched for any records of electrocutions from an open lampholder, but could find none for this country. Edison Screw holders do seem to have caused some in other countries, almost certainly when the supply wasn't polarised and the outer screw was the live, including the bulb cap. More modern ES lampholders don't make contact with the outer screw contact until the bulb is screwed right in, but in countries where they've been in use for years, there are older ones where the screw thread is also the contact, so they're live all the time and the bulb cap becomes live the moment it touches the lampholder.
So you, along with the n*****ts at the IET:) view the likelihood of a flexible mains lead being damaged by a hot hob as being lower or non existent compared to severing it with a lawnmower in the garden?
When the lack of earth was noticed I expected:
a) a nicked conductor where the outer sheath started, either in the cooker switch or in the consumer unit b) a loose earth in the consumer unit c) a loose earth in the cooker switch d) rodent/mechanical damage on the cable run
The failure was within the consumer unit, the outer sheath had been removed correctly without nicking the insulation on the live and neutral conductors, the sleeving was correctly fitted but around halfway down the sleeved length of around 6 inches the earth conductor had completely failed. In the vicinity of the failure I couldn't see any external factors such as the routing of other cables or the positioning of the front cover etc could contribute to the failure. The earth sleeving was totally intact, only by probing into the end of the cable sheath and making direct contact with the "good" side cable was the fault isolated to the incredibly short section in the consumer unit.
The conductor didn't immediately appear notched, nor fatigued and no necking had occurred. If anything I would have said it was a cut from a pair of very sharp side cutters. I wish now I'd kept the piece for further examination.
I've no idea why this wasn't picked up on initial installation, the place was probably rewired in the late 70's/early 80's. Further work to add wiring for a garage was added in about the last 10 years. There are no test certificates or other evidence of who did the work although the way some "tradesmen" work nowadays it's difficult to distinguish their work from that of outright bodgers. Cable runs at the back of the consumer unit (hidden in a cupboard) weren't clipped as they disappeared into a riser duct but other than that it looked a neat and tidy installation.
Inconvenience on the death of the occupant really ought to be a greater consideration :) If the installation is up to scratch then even a 10mA RCD shouldn't cause any problems due to "nuisance" tripping.
No one ever suggested that.
That I find an argument without any basis in fact. The pins on a lamp holder are around 4mm diameter, giving a csa of around 12.5mm^2. The normal extension cable/lawnmover cable is around 0.5 or 1mm^2.
Cut the cable in the garden and it is deemed sufficiently "bad" that RCD protection is mandatory. Burn through a blender cable in the kitchen and as long as the socket it's connected to is nowhere near the garden then it is presumably "OK" to handle the exposed conductors. Change a lamp, while perched up a stepladder and fail to isolate the circuit and you may contact terminals 25 times the area that you would in the garden, possibly simultaneously with your other hand contacting the body of the lampholder with a low impedance earth. But having no RCD protection and being electrocuted/falling and breaking your neck in that set of circumstances is deemed "OK"
You can clearly see why some hold the view that BS7671 is seriously flawed.
No, all I'm saying is that in the circumstances where, despite testing, either at the time of installation or at a future date, an earth conductor has failed for whatever reason , AND sometime later a live to earth fault occurs on equipment that would normally be earthed, then far better the RCD operates on human contact than the alternative of leaving an appliance with live metalwork immediately adjacent to other sound and properly earthed metalwork. A tripped RCD and having to reset the timer on the video is I would expect preferable in most peoples eyes (with the obvious exception of the IET) to an identification visit to the mortuary.
The only drawback of the RCD tripping rather than the MCB is that discrimination by the way of direct indication of the circuit concerned is not provided. The RCD is perfectly capable of handling this type of duty. That the occupant of the premises noticed the radio in the kitchen go off when they accidentally made contact between the hob and the oven ought to be a reasonable indication to anyone investigating further.
I still maintain, as do many others that on domestic premises with PME, RCD protection at around 30mA for the whole installation, together with maintained lighting is the safest for the user. If maintained lighting is not/cannot be provided then lighting only on the non RCD protected circuits is marginally acceptable. Everything else, especially internal sockets located nowhere near the garden (such as in the kitchen, children's bedrooms) AND supplies to appliances with exposed metalwork should go on the RCD protected side of a split load consumer unit.
Over the last 25 years, I've cut part way though a lawn mower cable and through two hedge trimmer cables, and I've probably repaired 10 or more such incidents done by neighbours/colleagues, but I've never damaged a flexible mains lead on a hot hob, and I can't actually recall any incidents where I've come across anyone else doing so. So I would say that assertion is completely justified IME.
A 10mA RCD would be liable to trip with 4 computer systems connected to it. Each Class I IT appliance is permitted to leak 0.75mA through its RFI filters, and a PC normally has two Class I IT components, the base unit and the monitor. Four of these add up to 6mA, which is within the permitted tripping range for a 10mA RCD (> 5mA, >[Lampholders]
What's the relevance?
Ah, you misunderstand the potential fatal fault scenario.
Cutting right through the cable is most unlikely to be a problem. You may blow the fuse anyway, but even if the blade contact time is too short and it doesn't, touching the live end would be unlikely to pass enough current to you to do harm, and unlikely to invoke a grasp reaction keeping you in contact with it.
The much worse scenario is that you don't cut right through the cable, but end up with the cable conductors caught in the blade. Now you have, say, a lawn mower, on which you have a good grip, probably with damp/sweaty hands, which has become live, and you can't let go. Even ignoring the possibility of catching the cable with the cutting blade, you still have an appliance which gets much rougher treatment than a kitchen blender, and may get its cable snagged on some other part of it or something else sharp in the garden, exposing live conductors which are in danger of coming in contact with the mower's metal bodywork, with the same result.
As I said, you are worrying about the wrong fault scenario. In any case, the grasp reaction is not going to keep you in contact with the live pin, actually quite the opposite.
It's not uncommon when people don't understand it. Largely, it's been driven by actual events, rather than imagined ones, so on the whole it does represent protection from real risks. Please find a single reported case, ever, of someone being electrocuted by the pins in a BC lampholder, as I couldn't. (Yes, I know there are cases outside the UK for Edison Screw lampholders, where the outer screw contact is the live, but that doesn't apply in the UK.)
However, I am less hopeful about the Regs future. IEE's involvement in the Part P fiasco was a very marked departure from their previously excellant grasp of risk assessments with appropriate solutions, and I fear the Wiring Regs might go off down the same non-scientific political route, which will discredit it.
It is. Falling down stairs and breaking your neck is considered to be a far more likely inconvenience than melting your kettle cable.
My computer setup on its own would probably trip that...
To an extent this is a moot point. In most installations done today, it is a fairly safe bet that most if not all the socket outlets will be RCD protected. Rumour has it that the 17th edition of the regs will make this standard practice. Remember also that the original question was not about a socket outlet, but a fixed and hard wired appliance.
and/or you fall and break your neck...
If you mean the *same* 30mA (i.e. one RCD shared between all circuits), then that is neither practical in most cases, or desirable in any. If instead you mean that each circuit should have RCD protection at a trip threshold no higher than 30mA (e.g. RCBOs or multiple CUs), then it is a more plausible suggestion. (although not warranted by the accident statistics it would seem)
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