AFDD performance standards, installation for a timber framed new build

I think you going to find it very difficult to persuade someone to put their name against your design & installation let alone when its already been buried in the fabric of the building.

The OP might be thinking of just building regs certification - the local building control dept (or one of the private firms offering equivalent) will happily issue a building regs completion certificate if they've had a modicum of oversight during the process.


As for AFDDs themselves, I'm in the 'not proven' camp myself. My feeling is that for the money you could probably use alternative approaches that might give similar levels of protection (at least for the fixed wiring) using better understood (and possibly more reliable) approaches. I'm thinking of things like wiring systems that surround the conductors with earthed metal and steel backboxes for accessories - so that any arcing that could start a fire, if not contained, would be very likely to result in an earth fault and so can be caught by conventional RCDs or overcurrent protective devices. That sort of approach would also give some protection from resistive heating faults, which AFDDs are unlikely to spot. On the other hand AFDDs can provide protection beyond the fixed wiring (e.g. to appliances and their flexes) - so maybe a mixed approach - e.g. AFDDs just on socket circuits might be worth considering.


   - Andy.

I think you going to find it very difficult to persuade someone to put their name against your design & installation let alone when its already been buried in the fabric of the building.

The OP might be thinking of just building regs certification - the local building control dept (or one of the private firms offering equivalent) will happily issue a building regs completion certificate if they've had a modicum of oversight during the process.


As for AFDDs themselves, I'm in the 'not proven' camp myself. My feeling is that for the money you could probably use alternative approaches that might give similar levels of protection (at least for the fixed wiring) using better understood (and possibly more reliable) approaches. I'm thinking of things like wiring systems that surround the conductors with earthed metal and steel backboxes for accessories - so that any arcing that could start a fire, if not contained, would be very likely to result in an earth fault and so can be caught by conventional RCDs or overcurrent protective devices. That sort of approach would also give some protection from resistive heating faults, which AFDDs are unlikely to spot. On the other hand AFDDs can provide protection beyond the fixed wiring (e.g. to appliances and their flexes) - so maybe a mixed approach - e.g. AFDDs just on socket circuits might be worth considering.


   - Andy.