Ring Main at Consumer unit

davezawadi (David Stone):

I'm afraid your "friend" should NOT be an approved contractor. Reason: complete lack of basic knowledge. Just imagine his EICR, total disaster!

Dave,

I do not disagree with your point here, I know that is a perception shared by quite a few contractors (NIC or not). An urban myth amongst many. Hence why I pointed this one out to my friend, Possibly past assessors in NIC encourage such thoughts  I suspect.


Ref RCBOs , yes Dave it`s the way I have usually persuaded as being an advantage because of the extra resilience during earth fault on one circuit not affecting another circuit resulting in loss of fridge/freezer or boiler for example and to ensure only loss of a lighting circuit caused by a fault on that particular circuit. Another reason , cooker circuits can sometimes be quite lossy ins res even when brand new . Electric shower leaks perhaps too. If not a complete RCBO set up then dual RCDs but RCBOs for boiler, cooker & shower as a min spec for me. Having said that I have been a complete front ender in my home installation  for quite a few years without many problems, however I do realise problems can result from soley 2 RCDs in a whole installation setup and I`d rather reduce that risk. For years many of my customers for house rewires have been 60, 70, 80 and even 90 years of age and I realise just losing a portion rather than a lot at once can make a difference not just for safety but also their piece of mind, more so than with the younger client.

 

davezawadi (David Stone):

I'm afraid your "friend" should NOT be an approved contractor. Reason: complete lack of basic knowledge. Just imagine his EICR, total disaster!

Dave,

I do not disagree with your point here, I know that is a perception shared by quite a few contractors (NIC or not). An urban myth amongst many. Hence why I pointed this one out to my friend, Possibly past assessors in NIC encourage such thoughts  I suspect.


Ref RCBOs , yes Dave it`s the way I have usually persuaded as being an advantage because of the extra resilience during earth fault on one circuit not affecting another circuit resulting in loss of fridge/freezer or boiler for example and to ensure only loss of a lighting circuit caused by a fault on that particular circuit. Another reason , cooker circuits can sometimes be quite lossy ins res even when brand new . Electric shower leaks perhaps too. If not a complete RCBO set up then dual RCDs but RCBOs for boiler, cooker & shower as a min spec for me. Having said that I have been a complete front ender in my home installation  for quite a few years without many problems, however I do realise problems can result from soley 2 RCDs in a whole installation setup and I`d rather reduce that risk. For years many of my customers for house rewires have been 60, 70, 80 and even 90 years of age and I realise just losing a portion rather than a lot at once can make a difference not just for safety but also their piece of mind, more so than with the younger client.