AC Type RCD No PV or Car Charger C3 or C2

Ah yes, but (forgetting your oven), if the type AC RCD has been "blinded", it will not trip.

Alan B said:

a type AC RCD in a domestic install is a C2, especially as a NAPIT member

That is a step too far for me. That would make a lot of rented accommodation unlawful.

It all depends on which leg you hope to stand on when something goes skew-whiff...

Chris Pearson said:

That is a step too far for me. That would make a lot of rented accommodation unlawful.

How do we quantify the risk?

Alan B said:

How do we quantify the risk?

We may understand the consequences of the failure of the RCD but we do not have any depth of evidence relating to the likelihood. It would seem therefore that the risk of injury, if that is what we are considering, could not be properly assessed.

If the current industry advice is to award a C3 to the absence of a RCD required for providing additional protection, then I guess that is an acceptable outcome. Of course, that might be the end of the matter for the inspector, but the poor client is left with the quandary.

I think  this is the way forward.

Thanks for your input,

Yesterday's announcement from the Government: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-to-go-further-and-faster-in-becoming-energy-secure

If plug-in PV is being pushed as a way forward, and these are to have a UK standard plug (although BS 1363-1:2023 Clause 5 states that the UK plug shall not be used for connecting generators) then certainly in rented homes, and in flats (rented or otherwise), for the installation to be considered safe, surely:

1. RCDs (RCCBs and RCBOs) for socket-outlet circuits (and upstream distribution circuits if applicable) would have to be at least Type A (because of the way inverters operate, but also for the existing PV inverter standard BS EN 62109-1, this is stated as a requirement for 'pluggable type A' equipment (i.e.. with a standard plug) to be compatible with Type A RCDs; and

2. RCDs (RCCBs and RCBOs) for socket-outlet circuits (and upstream distribution circuits if applicable) would have to be bidirectional (Regulation 530.3.201 introduced in Amendment 3); and

3. RCDs (RCCBs and RCBOs) for socket-outlet circuits would have to disconnect all live conductors (see Regulation 551.7.1)?

Alan B said:

How do we quantify the risk?

If the installation has been built well, and appliances are looked after, probably negligible.

When did you last have to reset an RCD at home?

The average consumer will have no idea what sort of RCDs they have.

They will buy a balcony solar kit and hang it up. They will plug it in and it will work. Nobody will be electrocuted and the house won't burn down and they will be happy with that.

Simon Barker said:

Nobody will be electrocuted and the house won't burn down and they will be happy with that.

They will be happy until something does happen, it's put forward that the RCD didn't operate and that might have saved a life ... and then all hell will break loose; and it will, of course, be our fault !