On 18 Dec 2006 21:03:15 -0800, "bob watkinson"
wrote:


Bob me old mate. As it happens I have a degree in electronics
engineering so I do feel I'm qualified to go 'poking about' in my
consumer unit. Just that I never bothered to find out how an RCD
works. Now I've located a circuit diagram of the inside of an RCD it
is clear to me that it will only protect loads connected downstream of
it. In the course of my work I have frequently suffered the cowboy
bodges of so called 'proper' sparkies in the factory environment where
H&S is paramount. In fact one nearly killed me when he assured me he
had isolated a circuit and it turned out he hadn't. So I tend to have
a healthy disrespect for 'proper' sparkies until they have
demonstrated the quality of their work to me. I also assume it was a
'proper' sparky who wired my house in the first place (new build) and
didn't tighten the screws in the back of two sockets resulting in them
burning out when first used with a high load. So please don't lecture
me about using professionals. I imagine many of the posters in this
group are into DIY, not because they want to save money or derive
pleasure from it, but because they want the job done right the first
time around.

Regarding the advice from A R Wadsworth, it was worth what I paid for
it. He is typical of many in newsgroups who seek to get on their
soapbox and berate and patronise posters rather than try to educate
and impart knowledge. Had someone simply answered my question and
explained how an RCD worked then it would have been job done.



Mark, me old son, everything about your postings scream at me that you
haven't got a scoobydo what you're talking about. You even dismiss with
contempt the advice freely given by A R Wadsworth, a qualified sparky
who is telling you succinctly how the job should be done. Do yourself a
favour and get in a proper sparky. You really have no idea just how
little you know.