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Les Desser

In article .com,
Sun, 4 Mar 2007 02:45:47 writes

I wish to have a split load CU, with the usual circuits on the RCD side
and lighting/freezer on the other side.

I can never understand the justification of using a single RCD for
all/most of the circuits in a house - other than some saving in costs.

Who in their right mind wants a whole house to go dark just because of a
fault in one area?

I recently was called over to a neighbour where everything had gone off
as the ELCB had detected a fault. In the end it turned out to be the
central heating circuit - probably a faulty immersion heater.

I know that a standard CB is about £5 and a combined CB/ELCB is about
£20 but I would always advocate the use of the latter. For an extra
£100 or so (+ VAT) each circuit could be individually protected for
earth leakage as well as over-current. Considering the total costs
involved in rewiring and the extra cost of the above, I cannot
understand the budget solution even being allowed by the building regs.

If you can, put the fridge and freezer on separate independent circuits
for maximum resilience. If a kitchen appliance develops a fault, your
fridge and freezer will continue working.
--
Les Desser
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