Doctor Drivel wrote:

Best have a CU with double pole RCBOs on it instead of and have
Continental radial system instead of the silly at times ring
circuits. If any problem only the one RCBO trips not the whole house.

Separating these risky circuits out such that they are protected by
independent RCDs is generally a good thing to do. RCBOs are one of
several ways of doing this.

The use of a ring or radial circuit does not really have any relevance
though.

True an RCBO can be on a ring. Rings are still silly and cheap; one of

Today's ring circuits represent a very good bit of engineering design.

the reasons they were adopted..and to have higher currents for electric

Even if this were true originally, one has to look at how design has
evolved and been refined to where we are today. The ring final circuit
we have now is very well suited to diverse power provision over a wide area.

heaters post war as the nuclear policy was all electric using unmetered
nuclear power. Although radials may have high currents at the sockets too.

I recall a German looking at a British system; the RCD protecting all of
the house and the fused spurs above the worktops with a fuesd plug

No sure what his nationality has to do with it. The system you describe
would not be to standard in the UK wiring regulations, and would rightly
be due criticism. Appliances in kitchens with concealed sockets etc
should have independent switching above the worktop. Use of whole house
RCDs is also long since deprecated.

hidden behind the appliance. He thought the system was mad and said it
was clearly cheap at the CU but expensive (and ugly) in fused spurs.

Rich coming from a German, have you seen their plugs and sockets?

About time we went the same way as the rest of the world. On the
Continent each appliance has an RCBO at the CU. So much easier to
isolate. The only advantage of the UK system is that 3kW kettles are
common, whereas in Europe they only go to around 2kW max. BUt they fill
their kettles with hot water from the combi to make the heat up cheaper
and faster.

Your logic seems as confused as ever.

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/