"Martin Angove" wrote
| How about installing special sockets for the IT equipment so that
| you have to fit different mains plugs? It doesn't matter then if
| they're not RCD protected - it's a faff to set up, but you're not
| going to be able to plug your drill in. This is commonly done in
| offices with sockets which have differently shaped earth pins for
| example. I've used some really good (though expensive) "Electrak"
| sockets in the past for a similar application (making sure plebs
| didn't plug a kettle into a circuit supplied by generator).

That's one application for non-standard sockets, another related one is for
IT equipment with high earth leakage.

I really don't know whether that would actually be acceptable for a house;
you could still have the situation of a lead plugged in and live, and the
little holes on the free end of an IEC lead are so inviting to 3-year-olds
and paperclips :-)

The OP's argument is not with RCDs per se but with nuisance tripping. That
should be avoidable with proper discrimination between protected circuits.

| The only thing to watch is that any plug for connection into a standard
| domestic circuit *must* be fused, so no using any of those nice European
| "Shuko" types :-)

But it wouldn't be a "standard domestic circuit" (and anyway 5A plugs on
lighting circuits aren't fused) - all that is required is to ensure the
circuit is fused at an appropriate level for the flexes. An alternative
would be to use fused sockets.

| Can't find the Electrak in CPC - I'm sure they used to do them! RS do do
| them, or did last time I had access to a catalogue, but I find their
| website a pain in the backside so I'm not going to look for them now :-)

www.olson.co.uk do power strips with individual socket fuses if wanted and a
variety of non-standard plugs (Elektrak, MK, Wandsworth, etc).

Owain