Tim wrote:


I *would* put *all* my appliances on RCD just as an extra line of defence in
the case of either multiple mode failure (live to case + case earth
fault) or to cover someone plugging some other appliance into that socket
now or in the future.

I see why the recommendation is the way it is (I think - food going
mouldy?), but I'd rather have a freezer full of mouldy food than a shock.

That's a decision for you to make - when Christian wrote that freezers
"should" be on a non-RCD circuit, he wasn't expressing a Regs
requirement, just a trade-off which most households would find
appropriate: the multiple-mode failure you mention is pretty unlikely,
while the spoiling of food is a pain in the fundament to many. But it's
your choice to make. For those who go for the non-RCD option, the
possibility of other stuff being plugged into the socket can be
eliminated by supplying the freezer & fridge through FCUs, or through
non-standard sockets, e.g. 15A round-pins, Schuckos, IEC-320s,
Powercons: there's a shedload of safe, approved connectors you can
choose to use, mostly unfused - with a dedicated 10A or 16A radial for
the fridge-n-freezer supply you can usually readily demonstrate that the
flex to the appliance is adequately protected by the MCB; if you want
the reassurance of an appliance-specific fuse, you can use an FCU to
feed the non-standard socket of your choice, possibly using a
cable-mounted rather than a wall-mounted one, so you have a way of
wheeling the fridge/freezer out of the way for the once-every-four-years
clean-behind-the-fridge session ;-)

Yet another possibility, if you want RCD protection on the
fridge-n-freezer but not lose power to them unless there's a fault in
those appliances themselves, is to feed them with their own
RCBO-protected circuit, or on a circuit fed without RCD protection but
to use a plug or socket incorporating RCD protection.

HTH - Stefek

Stefek