http://www.denmans.co.uk/downloads_p...umer-Units.pdf

Just noting that after much helpful comment from this NG I went ahead and
had an RCBO CU installed.

My electrician was very impressed with the CUR-M14 unit (first time he's
used it) - plenty of room to work in and about £100 populated.
It is a lot larger than the old CU but then it isn't as if I am restricted
on space and why struggle to get the last couple of circuits into a tiny CU?

Old CU is now in the shed with a double 13A socket and loads of potential.
:-)

No longer need I fear taking out the whole shebang with an earth-neutral
fault. :-))))

Cheers

Dave R

--
No plan survives contact with the enemy.
[Not even bunny]

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

On 14/12/12 19:24, David WE Roberts wrote:
http://www.denmans.co.uk/downloads_p...umer-Units.pdf

Just noting that after much helpful comment from this NG I went ahead
and had an RCBO CU installed.

My electrician was very impressed with the CUR-M14 unit (first time he's
used it) - plenty of room to work in and about £100 populated.
It is a lot larger than the old CU but then it isn't as if I am
restricted on space and why struggle to get the last couple of circuits
into a tiny CU?

Old CU is now in the shed with a double 13A socket and loads of
potential. :-)

No longer need I fear taking out the whole shebang with an
earth-neutral fault. :-))))

Cheers

Dave R


All-RCBO CU's are undoubtedly the future, and RCBO's seem to be
dramatically decreasing in price.

But so far I don't see the major suppliers offering these - only dual
RCD units.

Dom Ostrowski wrote:

On 14/12/12 19:24, David WE Roberts wrote:

My electrician was very impressed with the CUR-M14 unit (first time he's
used it) - plenty of room to work in and about £100 populated.

All-RCBO CU's are undoubtedly the future, and RCBO's seem to be
dramatically decreasing in price.

But so far I don't see the major suppliers offering these - only dual
RCD units.

That's because they want to make more money for doing nothing - MCBs are
pennies to produce. RCBOs are still seen as 'expensive', but available
from most wholesalers at £15 or less. Screwfix have a comedic price of
£30 ish each.
Willts do a 8 way RCBO CU for £120, I use them and they are excellent,
probably the same maker as the Denmans one - loads of room inside, which
is something the bigger makes have just not caught on to, or maybe they
dont want to.

Nearly all 'traditional' CUs are very tight for space when you use
RCBOs, so it will cost them a lot to design and build a new range, but
I can see in 5 years time that no-one will be installing dual RCD and
MCB CUs.

Alan.
--
To reply by e-mail, change the ' + ' to 'plus'.

In article ,
(A.Lee) writes:
Dom Ostrowski wrote:

On 14/12/12 19:24, David WE Roberts wrote:

My electrician was very impressed with the CUR-M14 unit (first time he's
used it) - plenty of room to work in and about £100 populated.

All-RCBO CU's are undoubtedly the future, and RCBO's seem to be
dramatically decreasing in price.

But so far I don't see the major suppliers offering these - only dual
RCD units.

That's because they want to make more money for doing nothing - MCBs are
pennies to produce. RCBOs are still seen as 'expensive', but available
from most wholesalers at £15 or less. Screwfix have a comedic price of
£30 ish each.
Willts do a 8 way RCBO CU for £120, I use them and they are excellent,
probably the same maker as the Denmans one - loads of room inside, which
is something the bigger makes have just not caught on to, or maybe they
dont want to.

Nearly all 'traditional' CUs are very tight for space when you use
RCBOs, so it will cost them a lot to design and build a new range, but
I can see in 5 years time that no-one will be installing dual RCD and
MCB CUs.

Fitted CPC "Pro-power" RCBOs in a shed. IIRC the 6A one was on
offer at £6, and the normal price (for the 20A) one was around
£15. I did put them in an MK waterproof CU though.

I have tended to avoid plastic CU's in homes (and that was over
a decade before the recent research found they represent a fire
spread problem).

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

On 14/12/12 21:23, A.Lee wrote:

Nearly all 'traditional' CUs are very tight for space when you use
RCBOs, so it will cost them a lot to design and build a new range, but
I can see in 5 years time that no-one will be installing dual RCD and
MCB CUs.

Once we do shift to all RCBO's - there would seem to be an opportunity
to revise the busbars in CU's as well.

The supply-side L is busbar - why not do the same with supply-side N ?

It would require only a fairly small change to RCBO's (drop the
input-side N flying wire, replace it with a terminal), though
main-switches would have to be modded to support this.

Current RCBO's with both L and N in the load wiring going directly into
the RCBO is very nice from a cable routing POV.

Dom Ostrowski wrote:
On 14/12/12 21:23, A.Lee wrote:

Nearly all 'traditional' CUs are very tight for space when you use
RCBOs, so it will cost them a lot to design and build a new range,
but I can see in 5 years time that no-one will be installing dual
RCD and MCB CUs.

Once we do shift to all RCBO's - there would seem to be an opportunity
to revise the busbars in CU's as well.

The supply-side L is busbar - why not do the same with supply-side N ?

That would be nice. And if the manufacturers could make the functional earth
cable a reasonable thickness then maybe that would also be nice to work
with.


--
Adam