I was recently inspecting the mains setup in my new place. Always extra careful with children.
I have a Volex box with a 63amp RCD main switch and the rest of the circuits are MCB's.
Does this mean I have the best of both worlds?
Posted on: 07 December 2009 by Andy1912
Depends what you mean by both worlds.... An RCD (residual current device) is in place to monitor the current going to and from electrical loads (ie the stuff you use in your house) and trips out when there is a significant enough difference. the idea is to break the current supply if there is earth leakage, say due to someone becoming that earth connection (ie getting an electrical shock). Sounds like you have one of these to cover all (current UK regulations) or some (usually the socket circuits and not eg lighting - old UK regulations) circuits in your house.
MCBs (miniature circuit breaker) are overcurrent protection devices, so like fuses. They trip when when the current drawn is higher than their rated value, for example, this can happen because a short circuit has ocurred somewhere in the circuit they are protecting. Sounds like you have one of these for every circuit in your house.
You can get RCBOs which combine the functions of a RCD and MCB.
BW
Andy
Posted on: 07 December 2009 by Dave996
Thanks for that. I was wondering about RCBOs hence my question as it is a RCD main switch and then a bank of MCBs. I'm just trying to ascertain whether the RCD main switch protects all circuits.
