Where can I buy an RCD / RCBO?

hibby

Hi, I'm hoping someone here will be able to help: I discovered the electric shower circuit in our house is on an old-fashioned fuse and I want to replace it with an RCD for safety. I've been looking to buy one with no success.

I've tried Woodies in Carrickmines, B&Q in Liffey Valley and Woodies in Liffey Valley, and they don't stock them (they do have RCD-protected plugs and sockets, but that's not what I want). Anywhere in Dublin city centre or southside would be handy enough for me.

eoghan.geraghty

If you are near sandyford go to eurosales or kellihers.
If you are near ballymount, try kellihers, eastern electric, egans.
Kellihers in ballymount is easiest to give directions so:
Come in off the m50, turn right at the triangleabout ( you'll understand when you see it), next left and down the end.
It is a tricky job unless you are a very accomplished diy'er. I wouldn't usually recommend a non sparks to do it.
What you need is a 40A/30mA RCBO for the shower.
If the sockets are also not RCD protected get a 40A/30mA RCD for those too.
Good luck.

Stoner

http://www.kellihers.com/

As Eoghan has stated this can be tricky,

There is another opton, stick a 63Amp RCD on the sockets and add a 30 or 40Amp MCB for the shower to the RCD protected side. However I'd good down the road Eoghan recommended unless you were really stuck for space on the board and no room for an RCD and a RCBO/

hibby

Thanks for the prompt and excellent advice. I can easily call into Eurosales. I'm not an electrician, only a mechanical engineer. But I am surprised to hear that it's a tricky job. There's already an old-fashioned fuse-holder on the shower circuit; I thought it would be straightforward enough to take it out and replace it with an RCBO. Is there more to the job that I'm not aware of?

The socket circuits are not RCD protected, but they are all MCB protected. I always use an RCD plug when I'm working with outdoor equipment, pressure washer or hand tools. Is it a good idea to fit an RCD on the socket circuits? There is plenty of room on the board.

Apologies for posting in the wrong forum.

eoghan.geraghty

hibby wrote:

Thanks for the prompt and excellent advice. I can easily call into Eurosales. I'm not an electrician, only a mechanical engineer. But I am surprised to hear that it's a tricky job. There's already an old-fashioned fuse-holder on the shower circuit; I thought it would be straightforward enough to take it out and replace it with an RCBO. Is there more to the job that I'm not aware of?

The socket circuits are not RCD protected, but they are all MCB protected. I always use an RCD plug when I'm working with outdoor equipment, pressure washer or hand tools. Is it a good idea to fit an RCD on the socket circuits? There is plenty of room on the board.

I cannot overstate the importance of RCD on all sockets, apart from being a requirement by regs for i don't know how many years.
MCB will not cut the circuit in the case of a small earth fault.
Appliances likely to develop faults only detected by an RCD include fridge,dishwasher,washing machine,kettle,toaster,hair dryer,anti rodent thingy (see a recent thread).
As for the extra work involved you need to bring a clean neutral (10 sq) to the RCBO or RCD, and then route all respective neutrals through it.
Talk to the lads in eurosales,in sandyford ask for des or any of the older lads, they'll explain clearer with the parts in front of you.

Keep us posted and good luck

Stoner

yeah, I've been trying to get in to post on this for a while.

If you go and buy an RCD and an RCBO and your going to work on the board, by the sounds of it a new consumer unit (fuse board) c/w an additional 40 AMP RCO would be the job. Should cost you about €120.

It is really important to have RCD protection on all sockets, if it was me I'd change the whole board.

Best of luck anyway, what you are doing is a lot better than nothing

hibby

Thanks again to all for your help. I finally got this job done on Saturday and can report back.

I checked again and the 3 socket circuits are all RCD protected, so all was in line with the regs except for the shower circuit.

A colleague of mine was kind enough to give me an RCBO and wouldn't accept money for it.

Unfortunately there was insufficient spare space to fit it in the consumer unit (despite what I said earlier), so I had to mount it separately. This required a mounting box or enclosure. I nipped down to Kellihers, who were doing stocktaking, and they gave me what I needed free of charge.

About two hours later (it probably would have taken 10 minutes for a competent person!) the RCBO was fitted and switched in, so now we can have showers without fear of electrocution. And it cost me exactly nothing.

I have one question that I still need reassurance on: does it matter which way around the RCBO is wired? I connected the wires from the fuseboard to the top and from the shower to the bottom of the RCBO.

eoghan.geraghty

Congrats to you hibby, you must definitely have the gift of the gab or just very good timing.
No it doesn't matter whether you come in/out at top or bottom.
Well done on a tricky diy job.

rogue-entity

Don't mean to hyjack the thread or anything, but this has reminded me of something that I had been meaning to ask.

Our house still has old fashioned fuses. Two fuseboards, one for the lights, and one for the rest of the house. And then there are two enclosures which house 3 40A MCBs (at least I think they are just MCBs, they could be trip-switches), for the 3 electric showers, and a switch-fuse for a prefab which has its own seperate fuseboard and an electric shower.

There is nothing but fuses protecting the various circuits, except for one MCB that protects the dishwasher, 16A dryer and fridge, and the trips for the showers.

The house is nearly 200 years old, and the wiring is a mish-mash of spurs and old black/red ringmain wiring. Is it legal? Are we legally oblidged to replace all the fuses with tripswitches, or should we just add an RCB for the sockets, and if needed replace the trips for the showers with RCDs?

eoghan.geraghty

rogue-entity wrote:

Don't mean to hyjack the thread or anything, but this has reminded me of something that I had been meaning to ask.

Our house still has old fashioned fuses. Two fuseboards, one for the lights, and one for the rest of the house. And then there are two enclosures which house 3 40A MCBs (at least I think they are just MCBs, they could be trip-switches), for the 3 electric showers, and a switch-fuse for a prefab which has its own seperate fuseboard and an electric shower.

There is nothing but fuses protecting the various circuits, except for one MCB that protects the dishwasher, 16A dryer and fridge, and the trips for the showers.

The house is nearly 200 years old, and the wiring is a mish-mash of spurs and old black/red ringmain wiring. Is it legal? Are we legally oblidged to replace all the fuses with tripswitches, or should we just add an RCB for the sockets, and if needed replace the trips for the showers with RCDs?

Rogue, i really advise you to get a sparks in.
While not a legal requirement to update your fusebox, it is a worthwhile investment, and will eliminate what must be an eyesore, apart from the safety benefits.
Do you have 3 showers that heat and pump the water?
You should really have a priority switch to prevent them all coming on at once and blowing the mains fuse.
If moneys tight, get a price for the whole job and a price for 3 RCBOs for showers and 1 RCD for the sockets.

Best of luck