| General > General Technical Chat |
| Got shocked by 120VAC |
| << < (11/13) > >> |
| james_s:
American GFCIs are typically only used for branch circuits that are in damp locations, originally they were only required for outdoor and bathroom receptacles, now they are required in kitchens, garages and some basements too. In the UK the ones I saw were the main breaker in the entire panel, maybe they figure 5mA would make it too much of a nuisance. |
| Siwastaja:
30mA has the advantage that you can use a single unit to protect several groups of circuits. It's a tradeoff, RCDs/GFCIs were much more expensive in the past, and it's better to have a very good albeit not perfect protection than no protection at all. You can of course force new installations to use however expensive solutions, but voluntary retrofits really benefit from the fact you can just install one unit in one place. And I guess a 30mA RCD protecting the whole house is better safety-wise than 6mA units protecting only the bathrooms. |
| Zero999:
Another benifit of an RCD for the whole house is, it provides protection for cables inside the walls, in case somone hammers a nail through a cable, in the wall, when they're hanging a picture. |
| PlainName:
--- Quote ---in case somone hammers a nail through a cable, in the wall --- End quote --- When installing network cable at a previous employer, I drilled through a wall to find the bit had gone clean through the middle of T&E, leaving scuffs but unbroken insulation on live & neutral and somehow missing earth completely. Mind, that wasn't nearly so annoying as feeding coax between floors down the shaft behind toilet cubicles, only to find the seat left up on the lower level so the cable had come out of the wall and continued its merry way down the u-bend. |
| james_s:
--- Quote from: Zero999 on June 14, 2021, 12:35:55 pm ---Another benifit of an RCD for the whole house is, it provides protection for cables inside the walls, in case somone hammers a nail through a cable, in the wall, when they're hanging a picture. --- End quote --- We're not allowed to run wires such at this can reasonably happen to them. Code requires a metal nail plate be installed over every stud where a wire passes through it. https://www.homedepot.com/p/MiTek-1-1-2-in-x-3-in-G90-16-Gauge-Protection-Plate-60-Pack-UKNS1BK/313491991 |
| Navigation |
| Message Index |
| Next page |
| Previous page |