Board upgrade to RCBOs

[Mark Roberts]

Hi

Im not a spark but a homeowner who is getting quotes for a rewire hoping to start in Dec.

One quote has provided an option of upgrading the board to RCBOs for £150.

So what does this mean. Do I need it. Is it worth £150 or should it be included from the outset.

Many thanks
Mark

 

[Engineer54]

RCBO's are combined MCB/RCD, an as such will protect individual circuits rather than having a split CU with 2 RCD protecting many circuits each, so when one circuit trips the others being protected by that RCD will also be lost on a leakage fault . RCBO is by far the better option, and in my mind the ''only'' way to go. Just that it costs more than the standard arrangement!!! ...lol!!

 

[GLENNSPARK]

so how many RCBOs are we talking about here Mark?...

 

[supasparxs]

Hi Mark,
Personally in my house, I removed a RCD main switch CU (not split load) and upgraded it to a CU with only RCBO's.

Richard

 

[GLENNSPARK]

Hi Mark,
Personally in my house, I removed a RCD main switch CU (not split load) and upgraded it to a CU with only RCBO's.

Richard

old MEM?..

 

[Octopus]

Hi

Im not a spark but a homeowner who is getting quotes for a rewire hoping to start in Dec.

One quote has provided an option of upgrading the board to RCBOs for £150.

So what does this mean. Do I need it. Is it worth £150 or should it be included from the outset.

Many thanks
Mark

My guess is that the price you have been quoted is for a CU with dual RCD's which will meet the requirements of BS7671. However my guess is that the "extra" £150.00 would be to fit all circuits with RCBO's and is truely an "option".

I'd ask the sparkie, by email if possible, the pro's and con's of each configuration.

Out of interest how many circuits do you have now and how many are proposed?

 

[LlandrilloSpark]

RCBO's are typically £30 a pop, In any rewire of an average house now your looking at circuits for Kitchen sockets, upstairs sockets, downstairs sockets, upstairs lighting, downstairs lighting, shower, cooker, heating, so thats 8 circuits all on RCBO's so thats £240.00, so to upgrade to RCBO's for £150 is a good price and the best option, off course i dont know how your electrician will rewire your house, the above example is of a two bed terrace i completed last week, I actually went for a crabtree split load board.. RCBO's protecting up and down sockets and up and down lights, the rest were all on one RCD

 

[rdelectrical]

what about a high integrity board with 2 ways for rcbo s would work around the same me thinks

 

[Mark Roberts]

Thanks lads. Most of that went over my head but I will pay the extra for it.

Its a rewire of a 4 bed house.

 

[LlandrilloSpark]

4 bed house your looking at an absolute minimum of 8 circuits (9 if something outside), RCBO's for £150.00, a bargain

 

[supasparxs]

old MEM?..

No it's a Merlin Gerin board I took out of an office refurb in London

it actually goes well with the MG6 board I took out of a Multi-story car park a few years ago

these 2 boards are my site temps boards one single phase the other 3 phase,
(as I have RCD's for both the single and 3 phase boards it's very useful)

 

[JamesBrownLive]

RCBO's for £150.00, a bargain

Unless they are the fake Chinese :chinese: type that do the rounds on eBay :rofl:

 

[LlandrilloSpark]

Or Proteus ....pure junk

 

[supasparxs]

Unless they are the fake Chinese :chinese: type that do the rounds on eBay :rofl:

I have used a few of these cheap RCBO's from 2 sources and 2 different makes one make is CED and the other is CPN

Kit like this I would only get from a wholesaler, so if things did go pear shaped, I have someone to shout at, rather trying to chase some no existent person from an abandoned Gmail/Hotmail/Yahoo account