crabtree starbreaker

[waynelester]

hi,im after a little advice.a 5+5 consumer unit(star breaker),5 protected and 5 unprotected.the board has 3 un protected circuits ie 2 spare ways and 5 rcd protected circuits no spare ways.my problem is i need to add a new protected circuit.is it possible to move the rcd unit to allow an extra circuit.iv been told this cannot be done,an alternative would be to install a new rcbo but theses are expensive,also is it a no no to fit a type c breaker on a domestic system if its not required,thanks

 

[telectrix]

they ain't that bad on price. i bought a 3-5-5 c/w 10MCBs for £90 inc. vat.

 

[GLENNSPARK]

Your better off with the older type (the din rail type) easy and cheaper to configure as you want...what a stupid idea those plug in things are...i had a load of em...gave em to my boss....£20 for the lot about 10-12 breakers i think,..i didn`t want em anyway......

 

[Deleted member 9648]

We only use starbreaker on domestics,with plug in mcb's...never had a problem with a single one and I've fitted hundreds.
Also there is no reason to this thing that you can only use type B's on domestics.As long as the Zs meets the disconnection time you can use any type you wish.
I fit type C's to lighting circuits as first choice...they rarely trip out when a bulb blows,even GU10's.

 

[GLENNSPARK]

We only use starbreaker on domestics,with plug in mcb's...never had a problem with a single one and I've fitted hundreds.
Also there is no reason to this thing that you can only use type B's on domestics.As long as the Zs meets the disconnection time you can use any type you wish.
I fit type C's to lighting circuits as first choice...they rarely trip out when a bulb blows,even GU10's.

Yep wire....Its generally where they are found (type c) in a domestic....on a lighting circuit......but there are disadvantages to this n all.....a while back we went to look at some lamps installed over a fat fryer at a macdonalds drivethrough...the complaint was that every time a lamp blew it threw the breaker (type b) they wanted a c type putting in but i noticed there was no means of isolation for these lamps on their own so we kept the b type in as that would mean they wouldn`t be changing lamps on an energised circuit.............

 

[Deleted member 9648]

Yep wire....Its generally where they are found (type c) in a domestic....on a lighting circuit......but there are disadvantages to this n all.....a while back we went to look at some lamps installed over a fat fryer at a macdonalds drivethrough...the complaint was that every time a lamp blew it threw the breaker (type b) they wanted a c type putting in but i noticed there was no means of isolation for these lamps on their own so we kept the b type in as that would mean they wouldn`t be changing lamps on an energised circuit.............

Surely all the lamps on the circuit dont blow at the same time?...Likely they would have to switch back on the mcb in order to identify which lamp had gone!!...In which case your reason for not fitting a type C might be redundant......

 

[GLENNSPARK]

Surely all the lamps on the circuit dont blow at the same time?...Likely they would have to switch back on the mcb in order to identify which lamp had gone!!...In which case your reason for not fitting a type C might be redundant......

Point taken but it was my boss who gets to make the executive decisions but as it stood in the end they were happy to keep the B type but like you say ..........