Do you test every RCBO?

[BigSi]

Guys, I appreciate the constructive comments, but please don’t belittle the other electrician. He’s a well respected time served sparks, whose wife died a few weeks ago, so he probably either miss heard me, or had a lot on his mind at the time.

 

[Geordie Spark]

Guys, I appreciate the constructive comments, but please don’t belittle the other electrician. He’s a well respected time served sparks, whose wife died a few weeks ago, so he probably either miss heard me, or had a lot on his mind at the time.

Really very sorry to hear that, but with this in mind it begs the question; why did you bother to start this thread in the first place???

 

[Pete999]

Sorry to hear that must be a wrench I know it would be for me, sorry for your loss mate my sympathies

 

[MDJ]

Guys, I appreciate the constructive comments, but please don’t belittle the other electrician. He’s a well respected time served sparks, whose wife died a few weeks ago, so he probably either miss heard me, or had a lot on his mind at the time.

Well I am very sorry to hear that news, I really am, horrible to hear, sorry M8.

 

[camerabloke]

Yeah no offence meant.my condolenses

 

[BigSi]

Thanks guys, its much appreciated. I wasn’t going to mention anything, but just thought that he was getting a bit of a roasting. She turned up a few days earlier to give him his lunch which he forgot. Show's you can't take anything for granted!



I started it just too really confirm what I thought was right in that every RCBO had to be tested. But I must admit I was a little surprised about the other electricians comment. I don’t know everything so I’m always open to advice from people who have been working in the trade for far longer than I have.

I know all the test that have to be performed when testing, but I didn’t realize that you could perform the test from the RCBO terminals.

 

[Geordie Spark]

Thanks guys, its much appreciated. I wasn’t going to mention anything, but just thought that he was getting a bit of a roasting. She turned up a few days earlier to give him his lunch which he forgot. Show's you can't take anything for granted!



I started it just too really confirm what I thought was right in that every RCBO had to be tested. But I must admit I was a little surprised about the other electricians comment. I don’t know everything so I’m always open to advice from people who have been working in the trade for far longer than I have.

I know all the test that have to be performed when testing, but I didn’t realize that you could perform the test from the RCBO terminals.

Ok ... sorry about that.

It was looking as though you were questioning the other unfortunate blokes competence and got the sort of answer relevant to that.

Anyway, back to the issue of testing the RCBO; it has always made good sense to me to test it at its own terminals and not some far away point. By testing at its own terminals you can be sure that you are testing the actual RCBO without other complications affecting the result.

It's also easier to reset the thing when testing if you're standin right beside it - instead of having to trudge back & forth from the furthest point in the shed at the bottom of the garden!!

 

[BigSi]

Thanks as always for all the great advice. I’m sorry if the post turned into something a little different than I imagined it.

 

[ian.settle1]

Why bother testing at all?

You mean that we are supposed to test an installation after we have installed it?

I thought yu switched it on and hoped for the best

 

[Pete999]

Thanks as always for all the great advice. I’m sorry if the post turned into something a little different than I imagined it.

No need for apologies Si more important things on your mind I should imagine

 

[Geordie Spark]

You mean that we are supposed to test an installation after we have installed it?

I thought yu switched it on and hoped for the best

I do!!

Saves a lot of faffing about .. time is money mate!

 

[trev]

Speaking from the standpoint of over 30 years experience without killing anyone (we, maybe a little bit) and starting no fires (Ok well 2, but that's not many right?)
I can categorically state that if the bang test is good then you have nothing further to worry about.
Now, where did I leave my horse Yeeeeeeehaaaaaaaa!

 

[guest119]

I’m currently doing a job where I have to replace 20 MCB’s with RCBO’s in the main consumer unit of a public building. I was told by another colleague, that you only had to trip test one RCBO and to use this figure for the remaining 19?

Surely this isn’t right, and you have to test the trip times on every circuit at the furthest point.

What a stupid question!
Others aside, you should know better.
Are you aware of x0.5, x1, x5, ramp?

Boydy

 

[Engineer54]

You're BOTH wrong!!

1/ You TEST every newly installed RCBO/RCD without exception.
2/ You test RCD devices at the devices outgoing terminals, Not at the furthest point. You are testing the device NOT the circuit it's protecting. Hopefully, you would have already tested the circuit for compliance.

Think you must be getting confused with ELI testing here!!

 

[Blowcat]

I recently had 2 EICR jobs with just under 300 RCD's. Every one tested. Less then 10 failed. It was painfully slow to test them, 2 days of solid RCD tests, but thanks to the megger auto trip it makes life easier.