RCD Reliability - whats your experience?

[remedial]

RCDs Explained | Electrical Safety First - https://www.----------------------------/guidance/safety-around-the-home/rcds-explained/

this article says that RCDs are 97% reliable. so presumably the other 3% won't disconnect in time, if at all, in the event of a fault.

 

[Pete999]

Isn't that's why they should be tested at regular intervals?

 

[ED17]

Started testing a block of flats today and we've found 4 out of the ten RCDs faulty! They're Chint and about six years old.

 

[sparkdog]

Only one I have had faulty, not tripping , was also a Chint.

 

[mattg4321]

Tested 32 Hager RCD's last week at some flats I was doing an EICR for.

All 6 years olds. All of them passed and all results closely matched.

It's mostly down to the quality of the RCD in my experience.

 

[Strima]

Seen a few makes 'freeze' due to not being tested regularly, varying from Chint to Merlin Gerin.

Better brands seem to perform better as a general rule.

 

[MJPD29]

Only ever fitted 4 BG split boards, 4 out or 8 rcds did not work out of the box. All bought 6 months apart. Either brutal quality or just very bad luck. Also had an awful lot, probably around 50 square d rcbos fail during EICRs. Mainly about 10-15 years old. Other than that had a few die of old age

 

[remedial]

seems like some people are finding more than 3% failure rate! makes me wonder if we're over reliant on RCDs.

 

[Deleted member 26818]

Schneider RCBOs: Test monthly.
BS7671 17th edition: Test quarterly.
BS7671 18th edition: Test every 6 months.

 

[Wilko]

Not many testing fails, I’d have put it at 1%.

 

[PEG]

seems like some people are finding more than 3% failure rate! makes me wonder if we're over reliant on RCDs.

Thing is,they were never stated as being a cure,for incidents,just a possible help.
RCD fails,are like a dog biting someone,they are all fine until the very first time they do...

Sad thing is,i have heard multiple,alleged trained sparkies,say when working live, "Oh,if i knacker up,the rcd will trip..."

 

[telectrix]

t'other week, i mistakenly switched off the wrong MCB. got a tingle (my fault for not proving dead). 20 year old RCD tripped as it should. customer said it's never tripped in her memory, and has not been tested in over 10 years. 1 up for wylex.