RCD's and how they should work

[nickblake]

OK chaps RCD's we all know what they do ,they work if a fault to earth is detected basically an imbalance ,my concerns about these is that recently ive had three gardening tools in all class 2 two core , cables cut in half , didnt blow the fuse or trip the RCD so live ends floating about ,me being me sent a letter to the ESC sugesting earths should be in class 2 appliance cables ,got a reply back saying they dont need an earth because the RCD will trip if touched by some one touching the live end of the cable ,bit shocked at the reply
but before i reply just wonder what your thoughts were on this ill post the full reply at a later date

 

[davelerave]

Obviously a seperate issue, but in my opinion all MCBS should be fitted with RCD protection instead of just being over-current devices so it's easier to troubleshoot a fault with an appliance etc etc (making them RCBO's right?)

sometimes intermittent problems can be tricky with the 'combined protection' as you might be unsure if it's overload or earth-fault

i shouldn't have said the' isolated supply' can help in the case of L-N contact obviously it doesn't

but seriously changing a 2-core flex to 3-core is a load of nonsense