Scrap the Ring final circuit

[grumpyjohn01]

I am often quite surprised by how good the results are on many RFCs I test. Obviously get icky ones too, but tbh I find some satisfaction in finding and fixing dodgy end to ends. Can be a pita, but always nice to hear the mft beep in delight! Yeah, yeah, I'm a saddo!

Yes agreed! tbh fixing rfc faults can be frustrating but can only really be done by an experienced spark, so ultimately more work for us...yay

 

[vjsmarwick]

Ok I have to admit I like the old RFC and we are claiming the cowboys are the problem ! Well in my experience there was one of the larger well known company's here that wired a new house with a RFC and handed the house over to the customer without testing anything ! When my brother in law then moved in he then discovered some of the sockets were not working ! The electricians were called back and their remedy was to make 2 radial circuits on 20A ! Nothing wrong with that I hear you say but when one side covers one socket in the passageway and one in the lounge that's also ok. But when the other does the kitchen and the rest of the lounge that's just downright dangerous ! I then stepped in and demanded they fix the problems properly and asked to see the completion certificates which there were only one for the whole estate which they were going to copy for each house as all the houses were the same ! Turned out many of the houses also had electrical faults and the company I can happily report no longer exists! Sometimes the cowboys are not the one man oporations but the big ones pretending to be reputable and guess what they were niceic registered which is why I am not !

 

[Alan thompson]

If there is a break in the CPC of a radial circuit then every socket after has no earth. Few home owners have EICR'S done and the diy industry does little to combat the problems when you can buy everything off the shelf. Perhaps the IEE ought to seek changes rather than keep changing the fecking regs for qualified electricians.

 

[Leyland30]

The resulting high integrity earth is usually considered a benefit, however; the prospect of installing two cables via separate routes to an end load where either cable considered alone will potentially have insufficient CCC; does on the face of it seem rather odd.

I wonder what the 18th edition has to say.

 

[aimeejessica]

RFCs are outdated, they came about in the 50s when I was growing up. All my parents had was a wireless and a record player. When I bought my first house in 1970, it was a new build, there was a socket just inside each bedroom for the vacuum cleaner, one 2-gang and one 1- gang in the lounge with the same in the kitchen. We had very few appliances to plug in. No microwave or toaster, no DVD or satellite system, no fridge or freezer...... In reality the 17th edition was encougering us to install radials, 4mm @ 32A in kitchen/utility were the high current using appliances would be, and 2.5mm @ 20A for the rest of the house.

 

[Guitarist]

Judging by the way cables are now run inside insulated walls and covered by 12 inches of loft insulation, we should really be looking at 4mm radials on 20A MCBs these days.

 

[static zap]

I have noticed on the job spec sheets of late that 4mm t&e is becoming much more common and standard on a RFC and radials. its almost become the default choice in case of future needs on some new builds. I have seen it quite a bit on prefab modular stuff they use to put together budget hotels and chain restuarants. each room comes ready wired ready to connect.....

Just wondering if thats an inventory trick , multi use ,
UK and lower voltage , hence thicker ?

 

[vjsmarwick]

Personally I can't see any benefit of a radial over a RFC ! Either one if not installed correctly is just as dangerous as the other and cowboys are just as likely to add to a radial and increase mcb size . Imagine life if we re wrote the bible as often as we re write the regs ! There is just as much changes in life that affect the bible as there is in wiring lol