RCBO fly leads

[somersetsparks]

Heres a debate for you, seeing as this place is as dead as a doornail today.
I have been testing a street of domestic properties recently, wired in 2008 with all rcbo's. In some properties the electrician has put all the white fly-leads into one terminal in the earth bar, In the others they have put each one in with the respective circuits cpc.

Which way do you do it?

I'll start the ball rolling by saying I would put them all into the same terminal (for domestic anyways) for the following reasons
a) When you come to doing an EICR, you only have to undo one connection to test the circuits using method 2 rather then disturb every single earth connection.
b) its a lot bl***y easier to install.

When it comes to commercial where there may be only 1 or 2 rcbo's in a TPN board then I would put them with their respective cpc.

Opinions?

 

[Engineer54]

the same figure for all circuits, i believe it is actually recommended to do a global IR test on an eicr then practical

Not saying anything is wrong with Global IR's, just that in my line of work it isn't practical or suitable for recording values on new installations.

 

[somersetsparks]

Not saying anything is wrong with Global IR's, just that in my line of work it isn't practical or suitable for recording values on new installations.

would agree with you on that one, global IR is pretty much confined to domestic, i cant think of many times on a commercial or industrial test that I've Been able to remove every load/ fly lead etc at once lol

 

[Knobhead]

the same figure for all circuits, i believe it is actually recommended to do a global IR test on an eicr when practical

I don’t think E54 would and I certainly wouldn’t accept that.
It’s a short cut that just wouldn’t cut the ice on anything I’ve been involved with.

 

[Outspoken]

The RCD flylead should always be installed in the same terminal as the circuit cpc, for me any other way is a bodge and I would never accept it on one of our installations. The idea of a global IR even in a domestic is simply a cop out for poor quality testing and should never have been encouraged, allowed or implemented by anyone in the industry.

 

[Mr Mark Sparks]

Re global IR when we have lost work to these testing specialist then won the remedial s their results are all global and suspicious eg.
36 way 3 ph db
l-n lim l-e 3 meg n-e 3 meg for the whole board and often on all boards

 

[somersetsparks]

The RCD flylead should always be installed in the same terminal as the circuit cpc, for me any other way is a bodge and I would never accept it on one of our installations. The idea of a global IR even in a domestic is simply a cop out for poor quality testing and should never have been encouraged, allowed or implemented by anyone in the industry.

it isnt a cop out it's a recommended method, it can only be done in installations where you can have everything off/ unplugged at once, which limits it to domestic, which is all this thread was ever about!

Even when you do it by the book you can't do it right according to this site lol

 

[Outspoken]

it isnt a cop out it's a recommended method, it can only be done in installations where you can have everything off/ unplugged at once, which limits it to domestic, which is all this thread was ever about!

Even when you do it by the book you can't do it right according to this site lol

Bit of an over reaction, I did not the sparks, the fault lies with those who right the guidelines

 

[somersetsparks]

Bit of an over reaction, I did not the sparks, the fault lies with those who right the guidelines

fair enough mate, I value your opinion and everyone else's, that's what the site is for!
I ran out Of smokes this morning so may have Been a bit sharp!
as an aside note, when installing new ccts. I would always IR them before connection, but I will stand by the global IR as a good method for domestic eicrs

 

[Stroppy]

Does anyone cut excessively long fly leads down?

Nooo! What if you need to move the RCBO further away from the terminals? Then it will be too short. Coil them up into a nice springy pig-tail.

 

[Engineer54]

As for cutting/shortening RCBO neutral tails, ''Yes'' every time, where an excessive amount would be left to hide or whatever. You won't find any coiled springs in any of our panels,DB's. But how many of you actually reinstate a connection ferrule to the cut/shortened tail?? As far as i'm concerned this is a Must Do, flexible multi stranded cable is just not suitable for standard screwed terminals!!

 

[somersetsparks]

As for cutting/shortening RCBO neutral tails, ''Yes'' every time, where an excessive amount would be left to hide or whatever. You won't find any coiled springs in any of our panels,DB's. But how many of you actually reinstate a connection ferrule to the cut/shortened tail?? As far as i'm concerned this is a Must Do, flexible multi stranded cable is just not suitable for standard screwed terminals!!

I do have a set of boolace crimpers and I ain't afraid yo use them!

 

[Robotstar5]

I do have a set of boolace crimpers and I ain't afraid yo use them!

Ferrules every time, I hate to see strands sticking out of terminals where some one has not used a ferrule.