2 rcbos per room
- Thread starter omph
- Start date
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You'll have seperate circuits in case of the socket circuit developing a problem the lighting won't trip. You can have the kitchen sockets on a seperate rcbo and the downstairs socket on anotjer for example.
Is this for an outbuilding or a rewire for the property?
I hope your getting an electrician in to do this work.
And what made you post this on the roofing forum? (Moved to Electrics forum)
Is this for an outbuilding or a rewire for the property?
I hope your getting an electrician in to do this work.
And what made you post this on the roofing forum? (Moved to Electrics forum)
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Not even EU would do that.
If your renting each room out I could understand it
If your renting each room out I could understand it
Don't they go down the radial route though which is even worse ?
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Well yes.
But you wouldn’t fit a ring for one room, unless it was a kitchen
But you wouldn’t fit a ring for one room, unless it was a kitchen
OP - is this your home ? Why do you even think this is sensible?
What makes you think this ?
There's no real limit on how many circuits you can have. At some point having more circuits just becomes impractical. So yes, you can certainly do what you suggested, you'll just need a fairly substantial consumer unit and lots of cable.
Generally there are two aspects of circuit planning - how much of a load you want to supply and how far you want to go to make sure that as little of the house is affected if something trips. As far as the load is concerned, you could probably in reality run all houses up to 3 bedrooms on two 20 A radials for the sockets, a ring or two radials for the kitchen and one lighting circuit. BS 7671 is fairly generous in that regard as well, no limits on ring circuits and for radials 25 m2 for 16 A and 100 m2 for 20 A if I remember correctly. You aren't likely to run into problems with that.
Keeping the lights and other sockets on if something trips is a different kettle of fish. It's mostly a matter of convenience in a home. If you want to make sure you won't stumble in the dark if a lighting circuit trips you're better off fitting emergency lights because at least the room you're in when something trips will be dark, no matter what. Having many socket circuits was nice when most people used desktop computers because tripping the MCB for one room didn't take out someone else's computer but these days quite a few people use laptops and tablets at home.
If I were you I'd probably run one circuit for several rooms rather than individual circuits for each room but apart from cost during installation there's absolutely nothing to keep you from doing what you suggested.
Generally there are two aspects of circuit planning - how much of a load you want to supply and how far you want to go to make sure that as little of the house is affected if something trips. As far as the load is concerned, you could probably in reality run all houses up to 3 bedrooms on two 20 A radials for the sockets, a ring or two radials for the kitchen and one lighting circuit. BS 7671 is fairly generous in that regard as well, no limits on ring circuits and for radials 25 m2 for 16 A and 100 m2 for 20 A if I remember correctly. You aren't likely to run into problems with that.
Keeping the lights and other sockets on if something trips is a different kettle of fish. It's mostly a matter of convenience in a home. If you want to make sure you won't stumble in the dark if a lighting circuit trips you're better off fitting emergency lights because at least the room you're in when something trips will be dark, no matter what. Having many socket circuits was nice when most people used desktop computers because tripping the MCB for one room didn't take out someone else's computer but these days quite a few people use laptops and tablets at home.
If I were you I'd probably run one circuit for several rooms rather than individual circuits for each room but apart from cost during installation there's absolutely nothing to keep you from doing what you suggested.
I don't see why its such an issue. We used to and still do stick each floor on a single rcd. That to me is the zenith of absurdity.
RCBOs carry similar issues too, not knowing if you're up against a short or leak to cpc. The more load it is expected to handle, the more complex the diagnostics.
@Ragnar_AT makes some great points. My issue stems from hardware going offline (servers, pcs, switches) - all of which are scattered on different circuits, but I also like the idea of purity which does have its downsides, but it does make diagnostics and replacements more straight forward long term.
I guess it depend on outlets. My living room has 5 sockets so a ring in that context would make more sense, whereas the utility room only has one so a radial is more sensible.
In the 30 years I have lived in this house I have never had either of the lighting circuits trip and only twice the downstairs sockets (both times due to outside sockets) . Power cuts have been a bigger problem. At the end of the day it's your money but just seems a bit of a waste.
So if it’s computer eqpt. you want to keep alive, 1 light circuit per floor.
Just imagine how many cables back to the cu if u were to do a ring per room. Unworkable. Also time consuming for testing rings.
2 radials per floor would be a sensible compromise. 20A per circuit.
Just imagine how many cables back to the cu if u were to do a ring per room. Unworkable. Also time consuming for testing rings.
2 radials per floor would be a sensible compromise. 20A per circuit.
Not sure i agree with any of that
Why not?
Maybe because you are a DIYer who thinks they know best ?
A RFC for a living room with 5 sockets - daft to say the least and a radial for a utility rather depends on the load and the circuit design - but what do I know as a competent spark ?
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