RCD Fuse Box Replacements

RCD RCBO Fuse Box Replacements – Upgrades Leeds & Surrounding Areas

Why you need a RCD / RCBO Fuse Box

In a word, electrical safety, back in the 1960’s 1970’s 1980’s we fitted these fuse boxes (see image below) the fuses were rewirable fuses so you needed to have a roll of the old fuse wire if you remember in order to replace fuses when it blew. These old Wylex fuse boxes were then superseded with a MCB board in the 90’s and some had split load RCD protection because the regulations back then said sockets had to be RCD protected. However only half the split load board under the 16th edition wiring regulations had RCD protection and therefore it wasnt big enough. Now none of them comply to new installations, the regulations changed so all circuits have to be RCD protected and the actual fuse box chasis has to be metal as it gives it a fire rating. This is why so many old fuse boxes get snagged for upgrades on electrical inspections because they lack RCD protection and they are plastic not metal.

Dual RCD Fuse Box vs RCBO Fuse Box, What is the difference ?

Dual RCD Fuse boxes are cheaper because they have a main switch then two master RCD’s that have a handful of mcb circuits each to monitor.

RCBO Fuse boxes have a main switch then each circuit breaker is a combined RCD & a MCB, in my opinion this is better and we only fit RCBO fuse boards, I will explain why as it isnt the fact they cost more.

Pray Tell Oh Knowledgeable One………

It is a bit scientific is all this but the reason being is as follows, appliances in a house leak what is called earth leakage down the circuits, the more appliances the more earth leakage, the older the appliances the more earth leakage so earh leakage can be a bad thing when multiple circuits have alot of this going on especially when there is one master RCD rated at 0.03ma (30ma) of tripping capacity. This means when that master RCD on dual RCD boards gets passed 0.026ma of earth leakage due to old circuits and old appliances leaking high amounts of earth leakage (cos thats what a brand new one actually trips at and not 0.30ma!) the master RCD trips, now remember that master RCD has anything from 3,4,5,mcbs under it so all these go off, these can be sockets circuits, garage supplies, lights, anything thus leaving you a nightmare scenario to fault find.

You can spend a day fault finding all the circuits and it is literally just a case of the amount of earth leakage generated on the combination of all the circuits cannot be held on that single master RCD thus causing it to trip.

The Recommendation, The Cure,

A RCBO, each RCBO has its own 0.03 (30ma) worth of tolerated tripping capacity for that dedicated circuit it protects, it is not a big RCD sharing its small limited (30 ma) tolerance over 3,4,5 circuits it only has to look after that one circuit as each and every RCBO does the same job in the fuse box (looking after its own circuit) therefore spreading all this generated earth leakage out over individual RCBOS, With me ?

If I had a pound for every conversation I have had trying to explain this to thousands of individual customers who call me with a random tripping RCD that wont reset I would be a millionaire, dont get me wrong there are other reasons and factors that cause a Neutraal to Earth RCD fault but thats for the testing page not this page, this explanation is to tell you that RCBO fuse boards can save you a alot of headache because they cover one circuit each so if it trips it does not take out half your house and you know exactly what circuit has tripped so the electrician knows where to start fault finding straight away.

The Costs Of A RCBO Fuse Board Replacement ?

Call me on 0113 3909670 as prices vary on size and i will ask you a few questions on the phone, all our RCBO fuse boxes come with free 35mm2 mains tails upgrade if undersized & a upgraded earth to 16mm2 if required. Electrical installation Certificate & Building Control Certificate also come as standard.