ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade Non-US Electrical Systems & Trades GFCI vs. RCD

In Ireland we require as a minimum 30mA RCD protection on all socket outlets <32A too. As well as on waterheater, electric shower, central heating etc.

Only exemptions are stoves, cookers etc. However, in most instances modern hobs and ovens will not trip a 30mA RCD unless they are actually faulty. Older ovens and solid plate hobs sometimes do.

It would be very unusual to find a fridge/freezer here that isn't connected to a circuit protected by an RCD and I've never heard of domestic fridges, even the largest types, causing RCD trips.

There are some changes to the bathroom regulations here too, similar to those in the UK in accordance with CENELEC and EU regulations.

It adds RCD protection at 30mA (minimum) to all circuits within the bathroom so lighting circuits, fans, shaver sockets (the special type via the isolating transformer) must be connected to an RCD.

In practice, it doesn't mean a lot as Ireland has obtained exemptions so that the ETCI can continue to ban the use of sockets/switches in most cases anyway.

All it does is add extra layers of RCD protection to the existing requirements so that Irish regs comply with harmonised EU regs.

Dave,
Explain to me how an RCD protects a person when there is an isolating transformer in the circuit?.
Is the RCD a Core-Balance type?.

They just whack the whole bathroom on an RCD.
Those shaver sockets are on the same circuit as the lights normally.

I suppose if surface mounted there's an incrediably obscure chance that someone could get water down the back of the socket / combined light/socket fitting and contact the actual branch circuit rather than the output of the transformer.

Could someone translate RCD? Acronyms are fun.
I have seen the term with respect to European Electrical systems but what does it stand for?

RCD = Residual Current Device

Well, it's in case somebody gets bored while sitting in the bath (trying to think of another song to sing!) and decides to unscrew the shaver outlet and start tinkering around with the primary connections.......


Also formerly known as:

RCCB = Residual Current Circuit Breaker.

And before that, it was known as a current-operated or current-balance ELCB.

ELCB = Earth Leakage Circuit Breaker.

Personally, I think the old ELCB designation is much more descriptive.

There was another type known as a fault-voltage or simply voltage-operated ELCB. In times past, this was the type assumed when somebody talked about an ELCB in a domestic setting. The voltage ELCB worked on a rather different principle though, and has been considered obsolete for years. The IEE Wiring Regs. here ceased to recognize it in 1981.

There are some Siemens branded RCDs here from the 1970s that are labled ELCB but are most definitely not voltage operated. They're standard 30mA RCDs.
Seems the term ELCB was still in use when they were installed though.

I'm surprised they even bothered to relabel them - In Greece I saw some of similar vintage that were labeled: "Siemens Fehlerstrom-Schutzschalter, Made in Germany"...

G'day Pauluk, I also would like to return to calling them "ELCBs" or "RCDs". "RCCB" takes much longer to say and is just annoying.

Does anyone know how this change of terminology happened ? I don't know because I left the country for a few years, came back and BAM! We're calling them RCCBs.

"Earth Leakage" is a much better way of describing the device. And ELCB is easier to say than RCCB !

ElCBO is also so much easier to say than RCCBO.

German name back in the days prior to harmonization used to be "FI"
F stands for fault and I for current. Full name "FI-Schutzschalter" (fault current protection switch).
The voltage-operated version used to be called FU.