RCBOs are still rather expensive though. On a typical Irish radial installation if you used them for each branch circuit it would be ridiculously expensive.
It might be more reasonable on a UK set up where you've only a few 32A rings.
E.g. our house's distribution board :
Hager board (3 rows)
12 x 20A MCBs (Sockets & Water Heater & Heating System*)
6 x 10A MCBs (Lighting)
1 x 32A MCB (Cooker)
2 x 30mA RCD
and 1 X 63A fuse/switch disconnector. (Uses Minized fuses)
And a doorbell transformer.
* Note the heating system includes:
Boiler, Circulation pumps & pressure boosting pump for the shower.
(each of these is fused at 3 or 5Amps with local fused spurs)
Everything's RCD protected except the cooker.
Btw, I have never seen a freezer trip an RCD. Yet, I've heard several times that they do. RCDs have been required on all socket circuits since 1980 here and freezers don't seem to cause any problems.
[This message has been edited by djk (edited 11-18-2004).]
