Dangerous upgrade to crabtree rcbo's

[Andy78]

My god your life must be full of exciting things..
I have a healthy respect for electricity but am not that scared of it that I sit up worrying all night that if I don't have my rubber pants on I might die everytime I open up a a single phase fuse board.. Do you really work as an installation electrician on site.. I guess not

Maybe this is why these devices are designed as such, to make life more exciting for those of you that like to spice things up a bit by ignoring basic safety procedures on a regular basis.
They've done you a favour. Imagine how boring it would be without things like this to keep you ticking over. Good job Crabtree !

 

[Midwest]

My god your life must be full of exciting things..
I have a healthy respect for electricity but am not that scared of it that I sit up worrying all night that if I don't have my rubber pants on I might die everytime I open up a a single phase fuse board.. Do you really work as an installation electrician on site.. I guess not

My life's has been eventful, but I hope it goes on for a few more years yet, not least to keep getting my pension I paid for. I hope thats something you aspire to.

I've worked live a few times, did recently inadvertently; came as quite a shock.

However, there are very few times when it can be justified; if your honest with yourself. Often pressurised to do so by circumstances, but generally by others. I was taught many years ago, that no emergency, can ever justify a car accident. Same should be said for this.

Like with most things, the more you do something which can be construed as hazardous, it becomes the norm. When things become routine, thats when you most expose yourself to chance, like I found out recently.

Take care of your life, no one else is responsible for it.

 

[Alrebcon180]

My life's has been eventful, but I hope it goes on for a few more years yet, not least to keep getting my pension I paid for. I hope thats something you aspire to.

I've worked live a few times, did recently inadvertently; came as quite a shock.

However, there are very few times when it can be justified; if your honest with yourself. Often pressurised to do so by circumstances, but generally by others. I was taught many years ago, that no emergency, can ever justify a car accident. Same should be said for this.

Like with most things, the more you do something which can be construed as hazardous, it becomes the norm. When things become routine, thats when you most expose yourself to chance, like I found out recently.

Take care of your life, no one else is responsible for it.

I totally agree with that Midwest and you now just said exactly what I was trying to point out all along.. We do work live in circumstances and in these circumstances I was trying to stop someone getting a shock just like you did inadvertently.. But why do people then go all sanctimonious and say it should never be done.. You just admitted you got a shock on something u didn't realise was live which is more worrying than me working on something which I know is live as that points out that.you didn't test the circuit or carry out a locking off procedure to make sure it stayed dead.. ( lol I just became one of those people).. Normally I would have just said ---- mate you should be careful but I think this site is rubbing off on me

 

[Midwest]

I know it was rather careless of me, got a zap off an electric fire.

Funny thing was I had isolated it, then my colleague said lets just see if it works, and I forgot to turn it off again. Oh how we laughed, well he did

 

[Deleted member 26818]

WE can go on about live working, until the cows come home.
Simple fact is, an RCBO is a means of isolation.
This particular RCBO is not doing what it should be doing.
If I were to isolate the circuit protected by this RCBO to swap over a damaged socket front, the Neutral would be live as would every other Neutral connected to the Neutral bar.

 

[sparksfly]

Alexander....Thank You for bringing this to our attention, it is a valid point. Well done for contacting the technical team but no surprises as most companies these days wear nappies in case the proverbial hits the fan.
I work LIVE sometimes even in domestic situations, customers Working From Home 100%, computers/servers on 24/7....no UPS in most cases, broadband must stay on..assess the risks...you do or you don't.
CRABTREE - Just man up,
put your hands up and admit you have made a Boo Boo. Rethink your testing procedures, involve end users more, don't produce new products that introduce danger not apparent previously. Go on, man up...show us your busbar for once !! A recall too costly ? Maybe it's "Yellow warning sticker time" explaining the risk or possible side effects.
Alexander....Thank You & Well Done.

 

[Midwest]

WE can go on about live working, until the cows come home.
Simple fact is, an RCBO is a means of isolation.
This particular RCBO is not doing what it should be doing.
If I were to isolate the circuit protected by this RCBO to swap over a damaged socket front, the Neutral would be live as would every other Neutral connected to the Neutral bar.

Now I'm confused, easily done. I thought we were saying that just the fly lead was still live (when RCBO was switched off); is the neutral (load) output of the RCBO also remaining live when isolated?

If so, its not doing what Crabtree are advertising;

'Starbreaker Miniature RCBOs with switched neutral built in as standard will fully isolate a faulty or damaged circuit by disconnecting live and neutral conductors'.

 

[Alrebcon180]

Now I'm confused, easily done. I thought we were saying that just the fly lead was still live (when RCBO was switched off); is the neutral (load) output of the RCBO also remaining live when isolated?

If so, its not doing what Crabtree are advertising;

'Starbreaker Miniature RCBOs with switched neutral built in as standard will fully isolate a faulty or damaged circuit by disconnecting live and neutral conductors'.

No I tested the output and all seemed OK with that side of it.

 

[Deleted member 26818]

Now I'm confused, easily done. I thought we were saying that just the fly lead was still live (when RCBO was switched off); is the neutral (load) output of the RCBO also remaining live when isolated?

If so, its not doing what Crabtree are advertising;

'Starbreaker Miniature RCBOs with switched neutral built in as standard will fully isolate a faulty or damaged circuit by disconnecting live and neutral conductors'.

It may be that there would be no voltage on the isolated circuit Neutral.
Perhaps sending voltage down the fly lead to the Neutral bar would not be a problem?
I could see problems with a board that uses a mixture of RCBOs and MCBs, or in a TT installation with an up front 100mA RCD.

 

[Midwest]

It may be that there would be no voltage on the isolated circuit Neutral.
Perhaps sending voltage down the fly lead to the Neutral bar would not be a problem?
I could see problems with a board that uses a mixture of RCBOs and MCBs, or in a TT installation with an up front 100mA RCD.

Not suggesting this design does not presents issues; but in your example the circuit would be safe to work on, as both live conductors would be isolated (live & neutral).

Lets not forget with SP RCBO's and mcb's, are we all not live working, by just isolating said device?