real safety considerations,’ says Paul Sayer. Of course, installers are unlikely to undertake the testing
It is surprising how many people believe that this is acceptable and don’t realise the safety implications
to ensure conformity themselves. Devices such as RCBOs and MCBs are normally tested to their individual product standard unenclosed in free air. Reputable manufacturers will then test these devices in their consumer unit as an assembly, to meet the safety requirements and conformity with BS EN 60439-3.
Testing ‘The most onerous of these tests is the 16kA short circuit requirement (conditional rating),’ points out Emma Segelov, marketing manager at MK Electric. ‘For example, should an installer fit another manufacturer’s RCBOs into an MK Electric Sentry consumer unit, not only must the device comply with RCBO standards (BS EN 61009), the whole assembly must then also be proved, with the installer being responsible for the completion of type testing and providing the warranty/ approval for the assembly. However, the 16kA test is not a test which can be conducted on site. Consequently, an installer will invalidate the MK Electric warranty – and most likely that of the RCBO manufacturer.’ The message is clear, says Paul Sayer: ‘It really is not worth
the risk of mixing and matching. Ultimately, if something goes wrong it will be you that is prosecuted.’
n BS EN 60439-3 is in the process of being replaced by BS EN 61439-3.
Speeding up protection co-ordination
Traditionally, a considerable amount of time can be spent in checking designs in protection co-ordination software, then returning to the design software to make changes, before running the design through the co-ordination package again. Nowadays, with integrated software, much of the ‘donkey work’ can be removed by integrating design and protection co-ordination software. For example, designs from Amtech ProDesign can be
exported directly into the company’s Protect software to set devices and check the co-ordination of the system. The information is only entered once, and you can ‘flick’ between design and co-ordination with any changes made in one package being automatically reflected in the other.
Just as importantly, use of specialist software, such
as Protect, enables protection devices to be checked and co-ordinated easily. In addition, when selecting protection components
within ProDesign, it is possible to click on a device and be taken to information from the device manufacturer, located within an extensive online database at
www.luckinslive.com
@ECAlive
/ECAlive
Electrical Contractors’ Association
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