Electrical safety at home comes down to a few devices doing their job at the moment something goes wrong. In Australia, the most effective of those is the Residual Current Device, or RCD, which most people call a safety switch. Plenty of older switchboards still do not have one fitted, and that is worth knowing about.
What an RCD safety switch does
An RCD protects against electric shock by cutting off the electrical supply as soon as it detects a fault. It monitors the current flowing through a circuit and picks up imbalances caused by faults such as exposed wires or a malfunctioning appliance. It acts within milliseconds, fast enough to prevent a shock that could otherwise be lethal, and it reduces the risk of an electrical fire.
The problem with older switchboards
A lot of older Australian homes still have switchboards without modern safety devices. They rely on traditional fuses or circuit breakers, and those do not give the same level of protection as an RCD. Without RCDs, the risk of electric shock and fire increases significantly, which is a serious threat to everyone in the house.
Upgrading to RCDs and RCBOs
Some older switchboards have been partly upgraded, with a single safety switch covering all circuits. The better result is upgrading the whole switchboard to RCDs and RCBOs, or Residual Current Circuit Breakers with Overcurrent protection. An RCBO does the work of an RCD and a circuit breaker in the one device, so you get earth fault protection and overcurrent protection together, and every individual circuit is safeguarded against a wide range of electrical faults.
What the upgrade gets you
- Better protection against electric shock and electrical fire, which reduces the risk of injury and property damage.
- Every circuit in the house protected on its own, rather than one safety switch covering the lot.
- Compliance with current Australian electrical safety standards, which can potentially lower your insurance premiums.
- A more reliable board. Newer switchboards with RCDs and RCBOs are less prone to faults, so the supply to the house stays consistent.
- Room to grow. An upgraded board is ready for future electrical demands such as a solar power system or an electric vehicle charger.
A switchboard upgrade with RCDs and RCBOs is worth doing on any older home. M&J Electrical Works carries out switchboard upgrades and inspections, and can tell you what your current board is and is not protecting.
