in a previous video i had the great pleasure of Ian walking me through how an AFDD works at the
Luden Palazzoli factory that i'm still in here if you haven't checked out that video i recommend
you do it'll be in the eye above my head and i'll also leave it in the link in the description below
but since we've had dinner and had time to reflect i'm going to post some more questions is the role
of the AFDD actually to protect the plugged in equipment on socket outlet circuits up to 32 amps
in the locations that we know are specified in the amendment to or is it really there to protect the
fixed warren Ian well as you know BS7671 is is written around fixed installation it fits the
fixed wiring part of the system yes now with AFDDs and particularly the mandate on socket
outlet circuits yes we're also looking at those particular plugs and sockets and the trailing
needs are then connected to them and that reminds me doesn't it of when we looked at RCD protection
being introduced because it was suggested wasn't it the customer will plug their lawnmower in and
run over the lead they'll plug their hedge trimmer in maybe cut through the lead and grab hold of it
and therefore the RCD will operate and hopefully produce or prevent the risk of electric shock
however the same rule applies that uh an RCD was there to protect the fixed warrant and not
the the plugged in items and i've got a feeling the AFDDs are going down the same route so if we
think about what you said in the previous video about carbonization of the material so we had
both the copper and carbonization process in order to develop that arc imagine i'd wired my ring
final circuit in mineral insulated cable there is no PVC around the conductors is there there isn't
and it's unlikely to produce a carbonization on on that type of insulation however BS7671 if it was
in one of the four locations or a recommendation in domestic dwelling would still say that that
circuit would require AFDD protection at the consumer unit end yet there's no chance of
carbonization so that leads me to the conclusion that i believe that it's actually there also to
protect the plugged in leads right i mean here's a good example okay let's have a look at it actually
and to be honest that actually come out of our factory yeah okay did you plug an immersion heater
in it look at that so yeah it did have a fan heater plugged in that's kind of running for a few
okay and there's only one and i look at the plug there that that looks like
it's always the neutral i never know why it yeah it is the neutral that obviously that's caused a
little bit of warmth i would suggest yeah and that's happened slowly over a period of time
but that's not the responsibility necessarily of BS7671 is it okay we'd expect the fuse to operate
obviously and disconnect the appliance but when you took this item okay and we've got the footage
haven't we and we've seen that footage when you took the item and you plugged it into a circuit
protected by an AFDD what was its first reaction when you turned it on immediately i put that on
the AFDD protection just out of my own curiosity honestly it's brand new technology i wanted to see
i mean that socket in the factory that is protected by an RCBO okay so and we'd only
found that by uh inspection really okay yeah you mean you tidied up the office of the person about
immediately i put it on my own curiosity and as soon as i connected it it tripped the device okay
and and looking at that there's obviously a huge amount of heat being generated in the previous
video we saw an RCBO with the same type of fault that we did we put on an AFDD we saw the AFDD trip
we saw the amount of energy being generated and obviously it didn't trip the RCBO this was on a
non AFDD circuit didn't drip it you found it right yeah and obviously you put it on so that goes back
to what i suggested doesn't it that the AFDDs and i'd love your thoughts and your comments about
this below because we can start that discussion okay are they there to protect the plugged in
equipment because we know maybe you might get an old appliance you might have this issue okay well
we're going to cause a problem from the socket onwards rather than backwards and the AFDD has
been not necessarily smuggled in but introduced is would you say i might be uh might be on the
right lines therian i think you might be again i probably am so with this we had the carbonization
didn't we so we had PVC we had carbonization as i said if it was wide and mineral insulated
okay and there was a fault in there there might not be that carbonization process and it's caused
the device to trip so yeah it's it's one of those for me i think this is similar to why we did RCDs
i think it's going to come in more and more to actually start protecting the equipment that's
plugged in and people from themselves sometimes isn't it you know you go off and you perhaps
absolutely buy a second hand fridge you plug it in as long as it works you're okay but of
course what's happening with that appliance yep that is that is really really interesting
um again it's your thoughts okay do you believe that BS7671 are going to slowly bring in AFDDs
in order that on socket circuits that things are going to do you think they'll come in on lighting
circuits we discussed that you need how many amps for an AFDD to operate 2.5 minimum threshold yeah
so if you think about a domestic dwelling lots of led lights would you say that you're probably
not going to get to 2.5 amps not likely no not likely so be interesting to see how BS7671 handles
circuits like that but it seems clear to me that actually AFDD on socket circuits could well be
there to protect the loading equipment as well as the circuitry but that carbonization of the PVC
on the flex is key for tripping and we see that in the previous video and i recommend if you haven't
seen it already again it was in the above my head and the description below go and check that out
we'd like everyone's thoughts and feedback we may do another round table we may bring in
someone like Shahid and we may bring in somebody else okay to to give us that
round table discussion but your thoughts and comments on this video will drive the where
we take this one to next one so please leave them below again thank you Ian thanks very much