High-immunity RCD in Seville, Spain: protection without nuisance tripping

High-immunity RCD in Seville: when you need one

The 30 mA RCD (residual current device) is the protection that saves lives: it cuts the power as soon as it detects earth leakage, and the REBT, the Spanish Low Voltage Regulation, requires it on every circuit in a home (ITC-BT-25). But today’s homes and businesses are full of electronics that produce small leaks and disturbances, and a standard RCD can trip with no real danger: in the early hours, with a distant storm or when several appliances are switched on at once.

A high-immunity RCD keeps exactly the same protection for people but does not trip on that noise. We fit them in homes, shops and offices in Seville, Spain when the tripping has no real leak behind it.

First, rule out a real leak

Replacing the RCD without looking for the cause just hides the symptom. If it trips, it may be doing exactly its job. So before recommending a high-immunity RCD:

1. We separate the circuits to see whether the tripping is concentrated on one.
2. We measure the insulation of each circuit with an insulation tester.
3. We check the earthing (grounding).
4. We test the existing RCD with a tester that measures its tripping current and time.

If a leak turns up, we repair it, as we explain on RCD keeps tripping. If there is none and the tripping continues, the problem is immunity, and the right RCD solves it.

Which type of RCD suits you

Types A, B and high-immunity are explained in more detail in our glossary.

Signs that your RCD is not the right one

• It trips at night with nothing on, or with only the fridge and the router.
• It trips during storms even when no lightning strikes nearby.
• It trips when the air conditioning, the induction hob or the pool pump starts.
• It started tripping when you changed all the bulbs to LED or had the EV charger installed.
• Measurements find no leak and it still keeps tripping.

Regulations

• ITC-BT-24: protection against direct and indirect contact, which is the RCD’s job.
• ITC-BT-25: 30 mA RCDs on home circuits.
• UNE-EN 61008: the standard for residual current circuit breakers.
• ITC-BT-52: type A RCD with DC detection or type B at charging points.

Several RCDs are better than one

In many old fuse boards a single RCD protects the whole home. Sharing the circuits between two or three RCDs reduces the leakage each one sees and means that, if one trips, the whole home does not go dark. It is a good moment to put the high-immunity RCD on the fridge, router or computer circuits, and to add an auto-reclosing RCD if it is a second home. If the board has no more room, see fuse board replacement.

RCDs in flats and villas around Seville

In the 1960s and 1970s flats of Nervión, Los Remedios or Triana, tripping usually combines two things: boards with a single RCD and new electronics connected to an old installation. There we combine the check with sharing out the circuits. In Sevilla Este and the housing estates of Dos Hermanas, Mairena del Aljarafe, Tomares or Bormujos, with aerothermal heat pumps (aerotermia), induction hobs, pools and EV chargers, the usual answer is type A or high-immunity RCDs on several circuits and, sometimes, a type B for the charger, as on the home EV charger for houses we install.

How we work

1. You tell us when it trips and which appliances you have.
2. Diagnosis: insulation and earthing measurements and an RCD test.
3. Proposal for the type of RCD and how to share out the circuits.
4. Fixed quote before anything is changed.
5. Installation and test with an RCD tester.

Guide prices

To check the whole installation, see electrical safety testing. More references on our prices page and the rest of our protection services under electrical safety.