What RCD testing involves
2 tests. The push-button test confirms the mechanism trips. The trip-time test, done with a calibrated tester, confirms the device trips fast enough to protect a person: within 300 milliseconds at rated current for a standard RCD, and within 40 milliseconds at 5 times rated current. A device can pass the button and fail the time, which is why the button alone isn't a compliance test.
Who needs it
- Workplaces under WHS duties, with intervals set by the environment: construction and workshop sites more often, offices less.
- Schools, where the standard sets shorter intervals for areas like workshops, science labs and home economics rooms. See schools.
- Medical and dental practices, where RCD testing sits alongside the body-protected area regime of AS/NZS 3003. See health and medical.
- Landlords and property managers, for whom the record is the evidence of due diligence.
- Homes, particularly older western suburbs homes where RCDs were added to a board that predates them.
What you get
A per-device record: location, circuit, type, push-button result, trip time, pass or fail, and the next due date. Failures come with a recommendation and a price, and we can fix them on the same visit if you'd like. The record is yours; if you change electricians it goes with you.