rettich
Member
- Location
- Troy, Michigan
We are looking at doing a project overseas using the British standard. Can any one give me any highlight difference between the NEC and the British standard and references that may be helpful?
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
british standards versus NEC
- Thread starter rettich
- Start date
- Status
- Not open for further replies.
dbuckley
Senior Member
- Location
- Canterbury, New Zealand
The biggest difference is NO WIRE NUTS! And no wild legs, or corner grounded deltas. And no multigrounded system neutrals, so far less stray current problems.
More seriously...
They NEC and the BS7671 the British equivalent are chalk and cheese.
The NEC runs to about a thousand pages, and gives in fine detail exactly what is permitted and not permitted, and it is almost trivial to inspect and approve an installation on a point by point analysis, as frequently occurs on this very forum, which is not to say points aren't sometimes contentious.
BS7671:2001 (the last one I have) runs to about 300 pages, and has many less words per page than the NEC. Theres much less to learn! The British way is to provide rules, and let the installer come up with appropriate ways to meet the rules. For example, the NEC wibbles on endlessly about what sort of cable one can use in particular circumstances, whereas the BS has about three pages suggesting the sorts of things you should think about when selecting what type of wire you will use...
The British way is also different on inspection; a hasty visual inspection to make sure it looks good, then the application of meters to check the installation is electrically sound. You will require to have a megger and a prospective short circuit current meter as a minimum, and a digital RCD tester is also pretty much essential.
And of course, ground=earth, the grounded conductor is neutral, the GEC doesn't have a special name, and the neutral conductor is always treated as though it were hot, not grounded. And Europe is a bit more creative in the way installations are "grounded", in addition to the normal way seen in the USA, which in UK used to be called PME (Protective Multiple Earthed), and is now called TN-C-S, there are a few other more creative schemes, see this Wikipedia article.
And lots of things have different names.
Romex is T&E (Twin and Earth)
GFCI is a RCD, a residual current device, and trips at 30mA not 5mA.
Breakers are MCBs, miniature circuit breakers, bigger breakers are MCCBs (molded case CBs), even bigger are ACBs (Air CBs).
Recepticals are sockets.
Big fun at the moment is the changeover of wire colours (not colors!).
Have a read of this Wikipedia article entitled Electrical wiring (UK)
Its a (slightly) different world.
More seriously...
They NEC and the BS7671 the British equivalent are chalk and cheese.
The NEC runs to about a thousand pages, and gives in fine detail exactly what is permitted and not permitted, and it is almost trivial to inspect and approve an installation on a point by point analysis, as frequently occurs on this very forum, which is not to say points aren't sometimes contentious.
BS7671:2001 (the last one I have) runs to about 300 pages, and has many less words per page than the NEC. Theres much less to learn! The British way is to provide rules, and let the installer come up with appropriate ways to meet the rules. For example, the NEC wibbles on endlessly about what sort of cable one can use in particular circumstances, whereas the BS has about three pages suggesting the sorts of things you should think about when selecting what type of wire you will use...
The British way is also different on inspection; a hasty visual inspection to make sure it looks good, then the application of meters to check the installation is electrically sound. You will require to have a megger and a prospective short circuit current meter as a minimum, and a digital RCD tester is also pretty much essential.
And of course, ground=earth, the grounded conductor is neutral, the GEC doesn't have a special name, and the neutral conductor is always treated as though it were hot, not grounded. And Europe is a bit more creative in the way installations are "grounded", in addition to the normal way seen in the USA, which in UK used to be called PME (Protective Multiple Earthed), and is now called TN-C-S, there are a few other more creative schemes, see this Wikipedia article.
And lots of things have different names.
Romex is T&E (Twin and Earth)
GFCI is a RCD, a residual current device, and trips at 30mA not 5mA.
Breakers are MCBs, miniature circuit breakers, bigger breakers are MCCBs (molded case CBs), even bigger are ACBs (Air CBs).
Recepticals are sockets.
Big fun at the moment is the changeover of wire colours (not colors!).
Have a read of this Wikipedia article entitled Electrical wiring (UK)
Its a (slightly) different world.
Last edited:
You might check out the forum at this site: http://www.electrical-contractor.net/ There are members of this forum who also frequent that forum. There is a regular there who goes by the name of pauluk. He lives in England but has spent some time in the US. He may be able to give you some insight.
frenchelectrican
Senior Member
- Location
- Nord'est Wisconsin et Paris France
there is other forum where the UK do show up pretty regularlly.,, this http://www.electriciantalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=25 site have good part with the UK electricians to deal with it.
Merci,Marc
Merci,Marc
rettich
Member
- Location
- Troy, Michigan
Thanks so much for the information
- Status
- Not open for further replies.