How Many RCDs Should You Install Before Selling Your Home?
Before you sell your home, you may need to do some work on it. While you may do some work to improve the value of the property or to make it look more attractive to buyers, some work is essential.
For example, if your home is an older property that was built before certain electrical safety standards came into play, then it may not have RCD safety switches installed. These switches go on electrical circuits to protect you from shocks when you are using electrical products or appliances.
You may not have had to install these switches yet or may have just one in place; however, you do need to install a minimum number before you sell your home. What are the rules on RCD switches for sellers and how many switches should you install?
Fitting RCD Switches Before You Sell
Current electrical safety rules require you to install at least two RCD switches when you sell your home if you don't have them already. You need to have a switch on your power circuit and a switch on your lighting circuit as a bare minimum. If you haven't had any electrical work done since these rules came into place, then you may not have any RCDs fitted at all. In this case, you need to install switches on both power and lighting circuits.
Alternatively, if you had some work done in the past, your electrician may have fitted one RCD to meet previous regulations. For example, you may have an RCD installed on your power circuit, but you haven't got one on your lighting. In this case, you need to add the relevant switch to be compliant.
Deciding How Many RCD Switches to Install
RCD switches protect individual electrical circuits and their sub-circuits. The bare minimum of two switches to protect power and lighting does a job; however, you can add more if you feel that this is a good idea. Complete protection may make your home look better to prospective buyers.
Properties can have multiple circuits, especially if they are large or have complex electrical supply needs. For complete protection against electric shocks, it is often recommended that you have one RCD switch per circuit if people will use plugs or electrical products from those supplies.
If you aren't sure whether you need to add RCDs or how many you should install, then call out your electricians. They can look at your system and tell you what you need to do before you sell your home.