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Originally Posted by Will James
Thanks for everyones replies. I am in the UK, if I understood Sean correctly
I think you are saying if I cannot get hold of a 5mA RCD, it would be better
to have an RCD with an earth as near as possible in cable length terms to
the pond as well as an RCD inside which would trip the circuit if a spade
went through the outdoor cable?
Thanks,
Will
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Sorry but no, what I am saying is that in my opinion a 30mA RCD cant be relied upon to make a pond safe. The problem is that the water is resistive and as such as the distance between the source of the leakage and whatever provides the electrical earth in the pond increases the leakage current quickly drops below the trip value for a 30mA RCD, salted water is probably more conductive than unsalted water so this may not be a concern in a salted pond but I dont salt my pond.
In practical terms I assume that most UK pond devices, pumps, lights etc, are earthed, I have yet to see an unearhed UK device, and that the earth point is very close to any likely source of leakage, UNLESS a cable gets nicked, so a 30mA RCD would most likely trip. However should the fault be a cable nick etc the RCD may not trip. IMO the length of the earth wire is irrelevant providing all connections are good.