September/October Edition

58 ELECTRIC.IE • The Magazine & Website for the Irish Electrical Industry • Overview of the new “National Rules for Electrical Installations” Irish Standard - I.S. 10101:2020” ‒ After more than twelve years in use the National Rules for Electrical Installations ET101:2008 has been replaced with the new NSAI publication I.S. 10101:2020 - by Brendan Dervan Industry News A er more than twelve years in use the National Rules for Electrical Installations ET101:2008 has been replaced with the new NSAI publication I.S. 10101:2020. ET 101:2008 was the 4th edition of the Wiring Rules to be published. e rst edition of the “Wiring Rules” was published in 1976 by the ETCI. However, the uno cial “Wiring Rules” in Ireland for many years were the “ e Regulations for the Electrical Equipment of Buildings” as published by the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE)in the UK. is book was simply referred to on both sides of the water as “ e Regs”and was part of the curriculum for the electrical apprenticeship courses in Ireland well into the 1990s due to the prevalence of City and Guilds courses here. It is unclear whether the new standard will be called the "5th Edition of the Wiring Rules" or the "1st Edition of IS10101". It is worth noting that the UK maintained the edition number when the “16th Edition ” IEE Regs became British Standard BS7671. is is now in its 18th Edition. Changes in the new Standard ere are many important changes to the new standard as summarized below. e old volt drop tables have been removed. Instead a formula is provided for calculating the voltage drop. In my opinion this should be reviewed. At the very least worked examples should be provided in the future. • (RCDs) are now required to be installed on lighting circuits in domestic premises. • Arc Fault Detection Devices (AFDDs) are now recommended for circuits installed in locations with particular risk. • Compliance with the Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) Directive 2014/30/EU • Cables must now be rated to Class Dca s2,d2,a2 in accordance with EN50575. • RCDs are no longer recommended in new installations. • Selection of Surge Protection Devices (SPDs) – signi cant changes • Model certi cates have now been removed. • Supplies for Electric Vehicles – New Section • Installations in Medical Locations – Multiple changes • Onshore Units for Inland Navigation Vessels – New Section • Energy E ciency – New Section e new standard has signi cantly more content than the previous editions of the Wiring Rules. It now contains a total of 764 pages compared 352 pages of the 4th Edition and to a mere 76 pages in the 1st Edition Purchasers of the new standard are given access to an online version which allows searching by keywords. Key dates e CRU is allowing a transition period of 28 months starting from 1st April 2020 for compliance with the new standard. e following is a summary of the key dates. • e transition period started on 1st April 2020. Electrical installations may be designed to the new standard from this date. • From 1st February 2021, all new electrical installations must be designed and certi ed to the new standard. • From 1st August 2022, all electrical installations must be certi ed to the new standard. • Installations may be designed to the old standard until 31st January 2021, provided they are certi ed to at least a pre-connection stage by 31 July 2022. Brendan Dervan A Chartered Engineer with over 40 years’ experience in Building Services. He is currently represents Engineer’s Ireland on the NSAI’s TC2 which oversees the development of Wiring Rules. Brendan retired from mainstream consultancy in 2019 and set up Best Training which provides specialist CPD courses to the M&E Sector. IEE 14th - 1966 NSAI 5th - 2020 ETCI 4th - 2008 ETCI 3rd - 2000 ETCI 2nd - 1991 ETCI 1st - 1976 For further details refer to www.besttraining.ie