In the U.S., no. Federal code only requires GFCI in certain areas like kitchens, bathrooms, garages, laundry rooms, basement, etc. State and local governments can amend the federal code if they want; a common amendment is to make GFCI only required in unfinished areas of basements instead of the entire basement. Some places may even have more strict codes than the federal code. There are also some electricians that voluntarily only install GFCI breakers (my brother’s company does this), but it’s not required.
Europe, we call it RCCB and it’s in the electrical distribution board on all circuits. GFCI isn’t only useful in wet conditions, it protects you everywhere where there is the possibility of a circuit between a live wire and the ground with you in the middle.
Although it’s an absolute pain in the arse in certain scenarios. Surge protectors essentially present as a leak to earth any time they do their job, so my mandatory RCCBs on every circuit turn minor mains fluctuations into permanent outages.
I really need to see if I can legally run one circuit that isn’t RCD protected for my homelab…
I don’t know all the details. Are you sure you’re literally not allowed to place anything before the RCD? Technically SPD then RCD makes the most sense to me, so it seems strange to me that it wouldn’t be allowed, but I couldn’t find any clear answer.
I have a suspicion that the kind of surge protector rating it’s reasonable to fit to the main electrical input for a building is unlikely to actually trigger on the small surges that the surge protector in a UPS will, and you will still get earth-leakage trips on the RCDs with UPSs downstream of them.
Having one radial (for the computer rack) NOT protected by an RCD seems like a cheaper and more reliable solution, but I confess it’s not bubbled to the top of my to-do list yet to get a sparky involved for advice.
You guys don’t do GFCI everywhere?
In the U.S., no. Federal code only requires GFCI in certain areas like kitchens, bathrooms, garages, laundry rooms, basement, etc. State and local governments can amend the federal code if they want; a common amendment is to make GFCI only required in unfinished areas of basements instead of the entire basement. Some places may even have more strict codes than the federal code. There are also some electricians that voluntarily only install GFCI breakers (my brother’s company does this), but it’s not required.
Where are you that they do that? Under water? Lol
Europe, we call it RCCB and it’s in the electrical distribution board on all circuits. GFCI isn’t only useful in wet conditions, it protects you everywhere where there is the possibility of a circuit between a live wire and the ground with you in the middle.
Although it’s an absolute pain in the arse in certain scenarios. Surge protectors essentially present as a leak to earth any time they do their job, so my mandatory RCCBs on every circuit turn minor mains fluctuations into permanent outages.
I really need to see if I can legally run one circuit that isn’t RCD protected for my homelab…
Put the surge protector before your RCD?
You understand that the RCD is (mandatorily) in the electrical distribution panel where it hands off to the utility supply right?
I don’t know all the details. Are you sure you’re literally not allowed to place anything before the RCD? Technically SPD then RCD makes the most sense to me, so it seems strange to me that it wouldn’t be allowed, but I couldn’t find any clear answer.
I have a suspicion that the kind of surge protector rating it’s reasonable to fit to the main electrical input for a building is unlikely to actually trigger on the small surges that the surge protector in a UPS will, and you will still get earth-leakage trips on the RCDs with UPSs downstream of them.
Having one radial (for the computer rack) NOT protected by an RCD seems like a cheaper and more reliable solution, but I confess it’s not bubbled to the top of my to-do list yet to get a sparky involved for advice.