The impedance of this complete loop is called Zs — the impedance of the earth fault loop. Zs determines how much fault current will flow when an earth fault occurs. A lower Zs means higher fault current, which causes the protective device (MCB, fuse, or RCBO) to operate more. What Zs values are, how earth fault loop impedance works, the Zs = Ze + R1+R2 formula, and maximum permitted values from BS 7671. Davies, Electrical Engineering InstructorLast reviewed: March 2026 What Is Earth Fault Loop Impedance? Earth fault loop impedance is the total. Earth fault loop impedance (Zs) is the total impedance of the complete path that fault current follows when a live conductor contacts earth in an electrical installation — from the supply transformer, through the line conductor to the fault, through the protective earth conductor back to the main. ⚡ Understanding Fault‑Loop Impedance (Zs) and Why It Must Be Measured When you install or upgrade a fuse, MCB, or RCBO, one of the most important safety checks is ensuring that the circuit's fault‑loop impedance (Zs) is low enough for the protective device to disconnect quickly during a fault. This. How to calculate earth fault loop impedance value (Zs) ? Where Uo is the voltage to earth and Ia is the current to trip the breaker in a given breaker disconnection time. Usually we consider two breaker disconnection times: 5 seconds and 0,4 seconds, depending of the application.