Likely cause of Consumer unit tripping?

Likely cause of Consumer unit tripping?

Author
Discussion

AlmostUseful

Original Poster:

3,282 posts

201 months

Monday 17th December 2018
quotequote all
Found a few green wires (you know how copper goes when it gets wet) so cleaned them up and put the fixings back together but no joy, also a few loose wires in various sockets and off to Spurs - they were obviously in place a the time but came out when I pulled the socket plate away from the back box - resecured and put back together - time for super Alex my electrician to take over now I think.

ruggedscotty

5,627 posts

210 months

Monday 17th December 2018
quotequote all
dhutch said:
It won't be the MCB that's causing the RCD to trip.
If the MCB is turned on and the circuit trips then maybe the issue is what ever that MCB feeds. so switching on that MCB will cause the RCD to trip.

so as said isolated all the circuits and reinstate one by one....







dhutch

14,390 posts

198 months

Monday 17th December 2018
quotequote all
Yeah, that. It could still be the RCD has become more sensitive, but it's more likely I would say that there is a fault on that circuit.

x type

912 posts

191 months

Monday 17th December 2018
quotequote all
Sounds like an intermittent neutral to earth fault
these can be very difficult to find you need a very very good sparky to find it

A common problem is computer anti surge plugs
Had one where the main fuse was removed so in theory there was no electric in the home , the trip still operated

Asked someone in work who knew more than me about it , it turns out there are circulating currents between neutral and earth even though they are in theory the same connection

AlmostUseful

Original Poster:

3,282 posts

201 months

Thursday 20th December 2018
quotequote all
I’m sure you’ve all been dying for an update...

Electricians, 2 and an apprentice have just left. They’ve had all the face plates off, checked voltage and resistance I guess and have found a few things.
1. Most importantly, it’s nothing I’ve done when at the property! biggrin

2. One of the sockets in the playroom is actually from the old boiler and is on a different ring and so it works. We can take a feed off this to give us 2 sockets and the play room will be fine.

3. The socket and spur in the hall which feed the downstairs WC light have been isolated and now work. So we’ve got power for the doorbell and vacuum cleaner, and light to pee by (behind a door, we’re not savages!)

4. There is an absolute dead short and sod all resistance to some wires which run under a retro fitted concrete floor slab with no access. And as such the living room as a minimum needs rewiring. This shouldn’t be the most difficult job in the workd as we’ve worked out a way to get there from the consumer unit without destroying the whole house even though they are on opposite sides of the property.

5. I have no idea how much today will cost me but it’s a bd that it’s so close to Christmas!

All in all it’s not a bad outcome, we can muddle on until we can fit in the disruption and cost of rewiring.

Thanks for tuning in. byebye

dhutch

14,390 posts

198 months

Thursday 20th December 2018
quotequote all
All sounds like a reasonable outcome, and gets you sorted for Christmas atleast.

If you have to do any chasing it makes mess for fun and then needs making good, but even that isn't hard. Shouldn't be more than two man days to re-wire a room I don't expect.

I'm paying about £150/day for my on going whole house re-wire.


Daniel