I'd been a bit worried about my electricity bill, so got one of the monitors which has a current-sensor clipped around the main Line cable to the Consumer Unit, and sends its data by radio (bluetooth?) to a display.
Well, it's showing that I never consume less than 700W, and turning off the breakers has isolated it to the downstairs ring, and unplugging everything from that ring shows that it's not caused by anything that's plugged in!
I've timed the meter's flashing and confirmed that it really is being consumed, not some phantom in the monitor.
This suggests that there is leakage in the wiring itself - although 700W seems like an awful lot, and something ought to be staying warm, but I haven't found anything yet. It must be an L-N leak because the circuit is RCD protected (which tests good).
One of the problems is that the house is full of stuff - so taking up floorboards will be a major undertaking.
I do understand electrics/electronics (I'm a Radio Amateur, electronics has been a hobby for decades, and I learned which end of a soldering iron gets hot when I was about 8!) and I have some equipment - multimeters, and a Robin PSC/Loop meter, but I'd like advice on the best way to find where the problem is - with the minimum of disconnections, as getting to some sockets requires quite a bit of moving stuff out the way and/or climbing over things!
The house is a 1937 3-bed Semi, with a modern Consumer Unit (fitted in 2004) and modernish sockets/switches (probably 1970s). The visible wiring at the CU is red/black PVC T&E but I suspect there may be some older wiring hidden away.
Any suggestions? (Excluding "call an electrician", please!)
Cheers,
Howard
Well, it's showing that I never consume less than 700W, and turning off the breakers has isolated it to the downstairs ring, and unplugging everything from that ring shows that it's not caused by anything that's plugged in!
I've timed the meter's flashing and confirmed that it really is being consumed, not some phantom in the monitor.
This suggests that there is leakage in the wiring itself - although 700W seems like an awful lot, and something ought to be staying warm, but I haven't found anything yet. It must be an L-N leak because the circuit is RCD protected (which tests good).
One of the problems is that the house is full of stuff - so taking up floorboards will be a major undertaking.
I do understand electrics/electronics (I'm a Radio Amateur, electronics has been a hobby for decades, and I learned which end of a soldering iron gets hot when I was about 8!) and I have some equipment - multimeters, and a Robin PSC/Loop meter, but I'd like advice on the best way to find where the problem is - with the minimum of disconnections, as getting to some sockets requires quite a bit of moving stuff out the way and/or climbing over things!
The house is a 1937 3-bed Semi, with a modern Consumer Unit (fitted in 2004) and modernish sockets/switches (probably 1970s). The visible wiring at the CU is red/black PVC T&E but I suspect there may be some older wiring hidden away.
Any suggestions? (Excluding "call an electrician", please!)
Cheers,
Howard