Electric keeps tripping out

[sam1305]

Hi

The main power switch keeps tripping out. This happens every evening and sometimes in the early morning always when it is dark. I can get the power back on if I leave one of the circuit breakers off e.g upstairs light ring or downstairs ring. Can be any circuit as long as it is a 'big ' one not just the cooker ring. I can get the circuit back on after a couple of hours usually when everyone is in bed and power requirements are low.
An electrician has been and disconected the shed which was damp this worked for a month or so. He has also changed the main trip switch which did not work.

Any ideas we are desperate.

Thanks

 

[Chri5]

Did the electrician not test the wiring system, or did he test it and not find anything wrong ?

Would you confirm that when you say the main power switch is tripping, does it have a little test button on it. If so, it's an RCD.

Let's ask the obvious:-

How old is the wiring ?
Have you done any DIY work that might alter the wiring ?
What age are your appliances ?

Would you give some scenarios for when the fault occurs.

When the fault occurs am I right in thinking the mcb associated the circuit that caused the rcd to trip has also tripped.

When you say you cant get the power back on for a few hours, what won't go back on ? The whole house ? Just that circuit ?

Is your house a high use re: electric bills ? Reason asked is if you're running a electric hob, oven, tumble drier, dish washer, kettle, electric heating, shower, hair straightens, 4 PC's, 4 Tv's when the fault happens.......

Pictures of your cu and mains head area will help with the basics of us knowing a bit more, and maybe help resolve or start to resolve the problem.

 

[mikeyd]

SAM,

Welcome to DIYnot.

I assume if your main switch is tripping it's actually an RCD in disguise. These things (when used as a main switch) pick up any fault anywhere in the house and then switch off all power.

A main switch like you have senses the current going in to the consumer unit, and compares it with the current going back out. If there is a difference then it trips.

You can't isolate this sort of fault just by leaving certain MCB's (circuit breakers) turned off because the neutrals are still connected in the consumer unit. Turning the MCB off only isolates the live so any neutral/earth fault on any circuit will still trip your main switch.

An electrician, given enough time would fully isolate each circuit in turn and run some tests on each of the circuits. (could take from no time at all to a couple of hours)

The electrician you had possibly was hoping the damp shed was the cause of the problem and that you would call him back if it wasn't fixed.

Have you called him back?

 

[sparkwright]

Does the main switch that keeps tripping have 100 mA or 30 mA printed on it?

 

[Taylortwocities]

Lets see a picture of your consumer unit

Please indicate which is the item that "trips".

 

[FrankE]

If you can say what the device that trips says on it then we can see if it's an overcurrent device which would point to too much power drawn) or an RCD (which would point to a wiring or equipment fault/damage or water lingress).
Either way I think you need to get an electrician back to inspect and test your wiring.
The faultfinding need a fcouple of test insreuments or an all in one installation tester so it's not really financially viable to try to test the installation on a DIY basis..
You#re right to ask fo r suggestions as to what may be causing it to help the electrician identify anything that may have changed since the last time all was OK


Working on the premise that the fault occurs at night is there anything you have on at night that is not on at other times?
Is there a fluorescent light in the house eg in the kitchen
Do you have an outside light? If so is it on a PIR i.e does it switch on when someone approaches.
If you have a television or radio on do you hear anything before clicking before the power drops? Or hear the boiler if you have one firing.

Does this problem occur in particular weather only?

Have you done any DIY which may have caused a cable to be penetrated? eg, now loo, new flooring, new shelves, sbundled anything in the loft.
Have there been any other problems eg water damage, rodent infestation.

Equipent connected?
Do you operate any PCs

Not sure what you mean by
Can be any circuit as long as it is a 'big ' one not just the cooker ring.
Do you mean if you leave the cooker ring on the 'switch' trips? or do you mean you can only restore power if you Or does the cooker have no effect on the tripping or resoration?

Which circuits when switched off at the consumer unit allow you to restore the power

 

[Chri5]

Well we can't hep you if you don't reply .......... maybe the op hasn't had power sincethe orginal post