Kitchen Circuit keeps tripping

[slant]

My Kitchen circuit on circuit board keeps tripping. All the other circuits are ok and electricity around the house works fine. Only full time appliance usage is fridge and boiler. Last night it started and after flipping kitchen circuit switch back on it lasted 5-10 minutes before tripping. This morning it was down to 1 minute and now it just instantly trips with loud noise and a white flash behind switch.

I have even turned fridge,boiler and Hob switches off and it still trips instantly???? No boiler power so no hot water....

Worth noting that the overhead lights in the kitchen and the oven still work, they seem to be on a different circuit.

What could this be? Any suggestions are much appreciated.

 

[regsmyth]

You need to unplug all appliances from the circuit, eg kettle, dishwasher etc etc. An old kettle can leak too much to earth and trip a breaker, for example.
If nothing improves, and you feel competant, check all connections behind sockets, and finally check connections in consumer unit.
Good luck.

 

[Spark123]

It sounds like an MCB which is tripping - these trip when the circuit is taking more current than it is designed for. Slant, can you confirm exactly what is written on the front of the switch which is tripping? An RCD will have a test button, MCBs don't normally have one. Uploading a photo may help.
Assuming it is an MCB, you say there are only two appliances on the system then it is indicating you have a fault on it, either live to earth (without an RCD) or live to neutral.
Could be damage to a cable, water ingress etc. You could really do with an Insulation Restistance tester (AKA megger) to test the insulation of the cables, failing that in the interest of safety the best idea is to contact an electrician.

 

[Steve]

I have even turned fridge,boiler and Hob switches off and it still trips instantly????

. . . oven still works, they seem to be on a different circuit.

Its another matter, but its worrying that from your explanation, the hob seems to be on the same circuit as the sockets yet the oven is seperate. Is it electric? If so, I'd get an electrician to come and sort this. For info, its normal for the oven to be on the socket circuit, but not the hob, as these consume more power if electric.

 

[slant]

Thnx for replies. Ive uploaded a pic of circuit board in album:Circuit Board.
On the switch it says
Proteus Geyer
532B 6000
B32 3
230-400V
BSEN
60898

This is the first time this has happened, i bought the house exactly a year ago, so bit stumped? As mentioned even when i turn off all appliances(Boiler has own power switch) it still trips. I had a cursory glance at wiring to see if there was any loose wires as suggested but cant seem to see anything untoward.

thanks again.

 

[slant]

Steve,
forgot to answer your question:
The Hob is gas but wont spark as its on same circuit, while the oven is electric and still works.

 

[Chri5]

From the picture in your album you have a basic fuse board without RCD, just various MCB's for each house circuit.

Could you please confirm that you have unplugged all devices on the circuit, that you have turned off any fused spurs on the circuit and that you have also turned off equipment such as the washing machine, tumble drier, dish washer, cooker hood, room extractor fan etc.

Could you also confirm that you haven't added anything new on to the circuit that might be faulty and causing the circuit to trip.

Once you have made absolutely sure that everything is off, turn off the whole cu via the red switch on the RHS. Once off turn on the MCB, since there will be no power this should stay in the on position (if it doesn't the MCB has failed and will need replacing).

Now turn on the power, has the circuit tripped out again?

If it has then the fault can't be a device on the circuit since you have taken them all off and suggests either a cabling issue (rodent damage, load stress, mechanical damage) which will need an engineer with testing equipment or MCB failure, which will also need an engineer to replace the MCB and test the work
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[davelx]

Engineer? Electrician, yes. You wouldn't want to pay my day-rate as an Engineer ( I don't do part days!)

 

[Chri5]

Engineer? Electrician, yes. You wouldn't want to pay my day-rate as an Engineer ( I don't do part days!)

About as usefull as a hole in the head- a big thanks for nothing, let's say an electrical engineer with test skills and test equipment.

And since your day rate is soooo big, why are you posting when you should be at work- or have you done a 'part' day

 

[slant]

Thanks Chris,

I isolated all appliances and followed your steps, it still tripped, although not immediately, when the power was put back on, so i guess its time for an electrician....

Can anyone recommend a good electrician who would work South London area (Streatham Hill), also what should i expect to pay for an electrician, is it an hourly rate.

Thanks you all for your help.

 

[Chri5]

Rates vary, since you have done some investigation I'd suggest you inform the attending person of the checks you have already done.

It's going to be a MCB replacement (about £5) or a cabling fault.

A decent electrician shouldn't take more than an hour to test and inspect the issue and then it's time for the fix, which if it is an MCB is 10 minutes- if it's cabling then that could be any amount of time depending on the run, access etc.

If you can cope, try avoiding an emergency call out- Call out tends to be more expensive than a simple appointment booking.

As for rates- £25-£40 an hour, cash work will be around the lower figure. Again it does vary wildly, Pimlico plumbing charge £175 a hour for electrician call out !!

 

[JohnD]

If you know of any drills, screws or nails going into walls or floors recently, or have seen any signs of rodents, see if you can find the damaged cable.

 

[Spark123]

Rates vary, since you have done some investigation I'd suggest you inform the attending person of the checks you have already done.

It's going to be a MCB replacement (about £5) or a cabling fault.

I wouldn't like to put a price on it to be honest, the electrician would need to source one first - CEF would be a good start, not sure if that design is obsolete - looks similar to the Wylex nn range? If so a compatable ones are available £15.45+VAT+P&P from TLC. I doubt by the sound of the OP that the MCB is faulty anyway - sounds like it is doing its job to me.

A decent electrician shouldn't take more than an hour to test and inspect the issue and then it's time for the fix, which if it is an MCB is 10 minutes- if it's cabling then that could be any amount of time depending on the run, access etc.

Again, I wouldn't like to quote anything including times without seeing the job first. Could be a small kitchen with a handfull of sockets, might be a large kitchen with lots of hidden spurs and no clear indication of routes of cables. Could be a fault on a leg from the CU to the kitchen etc etc etc. Might take an hour, might be longer. I hate it when doing a job when someone keeps asking how long it is it going to be. How long is a piece of string??

 

[davelx]

Engineer? Electrician, yes. You wouldn't want to pay my day-rate as an Engineer ( I don't do part days!)

About as usefull as a hole in the head- a big thanks for nothing, let's say an electrical engineer with test skills and test equipment.

And since your day rate is soooo big, why are you posting when you should be at work- or have you done a 'part' day

The point I was wanting to make, and made very poorly if at all, for which I apologise, is that most Electrical Engineers are not Electricians, and vice-versa, and that in this case I think a Electrician is the appropriate professional to employ.

(It's a long time since I did short-term projects - these days as long as the work is delivered on time & budget is doesn't matter what hours one actually works).

 

[JohnD]

I used to work next to a bunch of Electrical Engineers who designed high-voltage distribution. They got really excited one day when we had an electrical fault in the office and scampered away from their boring desks to have a look in the DBs. Not that they were allowed to touch anything.