It ought to stop you saying that it is surely quite impossible that a correctly wired non-faulty RCD could fail to operate in the presence of a L-earth short on a circuit it was protecting.
It's alright for people with gardens on chalk, isn't it.
It appears to indicate that he doesn't understand how RCDs work....
Dunno, I've never had a garden on anything other than clayIt's alright for people with gardens on chalk, isn't it.
I just knew you would say its not an RCD
... but, as I said, there's no guarantee that those who used the term used it correctly.
Yep, it's the 'residue' ('remainder') after one subtracts the N current from the L current (or the vector sum of all the L currents, in the case of a 3-phase one), or vice versa.
I feel your pain.Dunno, I've never had a garden on anything other than clay
I'm very much in 'the north' - right in the 'top left-hand corner' of Bucks, a few hundred yards from Oxfordshire, and probably only about 6 or so miles from Northamptonshire.
Agreed, mine is not as bad as that, but one does not have to dig down very far to hit the water table, even during dry periods. My cellar is certainly usually well below the table, hence the need for an underfloor drainage system and a pump - which, again, stays fairly busy even during 'dry spells'!
I'm pleased to hear that it is all sorted. I presume that you have added the name of your previous electrician to your 'little black book'!
I hate to say it, but for a live earth fault dead short the MCB should trip within 0.4s if the earth loop impedance is within spec.
I'm not going to trawl back through the whole thread, but I don't think anything has been said that would preclude this being a TT installation. Indeed, what the OP said about the RCD ...
... could be consistent with TT. If that were the case then what the OP experienced (given that the RCD is apparently non-functioning) would all make reasonable sense, wouldn't it?
The electrician who diagnosed and cured the primary problem would seem to be a good starting point. One issue you may have is that "just" replacing an RCD is such a simple and quick job that 'overheads' (bothering to spend time travelling etc.) may dominate the price, which would be negligible if charged on the basis of 'hours' (probably minutes) of chargeable work - in other words, you could be in the territory of a 'minimum charge' (to make it worthwhile for the electrician).
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