Appliance plugged into cooker socket shows earth leak

Sponsored Links
Looks like 240v from the cooker and the socket. How have I never had a decent shock

Disconnected the cooker and will see if I have a spare socket to rule that out.
 
The earth conductor is live (y)

Earth at the oven live you mean?

If so, you need to look in the consumer unit, to see if the earth for the oven cable is connected in there. It might not actually be live, it might just be a bit of induced voltage on the earth wire.
 
Sponsored Links
Earth into the socket is 240v, live is 240v.. I'm a bit mystified how either the fault could suddenly appear or it could have been wired like that for the last 20 years?
 
Just to be clear ... are they both measurements with the other probe of the meter on a water tap or somesuch?

Kind Regards, John

Yes that's right. I double checked with the cooker handle when it was connected and my finger and that was exciting.
 
The earth wires in the socket go to different terminals. Do those terminal connect together internally?
 
Joined by a metal plate I would think, can't be sure if the earth sleeving is trapped under the screw on one terminal mind.
 
Last edited:
The earth wires in the socket go to different terminals. Do those terminal connect together internally?
One can't be certain, but it looks as if the two terminals are both rivited, welded or brazed to the same brass plate ...

upload_2021-5-22_0-8-23.png
 
Cheers all. Its not the socket, I swapped it and the faceplate (metal) was live. Turned out was the earth conductor. Could be the sleeve or damaged live or fault in the CU or elsewhere in the cable.... Will check a few more things later this afternoon but all off for now. Microwave dinners it is!
 
I presume by a "cooker socket" you mean the socket on a cooker control unit e.g.

ae235


It's not impossible that the socket itself is faulty or that some numpty wired it in a way that passes the earth through to the cooker but does not connect it to the cooker control unit.

but it's IMO far more likely that the earth wire has either fallen out or was never connected in the first place. In that case it would indeed affect both the cooker and the socket.

I'd start by looking behind the cooker control unit, then if I didn't find any faults there I would move on to looking in the consumer unit.

This. I was think control unit was CCU or connection unit but I should have been calling the "socket" the control unit
 
Small update. Cut the cable before the socket to see if it was bad behind the tiles and unfortunately not so the problem is further upstream. If earth is live surely it must not be correctly connected to the CU? Or is that not true. I can't see anything obviously wrong in the CU short of disconnecting everything to find which is the right cable. I guess I'd need to run a length of flex to the other end to confirm that and I don't think I have 10m knocking around. Might head to B&Q...
 
Small update. Cut the cable before the socket to see if it was bad behind the tiles and unfortunately not so the problem is further upstream. If earth is live surely it must not be correctly connected to the CU? Or is that not true. I can't see anything obviously wrong in the CU short of disconnecting everything to find which is the right cable. I guess I'd need to run a length of flex to the other end to confirm that and I don't think I have 10m knocking around. Might head to B&Q...

The cooker cable in the CU will be obvious by its size and which breaker it goes to.
 

DIYnot Local

Staff member

If you need to find a tradesperson to get your job done, please try our local search below, or if you are doing it yourself you can find suppliers local to you.

Select the supplier or trade you require, enter your location to begin your search.


Are you a trade or supplier? You can create your listing free at DIYnot Local

 
Sponsored Links
Back
Top