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Can you get a shot that shows the whole board at all - in particular where all the neutral wires go... First thing to mention though is the butt crimps (the blue things) that have presumably been put in at some stage to extend some wires have been very poorly done, given bare copper is...

Given this so called spark appears not to understand safe zones, it's worth checking for other problems - has he given you an installation certificate with test results on, and if any of the work has been in a kitchen or bathroom, or involved new circuits is he a member of a Part P self...

A lot of those chases appear from the photos to be outside of safe zones - I'm hoping it's just a trick of the camera...

I assume then that none of the circuits that won't be protected by the RCD are buried at less than 50mm in a wall (i.e. are all in earthed metal conduit, or SWA/pyro or similar cable), and aren't feeding any general purpose sockets etc etc?

I know they're not allowed to, the question is will they know that or will you have to end up taking them to court or whatever - given they refused to reconnect you initially etc...

Are you sure they'll pay it back if they're still owed money though (even though it's not you that owes it to them directly) - I suspect they may deduct what they think they're owed 'by the property' and only give you the rest...

Hmm - by "shared neutral" I assume he means borrowed neutral - an acceptable solution to that is not just to stick them on the same RCD, it should be rectified... I can't see any reason to have used 10A MCBs, you might as well use 6A ones - the only reason I can see not to is because you end...

You would have created a temporary neutral to earth fault when you cut the cable. Basically, an RCD works by comparing the amount of current flowing 'out' through the live, with the amount coming 'back' on the neutral. If they differ (normally because current is flowing to earth somehow) by...

Assuming that the areas downstairs/upstairs are not a kitchen or bathroom, I don't believe so. Remember that any junction box that involves screw terminals needs to be accessible for inspection and maintenance - you can get ones that are designed to fit through the holes for downlights, so...

FCU = Fused Connection Unit, often known as "Fused Spurs" - e.g. these: http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/MKK1040.html (you can also get unswitched versions)

In the engineering department when I was at uni they had some signs that said "Danger - Medium Voltage". This obviously confused anybody unaware of the wiring regs!

The blue and brown tails are quite likely double insulated - when Siemens (on behalf of British Gas) installed an isolator for me the tails they used between meter and isolator were double insulated, but had blue and brown outer sheaths...

There shouldn't be two sets of tails in the meter, as its terminals will almost certainly only be designed for one (in fact the only way I can see you being able to fit two tails in one terminal would be to cut off some strands - can you post a picture of your meter etc?). Assuming a standard...

If it's white in some places, and grey in others that implies there's a joint somewhere - you need to identify where it changes as any connections may have a lower capacity than the cable itself, so might be the limiting factor. Ideally with a high power appliance like a shower, the only...

It depends though - if it's an old install with a neutral-earth fault somewhere, then it would be entirely possible to lose a fair amount of current to earth, bypassing the neutral... Not that this would be a good situation to be in obviously - if this were the case it should be rectified ASAP!

It sometimes happens with a TN-C-S supply, that the sheath is connected up to the MET in order to bond it, rather than it being used to provide the earth in a TN-S arrangement. My parents house for example is like this. Alternatively of course, it could be a DIY TN-C-S conversion, which may...

It's possible you've melted the contacts in your switch at some stage, as if you've tried combinations with the power on, then you may at some point have created a L-N short, at which point the contacts in the switch may melt with the fault current. Do you have a multimeter, if so I'd turn...

To answer your question about a situation where the RCD wouldn't trip - imagine a bug of some sort manages to crawl in and then bridge live and neutral in your light fitting - as it's a L-N fault, the RCD won't trip, since that only trips on a L-N imbalance. If the resistance of the bug is...

Just filling the back box wouldn't be OK, as the socket most likely creates a safe zone for the cabling running to it - if you fill it in there is nothing to indicate to a future owner that there is cabling in the wall at that point, so they could quite easily drill / nail in to it... I don't...

It has to be set up such that one RCD tripping does not take out an inordinate number of circuits, so a single RCD incomer is not going to comply. The reasoning behind this is that if (to take a random example) your dishwasher develops a leak and trips the RCD, you don't want all the lights in...