Advice needed please. Testing + faults.

E

EdwardCurrent

Hello All.
Weekend job was adding a few extra sockets to a mates house.
Before I started I did a EFLI test on the TN-S system and 'readings' were ok. After connecting up, my continuity tests were ok, (although the earth - neutral was a little higher than expected). I must apologise but I dont have the actual results to hand at the moment.
The insulation resistance tests between Neutral and Earth show a dead short. Every socket removed and all I found was some 1.5 links between sockets which I will change tomorrow, to save me any time can someone give me any advice please ? I dont see how my N-E-N-E did not show this ?? Maybe my meter, or brain, needs calibrating.

Thanks for any help or advice, as I want a few hours of the holiday to chill, not bl**dy work for mates rates.

Thanks Again

Ed
 
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Did you have the neutral wires out at the CU? Main switch off? In a TN-S system the neutral and earth are connected together at the substation. You may be reading this.
 
Cheers Mr 123,
I had all six conductors open.
I thought I found the problem at the first existing skt as the '60's cable had the insulation very hard to strip, so much so that the electrician had left the outer insulation 'stuck' to the red & black, the stripping back of the cable had exposed the neutral, but after 're-insulating' and checking other similar outlets the problem remains, My only hope in the morn is that it is happening at the C/U itself .

Thanks very much for taking your time for helping me out, much respect as always.

Ed
 
Sounds like you will need to start splitting the circuit down i.e. half way, IR test one half, see which side the fault is on, then half that etc. I know, easier said than done.
 
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:(
Why does this kind of job have to be the 'mates rates' job at a holiday weekend ?? :LOL: :LOL:
Cheers 123.
Pictures and explanation to follow.

Enjoy your weekend and thank you.

Ed
 
Hello,

Bit of a 'non starter' today , got to the job, took a few pic's and had had enough to be honest, I will have to continue in the evenings next week.

DSC00334.jpg



DSC00333.jpg


DSC00332.jpg



Continuity;
L-L = .76
N-N=.75
E-E= 1.64 (high ??)

L-N-L-N =1.48
N-E-N-E= .15


IR

L-N = 568
N-E=0
L-E= Sorry dont have this at the mo.


No grommets on existing boxes too :( . even though some 'graunch?' scarring, no apparent shorts yet. :cry:



What price a simple life ?? :LOL: :LOL: ;)
Ed.
 
Very classy, using 1.5 or 1.0mm 3core and earth.

Bank Holiday Monday too. Not good :eek:
 
It makes me wonder how many people dont realise the dangers involved really. How many times have I been to price for a 'brand new shiny kitchen', when instead of that a total rewire would be money better spent, and the ongoing attitude I get is " well it's been working fine for the past 10 yrs", even when test results are shown and explained in laymans terms.

Sorry for the tantrum, had a pants weekend though. :LOL:

Regards

Ed
 
The thing is bodged electrical installations are not a percieved as a major source of risk in most peoples lives so they quite understanablly see no reason to get them sorted.

They are not perceived as a major source of risk because quite frankly they aren't. The IEE have built sufficiant safety margins into the regs that even bodged electrical installations aren't a significant risk.

how many people have you known personally who have been killed, hospitalised or had valuable property destroyed by a faulty electrical installation?

how many people do you know personally you have been killed, hospitalised or had valuable property destroyed by car accidents?
 
Hello,
I understand what you are saying Plugwash.

I found the 'blighter' today

DSC00337.jpg


Could have been worse I suppose :eek:

DSC00338.jpg



Anyways, problem overcome and test results are ok.

Just wrapping my tools up and my mate had picked up a couple of pendants to replace existing fan lights.

DSC00329.jpg


Oh dear :LOL: :LOL:


Ed
 
Is it the drink? The first photo is not too bad but then they get a bit fuzzy :LOL:
 
Sorry

Only have cam fone and getting the light right is difficult.

Ed

maybe it is the beer too !!! :LOL: ;)
 
Is it the drink? The first photo is not too bad but then they get a bit fuzzy :LOL:


perfectly clear here, maybe you should have gone to Specsavers.....

:LOL:

(Disclaimer: Other optical retailers are available)

I'm afraid its always the simple 'doing a favour' jobs that bite you in the bum Ed, but you can feel a warm glow of pride in a job left much safer after your visit and one less accident potentially waiting to happen.

or you can promise never to do a job for a friend again...

both work for me :p
 
a total rewire would be money better spent

Mmm.

It reminds me of a customer I had a while back. Everything about his installation & one circuit in particular was wrong, wrong, wrong.

I advised a PIR & possibly a rewire and the usual reply came back:

Him: "I can't afford that sort of money!"

Me: "But you have a £45K Merc on the drive..."

Him: "How dare you! (I thought I'd blown it here... :eek: ) It cost me the best part of £60K..."

Me: "Can you see my point?"

Him: Examines shoes...
 
Plugwash makes a good point, although the 'its worked fine for 30 years' argument has some fairly obvious flaws. An anvil suspended over your head by dental floss may be fine for years......

It would be interesting to know the figures on house fires caused by electrical faults (though they may be distorted by insurance companies noting it down as that when they can't find any other reason).

The trouble is always perspective. Organisations will risk assess some things to within an inch of their lives in an attempt to get the risk to near zero, when cars kill more people in a day than most other 'risks' in a year.

With properly installed RCDs these days, the most likely cause of a bodged installation is going to be nuisance tripping, though the apparent failure rate of RCDs might be storing up problems for the future.

It would be interesting to know whether the way Part P was brought in has actually caused more bodged installations by people trying to get round the regulations.

Still, fortunately most people are wiser than to dabble with things they do not understand, and will pay the necessary to get an installation that is unlikely to kill them.

According to the books I read, it takes remarkably little current to kill somebody (usually through fibrillation), so perhaps we should be grateful that it happens so rarely.
 

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