Bolier causing spark on wall and tripping

[diyhater]

Help, Very confused here.
Recently I have had a problem whereby the kitchen MCB trip has been tripping alot at random times during the day/night. This was accompanied by a big bang.
After much seraching we discounted all the appliances by unplugging them and waiting for another trip.
The last one was the boiler. With this on the MCB trips, when its not it does not. No particular time or action casuses it.
Today I saw a spark which came from the intersection of the bolier flue pipe and the exterior wall. I have now witnessed this a few times, but have no idea what is causing it.
Any help advice would be great.

Cheers
Paul

 

[RF Lighting]

Do you have access to a digital camera? (or a camera phone)
If so please take a picture of the area you saw the spark come from, and then with the power SWITCHED OFF, very carefully chip away some of the plaster in the affected area and post a picture of anything this reveals.

Be extremely careful around the area concerened as is sounds as if a cable has got damaged, and may be shorting to the boiler flue.
Can you manage to live with the affected circuit switched off until the fault can be traced and repaired? It sounds like you could have a potentially very dangerous situation.

 

[diyhater]

Seemed that the flue had been put via/through a cable, and over time this had fused itslef together.
Got a professional round to check it out, and he has now cut this section of the curcuit. Also it seems when i was resetting the trip, I was just making the issue worse.
New kitchen wiring i think.
Thanks to those who got back to me.
Feel safer in my house now.

Cheers

 

[RF Lighting]

I once got called to a job where the plumber was just popping a 4" corer throgh the wall for a boiler flue, directly above a consumer unit. Managed to wreck the wiring to four circuits before the sockets tripped and his drill stopped!

 

[Adam_151]

Did you have a stack of those leaflets on cable zoning from the NICEIC on hand to give him one of?

Did his insurance pay up, or did he have to pay you out of his own pocket?

 

[RF Lighting]

A short sharp slap round the head is my prefered method . In the plumbers defence the fuse board was in a cupboard below where he was drilling, but it wasn't exactly hidden.

Don't know who paid up, but luckily it was in an empty house so not as much of a problem as it could have been.