Consumer unit tripping for downstairs power

[TNDU]

The consumer unit has tripped for the power downstairs. There were two switches on the consumer unit that both tripped and somehow the downstairs power and kitchen are related to one another as they both went out.

The electrician came and has fixed the power to the kitchen but he says that the power to the downstairs is faulty. However to fix this, he would need to lift the floorboards to see the cables and as the floorboards are laminate flooring this is a lot of work.

He has suggested that new wiring is put in for the downstairs power by surface running the wiring to the 7 sockets downstairs.

Anyone know if it is possible to fix the fault without the need to look under the floor? Someone has suggested that you can test between the sockets and see where in the circuit the problem lies and put in new wiring between those two sockets without the suggested advice of putting in new wiring for all the sockets.

Is this true?

 

[flameport]

Someone has suggested that you can test between the sockets and see where in the circuit the problem lies and put in new wiring between those two sockets without the suggested advice of putting in new wiring for all the sockets.

That would be the usual method - locate the fault and either repair it, or replace the affected section if not possible to access.

Rewiring the entire circuit to get rid of a single fault is the hallmark of someone who either doesn't know how to locate the fault or can't be bothered to do so.

 

[TNDU]

Is it possible for an electrician to identify where the fault is without having access to cables under the floors?

 

[JohnW2]

Is it possible for an electrician to identify where the fault is without having access to cables under the floors?

He/she should certainly be able to identify which section of the cabling has a fault (assuming that the problem IS a cable fault).

Kind Regards, John

 

[delmel]

could be as simple as a fault in the back of a socket or even a socket itself which is easy to access or may be a problem hidden out of site, but a process of illimitation to try to track it. Could get lucky and find quick or labour intensive if it not. Hate surface cabling, bet he fits out lots of housing association properties, they love a bit of surface trunking. As John points out may be a faulty device associated with the circuit or something used on the circuit.

 

[ericmark]

Fault finding can be time consuming, my daughter had a fault, and the RCD would trip, lucky the fault was there when I started, so I disconnected the ring, took a point approx half way and removed a socket, tested both half's of the ring and identified which half was faulty, so a guess as to half way around that half and test again and so on, it is luck as to how long but it took me around 6 hours removing and refitting sockets slowly getting closer and closer to the fault.

In the end it was found a socket screw had caught the cable earthing the neutral, and all it needed was a little sleeving, material cost around 1p, but labour cost had she been paying for it 6 hours. Still faster than it would take to rewire, but if it seems the fault is likely under floor boards than yes I can see the idea of fitting surface wiring.

However wires rarely become faulty where not seen, there can be rodent damage, and rubber cables can degrade, but unless there is some thing which points to a fault under the floor boards then one would check all other point first, and even then I would expect the fault to be between two sockets, so you would disconnect just that bit of faulty wire and just replace that bit with surface cables.

Some times it is a case of can't justify the damage curing the fault, my other daughter, and in this house the integral garage has been made into a room, in both cases when doing this cables have been hidden, daughters house uses radials not a ring, and can't find route, I will guess some where in the wall there is a junction box, all hidden, in my house we found a fuse box hidden between the new ceiling and the old ceiling for the old garage.

So yes there are times when it is likely better to start from scratch, but I would in your situation be looking at at least locating which bit of wire is faulty, as to if surface wire to replace faulty, or split into two radials it would depend where the faulty bit is, there are devices for tracing exactly how far along a wire the fault is, but very expensive and in the main not required, as it really does not matter where it is, if under floor the either floor needs lifting or ceiling dropping to repair so don't need to know.