Electrical issue! Help!

[pundabuyer]

Hi guys,

I am in need of some electrical help. My house has recently been rewired in the last few months and has been fine. I have a 6 way consumer unit with a main rcb. Today I was drilling (not into cables!) and all of a sudden after about 20 seconds of drilling the main mcb tripped. Nothing had 'just' been switched on and there was no overload as nothing else but a light and a tv was on. It was all fine and nothing had changed!

After this I tried to turn the rcb back on to no avail until I had switched everything off. After which It wud turn on. If i try to switch on alight or use any socket it immediately tripped again when power was drawn. It does however allow the boiler to stay on and I think this may be because it is on at the the time the power is switched back on rather than it being plugged in after the power comes back on? Also all of the upstairs lights work fine! But the sockets don't ( the sockets are split front and back rather than upstairs and downstairs)

Any ideas???

 

[plugwash]

have you investigated arround the hole you were drilling to make sure there really are no cables?

The symptoms you have reported sound like a neutral to earth fault has been created somehow either directly be drilling into a cable or by some other disturbance.

 

[pundabuyer]

Firstly, thanks for the reply.

To clear up the drill issue, I was using it to mix plaster not drill.

I dnt understand that if there is a neutral to earth fault, surely it would not be tripped by anything be used on any one of 4 circuits? It would be relative to one circuit would it not?

Also I said earlier that the upstairs lights worked as normal, what I didn't add is that the landing lights takes it's live and earth from the downstairs circuit, but it still works!? The only thing strange maybe that I think it takes it's earth from the upstairs circuit.

The tripping seems to happen when a certain amount of power is drawn, I went round the house and could use any socket for a low powered appliance (which in this case ironically was the drill, on low) the kettle and the tv still tripped. There is some kind of issue there, I wondered if it could of resulted from a leak I had outside which could of potentially affected the main cable coming into the house through the floor causing surges? But in turn this doesn't make sense as surely the upstairs lighting would trip the rcb, as the lights are spots & bc's so it's not an ultra low load... None of it makes sense!!

 

[plugwash]

A neutral to earth fault allows some current to bypass the RCD, that current causes an imbalance in the RCD, the more current there is total the more can bypass the RCD, the greater the imbalance and the more chance of the RCD tripping. That current need not come from the same circuit the fault is on.

Could also be a faulty RCD.

The upstairs lights issue is strange though.

Personally I'd say it's time to call in an electrician (preferablly the one who did your rewire in case it turns out to be a screwup he made during the wiring). Your chances of finding such a fault without the proper equipment and skill to apply it are likely rather low.

 

[pundabuyer]

But other than the upstairs lights, every circuit will trip when it is on on it's own, there can't be an earth leakage on all 4 circuits!?

 

[tonyelectric]

I've suggested to admin that this should move to Electrics UK

 

[1john]

Get the spark that re-wired it back to have a look, perhaps while he is there it would be worth mentioning that he should make your installation comply with the regulations or you will report him to his governing body (that will be the name on the certificate (NICEIC, ECA, NAPIT, ELECSA)). Tell him that a fault on one circuit shouldn't cause all circuits to fail.

 

[pundabuyer]

There is no need for that, the electricians is a great guy just outthe country! He will happily sort it out, I jus can't see any possibility of why it would happen, I think it could just be a simple case of a faulty rcb and maybe even a faulty mini trip on the upstairs lighting does that sound possible?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

You and he need to realise that sorting it out involves accepting that this:

... a 6 way consumer unit with a main rcb ...

does not comply with the regulations.

Did he give you an EIC?

Has the Building Regulations completion certificate from the council arrived yet?

 

[riveralt]

There is no need for that, the electricians is a great guy just outthe country! He will happily sort it out, I jus can't see any possibility of why it would happen, I think it could just be a simple case of a faulty rcb and maybe even a faulty mini trip on the upstairs lighting does that sound possible?

If the consumer unit was new and fitted a few months ago why wasn't a dual RCD board fitted or seperate RCBO's instead of having all your circuits linked to one RCD?

And why only a 6 way board?

This sounds like a home made job - Amazing how many electricians go away for Christmas

 

[pundabuyer]

That really doesn't help but thanks anyway.

 

[1john]

Your sparky that installed it, great guy he may be, is a matter of opinion, I dont think it is great to install a new installation that does not comply with the regulations you are supposed to be working to and it is not great to provide an installation that is dangerous by design.






Can someone arrange for a poll to take place of the electricians on the forum. Something like- choose one answer from the following list

A - I go away regularly after starting an installation

B - When i'm on holiday, I answer the phone to my customers who are doing their onw electrical work that I am signing off, not to advise, simply to tell them that I am away

C - After returning from holiday I have alot of answering machine messages from my customers (as above) but it's ok, after I get back they have had help from an internet forum

D - None of the above have ever happened so far

E - None of the above have ever happened and I think the scenarios are fairy tales.

 

[riveralt]

That really doesn't help but thanks anyway.

Nor does telling us the electrician, 'great guy', that he is has gone on holiday for Christmas - because the person who fitted this CU is not a great guy nor is he ' a competent person'.

It would be very helpful to put up the EIC test results on the site so we can at least take a stab at identifying what is wrong with your circuits.

Alternatively a photograph of the inside of your Consumer Unit would help.

 

[pundabuyer]

Can you please enlighten me on the regulations? What is the problem?

I have a 6 way consumer unit with 5 circuits so it isn't overloaded by any means!

Each circuit has it's own trip switch and there is a main rcb which switches the power off to allthe other trips is his not right?

 

[Wontdothatagain]

IT IS A RCD NOT A rcb