I recently purchased a house to do up and sell on. I got a plasterer in to re-skim the ceilings and he suggested moving roses from in front of windows to center of room, so i simply used connecter blocks and T&E to do this. Many other jobs have been done in the mean time, ie new wall lights in place of old along with new kitchen lighting, both downstairs. But i have now noticed that the MCB for upstairs lights keeps blowing. At 1st it took some time to blow, but now it just blows immediately! I tried leaving the earth off just to see if there was an earth fault, but this didnt work, but for some reason if the earth for downstairs lights is left off, the upstairs lights work fine and the MCB stays on. Is this simply a live being in contact with the downstairs earth somehow? Could it be when ceilings were re-skimmed and plasterer maybe knocked connections? Any suggestions on how to remedy this?
Faulty Lighting
- Thread starter ml1936
- Start date
By the sounds of it, you should not be touching anything to do with electrics.
You should never disconnect an earth on an energized circuit, it is there for a reason.
When jointing cables you say you just used connector block and t&e, are the connectors in an accessable location inside a suitable enclosure?
You should never disconnect an earth on an energized circuit, it is there for a reason.
When jointing cables you say you just used connector block and t&e, are the connectors in an accessable location inside a suitable enclosure?
ml1936 said:
before connectin up, you should have tested the circuit which would have shown up a fault. then you know there is a fault and you can sort it. so, now youll have to test for faults.
also, you say you bought it to sell. i hope your gettin all the electrical work certified before you sell it
ml1936 said:
you idiot. from what you have said, you have no idea over regulations, or common sense for that matter. you should NOT be touchin electrics especially if your only doin it to sell the place.
go call a spark, who will probably rip down som plaster and do it again properly
From what you have posted here I would consider your position very carefully.
A future purchaser could have grounds for making a claim against you for unsafe working practices.
Do yourself a huge favour and call in a qualified and registered electrcian to do a proper inspection and make sure he knows what you have done.
This is not a case of "if he can't see it I have got away with it".
A future purchaser could have grounds for making a claim against you for unsafe working practices.
Do yourself a huge favour and call in a qualified and registered electrcian to do a proper inspection and make sure he knows what you have done.
This is not a case of "if he can't see it I have got away with it".
I only did what plasterer said and T&E to center of ceiling. It was him who plastered over connector blocks, he said would be fine. How can this cause a fault between downstairs earth and upstairs live? How much would it cost to get an electrician to sort out?
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Would you take advice from the green grocer on how to repair your car?
Cost of a sparkie will be a lot less than a claim against you and you can put this one down to experience.
Cost of a sparkie will be a lot less than a claim against you and you can put this one down to experience.
could it be that the fault was there prior to the plasterer coming round and any work upstairs being done? Could it be a screw or nail in a wall going through a cable and causing this earth fault, i presume that what it is a earth fault???
mmmm now let me think what are next weeks lottery numbers.
Not that it makes things better (well a bit, but not much), perhaps the terminal block is actually poked up in the ceiling and the wire run within the ceiling void and out again at the new light position, and the plasterer has just plastered over the hole (rather than just set terminal blocks and wire into wet plaster running across a ceiling.)
First step - Reconnect any earths you have disconnected.
If you take the bulb out, but turn the switch on, does the MCB still blow ? This could possibly isolate your fault to being within the switched live of the faulty light.
First step - Reconnect any earths you have disconnected.
If you take the bulb out, but turn the switch on, does the MCB still blow ? This could possibly isolate your fault to being within the switched live of the faulty light.
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