Faulty Lighting

[johnny_t]

Sorry to keep asking the same question repeatedly, but a plasterer should have known better - Actuall buried, buried, wet plaster all round the terminals, have to chip it off to get to them buried ?? If you lifted up a floorboard in a room above, or went into the loft, they wouldn't just be there in the air, buried ??

If that is the case, then I'm afraid its back to Square One........

 

[ml1936]

yeah unfortunately buried completely, cant get to them from above or below. But before i get my re-skimmmed ceiling ripped down, is there a way of testing to see if its maybe a screw or nail gone through a cable somewhere? I think maybe this because i fitted new wall lights in place of old ones in front room and therefore drilled new holed for them, maybe screw gone through then?

 

[slippyr4]

started reading this thread and thought it was a joke. it seems for real. wow.

 

[johnny_t]

Not sure - If I was doing it then I'd isolate bits of the circuit and then measure with a multimeter but that's impractical for the reasons above.

If the cable is routed correctly then it should only go vertically or horizontally from your wall lights, but that's not a given either.

With the power off, you could take all your fixings out and look in the holes - That should give you a fair idea.....

EDIT - Actually, I've just rethought that - That wire's going to have to come out of the plaster whatever happens....

 

[ml1936]

if i do an installation resistence test with a megger and put one end on upstairs lights live, other on downstairs earth, should it show a resistence? Will this prove that there is an earth fault with live from upstairs somehow shorting out onto downstairs earth?

 

[ml1936]

would i be best taking out screws on wall lights and anything else that have been put into walls/ceiling since i bought the house and see if this sorts the problem?

 

[johnny_t]

Seriously, you're best not doing anything until you have got that terminal block out of the plaster. Then you can start isolating bits of the circuit and doing some proper testing.

"Downstairs Earth" and "Upstairs Earth" should be the same thing - "Earth".

 

[andy]

yeah unfortunately buried completely, cant get to them from above or below. But before i get my re-skimmmed ceiling ripped down, is there a way of testing to see if its maybe a screw or nail gone through a cable somewhere? I think maybe this because i fitted new wall lights in place of old ones in front room and therefore drilled new holed for them, maybe screw gone through then?

like i said in my first post, it should have been properly tested and any faults would have shown up

do every1 a favor and call a spark to sort it out.

also, you really think a plasterer is clued up on wiring regulations?!

 

[TheStirrer]

AndyPandy

you idiot. from what you have said, you have no idea over regulations, or common sense for that matter.

• 
  Why should he listen to someone who insults him.How do you know what he knows.He might be cleverer than you in other areas.You appear to me as someone who crys over spilt milk and says I told you so when things are obvious.If you don't have something nice or constructive to say then say nothing.

 

[andy]

AndyPandy

you idiot. from what you have said, you have no idea over regulations, or common sense for that matter.

• 
  Why should he listen to someone who insults him.How do you know what he knows.He might be cleverer than you in other areas.You appear to me as someone who crys over spilt milk and says I told you so when things are obvious.If you don't have something nice or constructive to say then say nothing.

i always thought it was common sense that you dont put wet plaster over electrical fittings. altho i may be wrong...

oh, and learn how to use the quote feature

 

[securespark]

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.

How will this work?

If there is a fault within a light fitting, it will not matter whether the lamp is in or out - switching it on will trip the mcb anyway.

 

[TheStirrer]

oh, and learn how to use the quote feature

• Why should anyone do as you say when obviously you have very limited imput in a very basic forum.You come across as one of lifes under acheivers who thinks that coming on this forum spouting unhelpful cr @p makes up for what you don't know.

 

[kendor]

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?

Call a Qualified electrician in.

 

[johnny_t]

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.

How will this work?

If there is a fault within a light fitting, it will not matter whether the lamp is in or out - switching it on will trip the mcb anyway.

I might have been reading it wrong (actually I think I was now) but I thought the MCB was blowing as soon as it was turned on - The idea was just to find out whether the problem was with switched live rather than permanent...

 

[securespark]

Yeah, a good idea. But switching off the fittings is sufficient. Taking the lamp out will have no effect.