Minor electric shock with the power off... faulty circuit breaker?

[sparxxxx]

I doubt a DIYer would pull out the certs and read them before swapping switch, even if he could find them

Depends on the layout of the house surely

You're the one that can see the future

 

[crystal ball]

More speculating about what happened in the past

 

[endecotp]

The RCCB is the main switch (for that CU). There would be little point in having a second next to it.

I do feel that it ought to be identified in some way as one of the "main switches", though, not just as a "test regularly" RCD. It's not entirely unreasonable to guess wrongly that it is downstream of the clearly-labelled "main switch, turns off all circuits" switch in the other box. Isn't there some regulation about this?

 

[crystal ball]

Ok the labelling is a bit lacking, but the moral of the tale is TEST FOR DEAD before sticking ones fingers in

 

[EFLImpudence]

I do feel that it ought to be identified in some way as one of the "main switches", though, not just as a "test regularly" RCD. It's not entirely unreasonable to guess wrongly that it is downstream of the clearly-labelled "main switch, turns off all circuits" switch in the other box.

I agree - and would have wired it so that it was as you say - a lot easier to do than the way it is.

Isn't there some regulation about this?

537.2.6 ???

Means of isolation shall preferably be provided by a multipole switching device which disconnects
all applicable poles of the relevant supply but single-pole devices situated adjacent to each other are not excluded,
subject to the provisions of Regulation 461.2.

Is the 'a' that specific? Relevant supply?

I think it depends how you read it.
I think there should definitely be a warning label - but I wouldn't have done it like that, so...

 

[terryplumb]

Yes, a small 2 or 3 switch secondary breaker was added last year to power an upstairs shower.

I felt safe ignoring that little one, though, as :

A. I didn't see how it could affect the bedroom light switch, and
B. The secondary takes its power from the primary, which I had fully switched off.

Thanks

Well I hope you realise now how important it is to test ,and prove circuits are dead before working on them. And how UNSAFE it is to ignore parts of electrical installations.

 

[EFLImpudence]

Plus - a quick flick of the light switch would have shown the light still worked.

Or vice versa - light on, (thought) power off, light still on.

 

[JohnW2]

I think there should definitely be a warning label - but I wouldn't have done it like that, so...

Indeed.

However, we often see people being advised that the preferable way to provide a supply to an outhouse/garage/whatever is from a switch-fuse fed from 'split tails', but I don't recall having seen that qualified with advice to have 'warning labels' (certainly on the main CU, perhaps also the switch-fuse).

Kind Regards, John

 

[EFLImpudence]

True, but that is unlikely to supply some of the house circuits.

 

[JohnW2]

True, but that is unlikely to supply some of the house circuits.

Yes, that's also true. However, the unwary/unknowing might not realise that the circuits in the outhouse/whatever were not disabled by operation of the Main Switch in the main CU (which they might think 'disabled everything in the installation').

Kind Regards, John

 

[StephenOak]

I doubt a DIYer would pull out the certs and read them before swapping switch, even if he could find them

I'm sure you are right.

However if a certificate had been issued that said (something along the lines of):
- Installed additional CU that feeds
a) New shower
b) Five existing upstairs light

then the OP would have known that some lights had been moved, might have remembered that and would, hopefully, been more careful when doing this.

 

[crystal ball]

Mmm not sure, in my experience certs are stuffed in a drawer or filing cabinet and forgotten until the insurance man or estate agent asks for them

 

[StephenOak]

Mmm not sure, in my experience certs are stuffed in a drawer or filing cabinet and forgotten until the insurance man or estate agent asks for them

But I wasn't talking about the OP reading the cert now, but about him having been told what had actually happened when the work was done and remembering that.

After all he did 'remember' that the only change had been to put the new shower on the new CU.

 

[crystal ball]

Ok it may happen but once the job is done most folk forget the detail, I rewired a big house in 2002, when finished I presented the owner with a folder with all the ins and outs, standby genny, out buildings, CCTV etc, i still do work for him but the folder is lost

 

[StephenOak]

Ok it may happen but once the job is done most folk forget the detail,

Yes, you are right. If he had been told that the lights had been moved he is absolutely guaranteed to have forgotten that.