no lights -believe RCD problem but complete newbie & no

[kerij]

A few months ago, we had some lights, extractor fan & shaving point installed in our bathroom. Along with these and RCD spur was fitted.

Last night all of our upstairs lights went off - along with the shaving point. (extractor runs off lights). All of our lights used to be on the same fuse on our fuse board, but the downstairs lights, all sockets, shower etc are all still working.

I have swapped / changed the fuses in the fuse board to confirm they don't affect the upstairs lights etc. So presume it all comes down to the RCD powerbreaker unit. There is no red light in the top "button", when I press the "test" button, there is a small buzz/vibrating noise, and again, there is no change to the top "button." All online instructions that I have found refer to an "on" button, but I'm not sure if they mean the clear top "button"? I have also replaced the 5amp fuse in the RCD unit so can be sure that this isn't the problem.


Can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong / need to do? I shall contact the electrician who fitted it but don't expect to hear back until Monday due to the weekend.



Thanks in advance

 

[333rocky333]

the top white button is the ON button
bottom green button is the OFF and TEST button

The red light on the top button is lit when ON usually after you press the top button to turn it ON

Pressing the bottom button tests it and also turns it off, therefore turning the light off.

If the red light is not on then its either, OFF, faulty ,
fuse gone or no supply.

Hope that makes sense

 

[kerij]

Thank you for taking the time to reply. I can't seem to get the red light to come on at all & have changed the fuse in the RCD, so can only presume that I'm possibly not going to be able to resolve it myself.

Thank you again.

 

[333rocky333]

does the unit light for a moment as if trying
If theres a fault on the load then it wont reset.
If possible check you have turned off the lights etc upstairs to temporary clear the fault then retry

 

[333rocky333]

Just checked one and misinformed you, sorry i have now edited the post above.

The top button is the on button, that buzzing you mention sounds like your attempting to turn it on whilst theres a problem on the outgoing circuit.

Sounds like you need to locate that problem first

 

[kerij]

Thank you ever so much, we have lights - you were right, it would appear that the bathroom lights were still "on" - hate pully switches as can never tell what position people have left them in! - now I know what to do in the future too. Thank you again for taking the time to help.

Keri

 

[333rocky333]

Great, i was gonna mention the pull cord thingy, but hoped youd have the sense to try both positions, which you did.

Though you still may wish to tell the installer in case there is a genuine problem that tripped it.

Rcd s do sometimes trip unneccessary and often in power cuts or momentery power loss,
as they do not like switching on underload then you may need to repeat the procedure in the future.

So to recap, reduce the load, reset rcd, reinstate load

 

[bernardgreen]

I would suspect the fault is in the fan. If the fan and/or ducting has not been installed properly then condensation formed in the duct can run back down into the fan and this water creates problems if the earth wire is terminated in the fan. "Curing" the fault by removing the earth wire from the fan will stop the RCD tripping but the damp fan casing would have a potential high enough to give a severe and possibly fatal shock to anyone who touched the fan.


Is there as fan isolation switch ? If so you can isolate it the next time the RCD has tripped, then reset the RCD and if it then trips when the fan is re-connected ( de-isolated ) then the fan is at fault.