Nuisance tripping

[Rad1o]

We had an extension done. The electrician put a new board in despite us having had a new split load board installed 4 years ago. He said it was cheaper and standards have change to ?? RCDO ??. Anyway as we had a lot of nuisance tripping in the old board on the RCD side he did some checks. A light and a socket ring seem to be linked somewhere in the house despite being on different MCBs. He did not really want to commit himself.

The lights are on the non RCD side and they trip the RCD possibly via the socket ring.
3 questions:
If I get him back can we move the socket ring MCB from the RCD side to non-RCD side?
If we move the socket to the non RCD side the MCB will still trip. Is this correct?
Will we loose a lot in terms of safety?

 

[EFLImpudence]

Cure the fault rather than transfer it to where it will be concealed.

Whether you get him back or find someone efficient is up to you.


RCBO - Residual Current Breaker with Overload protection.
A combined overcurrent and residual current device.

 

[Jackrae]

2 "wrongs" do not make a "right"

Sounds a bit like a possible "borrowed neutral"

 

[ban-all-sheds]

The electrician put a new board in despite us having had a new split load board installed 4 years ago.

Almost certainly he ripped you off.

He said it was cheaper

That was almost certainly a lie.

and standards have change to ?? RCDO ??.

If he said that you had to upgrade what you already had, that was definitely a lie.

He did not really want to commit himself.

To what? Knowing what to do?

If I get him back can we move the socket ring MCB from the RCD side to non-RCD side?

No.

Which makes the other 2 questions redundant. Like your electrician should be.

 

[Taylortwocities]

If I get him back can we move the socket ring MCB from the RCD side to non-RCD side?

Per BAS plus sockets must be RCD-protected so that's another reason why you cannot do what you suggest.

Sorry, it needs fixing. How hard can it be.?

 

[Rad1o]

The price was a fixed price with the builder who subcontracted the electrician. So moneywise I was o.k.
I had told the electrician that we had nuisance tripping before he started and that was one of the reasons he wanted a clean install, the other one was that he had to certify by current standards which is RCBO rather than RCD in split load board going by the current regs . Our old board could have taken the new MCBs.

I asked him to try and fault find when he came back for the final fix. They spent a fair time with me watching. They checked for borrowed neutral and found that there was continuity between one existing light ring and one existing socket ring. They said it could be impossible to find exactly where the fault lies. It could be within a junction box in the floors or walls or two wires having lost there insulation through lying under pressure. It might be easier to put new cables into the existing house, which is a thing we do not want after we have just had walls and ceilings down.
Cure the fault is difficult becuse we have not identified it.
Also our wiring must have been upgraded over the years. They said we still have got some single core wires in the floors.

 

[Iggifer]

I would get a different electrician in. It is not at all as difficult as he has made out to find a fault as described.

Sounds like a) he didn't want to bother with the work or (more likely) b) he didn't really know what he was doing.

He also did not need to bring anything up to current standards, only his work, so as long as the required sockets went on the RCD side of the board, you didn't need a new board at all

 

[ban-all-sheds]

The price was a fixed price with the builder who subcontracted the electrician. So moneywise I was o.k.

In other words that sort of chicanery was already built into the price you paid.

the other one was that he had to certify by current standards which is RCBO rather than RCD in split load board going by the current regs .

a) What he told you about RCBOs was unquestionably a lie.

b) Only the new stuff he installed had to comply with the current regulations.

Cure the fault is difficult becuse we have not identified it.

Nevertheless....

 

[bernardgreen]

Cure the fault is difficult becuse we have not identified it

Why didn't the "electrician" identify the fault ?

Was it

[a] Lack of knowledge

Lack of test equipment

[c] Lack the proper work ethic

RCDs trip on earth leakage.

Earth leakage is a serious problem. 20 mA of earth leakage at 230 volts is 4.6 watts of heat, if that is concentrated in a small area it could be hot enough to become a fire risk.

Very un-likely but that is no excuse for an "electrician" to ignore it.