Problems after new consumer unit fitted

[leigh jones]

Thanks everyone for your help, will let you know how I get on

 

[JohnW2]

Yes it has to RCD's and both of them trip when load is put onto the cooker/hob circuit

Hi John, yes it has a separate socket on it, and when something is plugged into it, it trips

Thanks. In that case, as Spark123 has said, it sounds like a very simple wiring error in the CU that any electrician should be able to fix in a few minutes. It would obviously be best for you if it were the same electrician (who presumably would/could not charge for correcting his/her error!), but even if you had to get a different electrician (and essentially tell him/her what you believe needs to be done {move the neutral of the circuit in question to the correct neutral bar}), it should not cost you too much.

Let us know the outcome!

Kind Regards, John

 

[securespark]

5 mins to fix the cock-up and a couple of hours to test, label etc....

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Sounds like a neutral in the wrong bar in the consumer unit, get the electrician back to correct it.

And after he has done it, and it all works OK, report him to Trading Standards and to whichever professional body he belongs.

 

[securespark]

 

[leigh jones]

So just got home and checked the CU everything is wired up as it should. Could it be damage to the cable

 

[JohnW2]

And after he has done it, and it all works OK, report him to Trading Standards and to whichever professional body he belongs.

Mistakes happen, so I don't think that anyone would get excited about a report of that, particularly after it had been remedied satisfactorily by the perpetrator, so the only real compliant could be that the error was not detected by testing.

However, I'm just wondering which of the standard tests (as, for example, documented in the context of an EIC) would actually pick up a circuit with neutral connected to the wrong bar? A 'functional test' would obviously have detected it, but I'm not sure how commonly they are done on all circuits, or whether they are 'required'.

Ironically, a 'functional test' is the one thing that would be done by a DIYer who was being criticised for not undertaking any 'proper testing'!

Kind Regards, John

 

[flameport]

everything is wired up as it should

No it isn't.

Green - line and neutral of the same circuit connected to different RCDs.
Yellow - total lack of cable grommets/glands resulting in damage from the sharp metal edges
Pink - cables entering via the top surface, which given the state of the other entries will have no grommets and won't be sealed either.

Generally a very poor effort.

 

[Starspark1]

Wow that is a poor effort!

I don't see any main bonding either although that may be at the MET but i wouldn't bet on it.

Can you take a zoomed out picture of a larger area?

 

[leigh jones]

Here you go
Would the green circles cause the trip

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Mistakes happen, so I don't think that anyone would get excited about a report of that, particularly after it had been remedied satisfactorily by the perpetrator, so the only real compliant could be that the error was not detected by testing.

Mistakes are not supposed to go undetected before they bite. That's why we have tests, checklists etc. And a regulation requiring the work to be competently done, which this was not.

The work was substandard, and arguably illegal.

Neither body is likely to do anything re a complaint, if it's a one-off. But if they keep getting complaint after complaint about the same guy, then maybe they will, which would be right and proper.

 

[Iggifer]

Here you go
Would the green circles cause the trip

Yes. Definitely. I can only assume he's not noticed the U shaped copper link linking the two neutral bars. That being said, there's no link between the middle and right bar so he would have been connecting them to nothing.

You appear to have two erroneous neutrals in your left neutral bar. There's 3 squeezed into two terminals on the far left, which account for the circuits on the left RCD. Then there's (presumably) your cooker/hob in #13 and a 1mm² in #14. Have you used all your lighting circuits etc since having the consumer unit changed?

 

[EFLImpudence]

Would the green circles cause the trip

Yes.

 

[leigh jones]

Yes I have used all the lights.

 

[gman76]

There's 3 squeezed into two terminals on the far left

I only see 2 in the N1 bar?