RCD and MCB shot?

[chaylins]

Hello all,

I came back from holiday to find my electric shower was not working i.e. the cord to turn it on was not showing up a red light when pulled. Upon checking the RCD/MCB consumer unit I had put it when I had the shower installed just before the new year I saw the RCD had tripped.

When trying to switch it back on, it simply wont stay up i.e. there is no "catch" when switching it up which leads me to believe the whole RCD unit is shot. I tried turning off all electricity to the house and the switching it to see if that worked, but to no avail.

I guess I'm just looking for assurance that the RCD has gone to electrical heaven and all I need to do is go down to B&Q and get a new one (£60 I saw them going for though - jeeeez)

Any advice would be much appreciated !

 

[RF Lighting]

It's highly unlikely to be a faulty RCD.

For a decent branded RCD you should pay between £15 - £25

 

[kai]

It could be a faulty RCD, if all the house electrics are isolated at the main switch (if there is one), as normally the RCD will not trip (even when the test button is pressed), unless power is available at the RCD itself.

The only time the RCD should trip with incoming power isolated, is when a certain type of test instrument is connected to the RCD circuit.

A correctly working RCD should always latch in the ON position, when incoming power is isolated, and only trip out, once incoming power is restored.

 

[chaylins]

Cheers for the reply.

Ive tried isolating the power and made sure nothing was going into the RCD for the shower, and the RCD still does not latch on when I try it.

If its not a faulty RCD, how can I determine this i.e. by getting it to latch on?

Thanks !

 

[RF Lighting]

Do you have an isolator before the RCD?

What brand is it?

Have you tried pushing the lever all the way down before trying to reset it?

 

[chaylins]

Its a europa consumer box with a 63A RCD and 50A MCB.

By isolator before the RCD do you mean the cord to turn the shower on? My electric set up is rather crazy.

The wiring is rather old and so before I had the kitchen and bathroom redone the whole apartment could be shut down with one switch which was using old school fuses (using those old fuse plugs). Then I had the kitchen done and because of regulation they had to put an RCD box in for the lights and other stuff in the kitchen, so this branches off from the main power. I then had the bathroom done and the same thing again, they had to put an RCD unit in for the power shower so had to branch this off again to a seperate consumer unit. So now I'm left with 1 RCD/MCB unit for the kitchen, 1 RCD/MCB unit for the bathroom and one sort of master switch for everything else.

 

[RF Lighting]

So you don't have one switch that isolates the entire house?

 

[chaylins]

Oh yes, I do - thats the master one which the two units branch off of

 

[RF Lighting]

Did you try and reset the RCD with this switch turned off?

Have you tried clicking the RCD right down to the off position? (Yours may not do this. Some makes do, some don't)

 

[chaylins]

Heya,

Yup tried resetting it with that switch off and same thing happens, doesnt latch at all. Its already as far down as it can go which leads me to think that its blown itself up somehow as it doesnt reset when there is no power going to the unit

 

[RF Lighting]

It's not something daft like the test button stuck in is it?

It is sounding like it might be the RCD it self, as unusual as this may be.

 

[chaylins]

Nope, tried the test button as well - I agree its rather bizarre how its just stopped working for no reason, unless it was faulty to begin with. I guess I'm going to have to buy a new RCD - any recommendations where I can get one? I've tried Homebase and theyre useless, B&Q looked well expensive and Maplin dont seem to do any?

 

[RF Lighting]

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/HGCD263U.html