HI guys I'm new on this forum so hi.
OK my problem has been going on now for over 12 months.
We moved into a new house in May 07 and at this time we had the consumer unit checked and set up correctly onto a split load with the shower and sockets on the right side of the RCD.
I don't even pretend to know exactly what I'm doing as i work in IT not electrics so, basically whats happening is when the electric shower (Mira 9.5Kw) has been running for 10 mins approx the RCD trips. If the boiler which some bright spark wired into the shower isolation switch has been running then the RCD trips after 5 or so mins.
Ok so I have replaced the shower with a new one of the same wattage in case this was faulty. The RCD still tripped, so I then replaced the isolation switch and moved the boiler supply and fed this from a 13amp socket with its own in line fused isolation switch.
Now when we use the shower the RCD trips, once after around 15 minutes of using the shower and today after not even 3 mins using it.
The problem then is the RCD will not reset for over an hour after I have to keep flicking the switch and trying this for over an hour before it eventually stays on. Once the RCD is back on I can use any socket and there is no problem.
Am I on the right lines if I said there was an earth fault somewhere here? I would have thought if this were a live fault then the MCB for either the shower or the sockets would trip? What I was wondering is if the shower is putting such a heavy load on the ring that there is some kind of neutral to earth fault being set up on the sockets or the neutral bar inside the consumer unit.
Another thing is when the RCD has tripped if I switch the MCB for the sockets off but leave the shower MCB on, the RCD can be reset no problem, but as soon as I flick the MCB back on for the sockets the RCD will then trip and not reset for at least an hour.
Makes me wonder whether when the electrician rewired the CU he has messed on of the neutral or earth connections up in there. I'm not one for going in the CU as I'm not confident, however I will call the numpty electrician and get him back to sort it out.
I hope someone can help me cos this has been bugging me now for over a year.
OK my problem has been going on now for over 12 months.
We moved into a new house in May 07 and at this time we had the consumer unit checked and set up correctly onto a split load with the shower and sockets on the right side of the RCD.
I don't even pretend to know exactly what I'm doing as i work in IT not electrics so, basically whats happening is when the electric shower (Mira 9.5Kw) has been running for 10 mins approx the RCD trips. If the boiler which some bright spark wired into the shower isolation switch has been running then the RCD trips after 5 or so mins.
Ok so I have replaced the shower with a new one of the same wattage in case this was faulty. The RCD still tripped, so I then replaced the isolation switch and moved the boiler supply and fed this from a 13amp socket with its own in line fused isolation switch.
Now when we use the shower the RCD trips, once after around 15 minutes of using the shower and today after not even 3 mins using it.
The problem then is the RCD will not reset for over an hour after I have to keep flicking the switch and trying this for over an hour before it eventually stays on. Once the RCD is back on I can use any socket and there is no problem.
Am I on the right lines if I said there was an earth fault somewhere here? I would have thought if this were a live fault then the MCB for either the shower or the sockets would trip? What I was wondering is if the shower is putting such a heavy load on the ring that there is some kind of neutral to earth fault being set up on the sockets or the neutral bar inside the consumer unit.
Another thing is when the RCD has tripped if I switch the MCB for the sockets off but leave the shower MCB on, the RCD can be reset no problem, but as soon as I flick the MCB back on for the sockets the RCD will then trip and not reset for at least an hour.
Makes me wonder whether when the electrician rewired the CU he has messed on of the neutral or earth connections up in there. I'm not one for going in the CU as I'm not confident, however I will call the numpty electrician and get him back to sort it out.
I hope someone can help me cos this has been bugging me now for over a year.