Shower tripping main fuse

[Blue_Manc]

Apologies for lack of technical speak. I know nothing of electrics.

Came back from hols and couple of days later the hoover caused the msin switch to fuse. Now the shower keeps tripping the electric. It's the upstairs shower. Did it about 4 times. Upstairs shower. Tried the downstairs shower did the same.

Suggestions? Going to call an electrician tmrw but wondered if any obvious tests/procedures sprang to mind before I did.

Ta


Edit to add. I did trawl the forums first but everything seems to be a problem following a change to the set up. Not changed anything. In fact showers c 10 yrs old.

 

[bernardgreen]

Does the "main switch" have a test button ? If so then it is an RCD ( earth leakage breaker ) that turns off when there is a leak of electricity to earth.

If it is an RCD and given that several things make it trip then you have an earth fault somewhere in the wiring. Possibly an outside lamp that has become damp inside. The showers and hoover may be OK and the fault else where.

The electrician will need to carry out insulation resistance checks on ALL circuits to find the fault.

A fault between neutral and earth on a circuit can trip the RCD even when the MCB for that circuit has been turned OFF. Some electricians do not know that. ( incredible but true )

 

[Iggifer]

You would think ALL electricians would know this. How many times have you shorted N+E together on an isolated circuit and tripped the RCD?

 

[bernardgreen]

You would think ALL electricians would know this. How many times have you shorted N+E together on an isolated circuit and tripped the RCD?

If only........
Last year an aquaintance had an electrician in to fault find an immersion heater that was tripping the RCD. He said it had to be the immersion as with all the MCBs except the immersion heater turned OFF the RCD tripped as soon as the immersion was turned on. So a new immersion was fitted by a plumber, and that one tripped the RCD. The plumber suggested another electrician who did know and found the N to E fault in the garage.

 

[EFLImpudence]

He said it had to be the immersion as with all the MCBs except the immersion heater turned OFF the RCD tripped as soon as the immersion was turned on. So a new immersion was fitted by a plumber, and that one tripped the RCD. The plumber suggested another electrician who did know and found the N to E fault in the garage.

Heaven forbid he or the plumber would test it before having it replaced.

 

[OwainDIYer]

You would think ALL electricians would know this. How many times have you shorted N+E together on an isolated circuit and tripped the RCD?

If the neutral is still connected then I would question whether the circuit is "isolated"

 

[Iggifer]

Of course it's not fully isolated no, but then it's not always practical to isolate with the main switch/RCD for double pole isolation