Surges and my fusebox.

[DirtySteve]

I live in a new flat that has electrical problems. The builders went into liquidation so im left to fix everything by myself unless I want to wait the 8 months that the NHBC take to do anything.

Anyway, it appears I keep getting surges in my flat which is destroying everything. At first I lost a simple transformer over a spot light which went with a bang and melted the transformer.

Next a surge blew a wall light but also blew the 8A fuse behind the fancy LEAX lighting control panel but also managed to damage the expensive LEAX control, and also my wireless router.

Im having to pay for a new unit for my lights and need to try and stop this happening again.

What could be causing these surges and how can I stop them.

Also the fusebox in my flat. How do I know that each breaker is actually set to the rating specified. This whole flat was wired in by an amateur and im worried the rating on the lighting circuits may not be 10A as stated but higher. How can I check theyre correct.

I will pay for an electrician but just want as much advice beforehand.

Thanks

 

[oharaf]

Steve, the best thing I can advise is just get that electrician in asap.

Power surges can occur for a whole host of reasons.

It is a shame that you have lost so much equipment due to this.

Your lighting circuits should normally be protected by a 6A MCB, why there is a 10A I would question straight away.

If you do want to check, and it isn't neccessarily going to be easy, a general rule is

Ring finals 32A, Radials 20A, Showers 40A Lights 6A

BOL

 

[JohnD]

What makes you say it is caused by surges and not e.g. badly made connections?

 

[securespark]

Like John, I too would be wary of blaming surges before looking for other explanations first.

The transformer could well be a coincidence. When you say "over" the light fitting, it could have been burnt by the heat from the lamp. I see this an awful lot.

There are shed-loads of cheap transformers out there: they do not last. What brand was yours?

When you say wall light, do you mean the lamp (you may call it a bulb) failed?

When lamps fail, they can often damage sensitive electronic equipment like dimmers and controllers. The more expensive lamps have internal fusing to prevent this (it doesn't always work) but the cheaper lamps, especially the imports, are not fused at all.

How come the router was damaged: is it powered off the lighting circuit?

As for your circuit breakers, they are not adjustable. They are manufactured to set tolerances in the factory. If a breaker says "X A" on it, that will be its rating.

It is known for 10A breakers to be used for lighting.

 

[Steve]

It is known for 10A breakers to be used for lighting.

Especially where theres loads of downlights! Horribly inefficient things.

 

[DirtySteve]

Thanks for the replies..

ok, I guess im not sure its surges. Im not an electrician so just thought that seemed the likely reason.

The transformer that went first was a greenbrook. Shown below. Is it a cheap one? I guess it could have been caused by heat from the spot light below. The good news was that when this went it only damaged itself and didnt effect the light control panel.



The wall light is like shown below.



It had a 50W 230-250V Sylvania Hi-spot bulb inside. Can you get bulbs like this with built in fuses?? That would be really helpful in maybe preventing future damage to the unit. The bulbs are like the ones sold HERE. In the info it says it has a 'transformer free GU10 base'. Not sure what this means, is it fused?


The actual control panel, the LEAX Scenemaster is shown below.



It has four channels. One of these channels was damaged when the bulb blew. I actually only need 3 channels (living room, kitchen, under cabinet lights) but have now had to combine all the living room lights which were previously using 2 channels. This is ok, but if it goes again, I cant work with just 2 channels so want to protect the unit. I have replaced the previous 8A fuse behind the unit with a 5A. Im not convinced this will help tho. The 8A fuse blew but didnt protect the unit. Would it be worth trying to fit an extra fuse on the wire from the living room lights channel to the control?

As for the router. Its broke, but maybe that was just coincidence. It hasnt worked since the evening the lights went but maybe its unrelated.

So.... this could just be bad luck, or I could have a wiring problem. Any ideas how I should proceed. Thanks for your help.

 

[Adam_151]

Few quick points,

1) Greenbrook is a name I've heard of, wasn't it them who had to recall masses of water heater timeclocks becuase of a tendancy to overheat and present a fire risk?...
Change it to one of another brand (another known brand), and make sure its away from heat sources and insulation


2) That fitting takes GU10 lamps and thus doesn't contain a transformer (thats all the label says), GU10 lamps are made by just about every lamp manufacturer, have a look at the osram ones, if any contain a fuse, they will have some in their range


3) Chances are the scnemaster channel is repairable by someone who knows what they are doing (could try a television repair shop if such places still exist!), You want to make sure that the fuses have the rated current prefixed by the letter F, this stands for fast acting and these are the type of fuses you need for protecting sensibtive electronics

 

[rssteve]

you can't just double up on channels have you checked the loading. I wouldn't be supprised if you have now overloaded the other channel.