What happens when a house becomes flooded?

[mildmanneredjanitor]

I've pondered about this before and wondered what would happen to the electrical supply during a flood?

Also, does everything have to be replaced?

Some houses have flooding on a frequent basis, are they wired differently?

Maybe that is why sockets are now mounted half way up the wall

Nothing to do with disabled access, but a global warming cover-up by the government!

P.S. I live on a hill!

 

[il78]

I also live on a hill....

But I presume the protective devices would operate (consumer & suppliers side) also depends if solid floor or boards and if some-one has been using JBs to allow the ingress of water....

I got about 7ft space under the floorboards......yeah, bit of a suprise when I came to install some extra sockets....happy days, easy job.....so if it floods I get my own swimming pool

 

[plugwash]

i'm pretty sure there is a required hight for the service fuse meter etc

for outgoing outgoing cuircuits if water hits a jb or socket it shuld take out the rcd instantly and even non-rcd cuircuits should trip if joints are underwater

 

[Big_Spark]

i'm pretty sure there is a required hight for the service fuse meter etc

for outgoing outgoing cuircuits if water hits a jb or socket it shuld take out the rcd instantly and even non-rcd cuircuits should trip if joints are underwater

No, there is no minimum height for service cutouts, just common sense by the installers generally.

If you are expecting a flood, any sensible person would Isolate there supply before actually flooding.

I have installed, not in this country, automatic Supply Isolators in properties prone to flooding by Rivers and by the Sea. It is a simple float switch attached to an auto Relay, this then disconnects the incoming supply.

These have been installed on Domestic premises, ground level substations to protect them, standby Generators and host of other installations.

 

[mildmanneredjanitor]

I also live on a hill....

But I presume the protective devices would operate (consumer & suppliers side) also depends if solid floor or boards and if some-one has been using JBs to allow the ingress of water....

I got about 7ft space under the floorboards......yeah, bit of a suprise when I came to install some extra sockets....happy days, easy job.....so if it floods I get my own swimming pool

Would this be deemed as accessable then???

Unless of course, you have to move three boxes of vintage Merlot to get to it!

 

[securespark]

If you are expecting a flood, any sensible person would Isolate there supply before actually flooding.

But Jim, some houses are flooded when unoccupied.....

And even if you do isolate, the main supply cable is still live - what happens when the intake becomes submerged??

I guess the water boils........!

 

[il78]

I also live on a hill....

But I presume the protective devices would operate (consumer & suppliers side) also depends if solid floor or boards and if some-one has been using JBs to allow the ingress of water....

I got about 7ft space under the floorboards......yeah, bit of a suprise when I came to install some extra sockets....happy days, easy job.....so if it floods I get my own swimming pool

Would this be deemed as accessable then???

Unless of course, you have to move three boxes of vintage Merlot to get to it!

Yep.....I got a small(ish) door located outside, but at the time it was screw shut from the inside....if ya'know what I mean...

 

[masona]

My property was flooded 18 month ago and the C/U tripped out, I guess the water got into the JB's (and yes I do know where they are ) I'm begining to wonder should we have any JB under floorboards to prevent tripping out by water ??

 

[securespark]

It is tempting to say that what happens is you get wet and lose shed-loads of dosh..

 

[plugwash]

i'd say it's a good thing if the water hits electrics first then people not the other way round

so that by the time water reaches people the rcd is already out

 

[securespark]

But what about the other side or indeed if you have no rcd?

 

[Scoby_Beasley]

I've been in houses in Evesham, c/u's are mounted high (i.e., stand on a chair to look in them), mains come from overhead cables linked house 2 house. All d/stairs sockets mounted at the 'disabled height' and the supply cables for these are under the ceiling void (floors are solid, house over 100 yrs old, flooded then, so where's the global warming coming from ?)

 

[AdamW]

I am wondering, if the water came above the CU and it tripped, would the fuse in your meter blow?

I mean, otherwise you would be wasting all that power through the water. Let's just think, a 100A incoming can supply 23kW. Now at 5 pence/kWhour, that is £1.15 an hour, or £27.60 a day. Not a lot of money but when you are considering paying for flood damage every penny counts!

Of course, I doubt that water would pass 100A, the resistance is too high.

 

[AdamW]

mains come from overhead cables linked house 2 house.

In a ring or a radial?

But seriously, in an overhead power situation where house after house is connected, do they just run all the houses in parallel on a radial-type system or is there a ring-type system?