We have a weird problem in our house (1970 built)which hit us recently.
The Lighting circuit fuse blew one morning, when no lights (absolutely no lights were on). We know this for sure, because when the fuse blew, we heard it blow in the Consumer Unit, and we knew that at the time, no lights were on in the whole house. We did nothing for a couple of hours, because we had to go out. We replaced the fuse when we got back that day. Everything worked fine, for the whole day and evening, with all lights able to be turned on, left on, and turned off. We went to bed, having turned all the lights off. In the morning, the fuse had blown again. We are a reasonable able couple (though elderly)and knowledgeable in the use of a multi-meter. We have since opened up every ceiling rose and every light switch in the house. We have identified, and isolated one cable, the one which runs from the kitchen to the bathroom, which has a fault in it, in that its Neutral wire is shorted to the Earth wire. The Live wire in that cable is not shorted to Earth. All the other cables in the lighting circuit in the house are fine, i.e. no shorting to Earth. We disconnected the bad cable from the lighting circuit, and put the fuse back in, thinking that at least some lights would work, depending upon the route of the Radial Circuit. But, to our surprise, none of the lights in the house worked at all. The Consumer Unit is in the kitchen.
We have for now left the fuse out of the Lighting circuit. We are making do with no ceiling lights until we understand what is wrong.
We have three questions:
(1) Would a Neutral shorted to Earth blow the fuse, even when no lights are on?
(2) Why don't the lights on the section from the Consumer Unit to where we have broken the Radial Circuit work, when we replaced the fuse? Are we right to expect at least one light to work, if we have only broken the Circuit between two lights, i.e. we have not broken the circuit between the consumer unit and the first light?
(3) We intend to buy a new cable to replace the bad cable. (We have found a way to obsoleting the bad cable, and replacing the link between the kitchen and bathroom via a different route.) Are we doing the right thing, or is there something else we have not understood, or some other problem in the wiring circuits or the Consumer Unit we have not thought of?
Answers to our three questions and helpful advice will be much appreciated.
The Lighting circuit fuse blew one morning, when no lights (absolutely no lights were on). We know this for sure, because when the fuse blew, we heard it blow in the Consumer Unit, and we knew that at the time, no lights were on in the whole house. We did nothing for a couple of hours, because we had to go out. We replaced the fuse when we got back that day. Everything worked fine, for the whole day and evening, with all lights able to be turned on, left on, and turned off. We went to bed, having turned all the lights off. In the morning, the fuse had blown again. We are a reasonable able couple (though elderly)and knowledgeable in the use of a multi-meter. We have since opened up every ceiling rose and every light switch in the house. We have identified, and isolated one cable, the one which runs from the kitchen to the bathroom, which has a fault in it, in that its Neutral wire is shorted to the Earth wire. The Live wire in that cable is not shorted to Earth. All the other cables in the lighting circuit in the house are fine, i.e. no shorting to Earth. We disconnected the bad cable from the lighting circuit, and put the fuse back in, thinking that at least some lights would work, depending upon the route of the Radial Circuit. But, to our surprise, none of the lights in the house worked at all. The Consumer Unit is in the kitchen.
We have for now left the fuse out of the Lighting circuit. We are making do with no ceiling lights until we understand what is wrong.
We have three questions:
(1) Would a Neutral shorted to Earth blow the fuse, even when no lights are on?
(2) Why don't the lights on the section from the Consumer Unit to where we have broken the Radial Circuit work, when we replaced the fuse? Are we right to expect at least one light to work, if we have only broken the Circuit between two lights, i.e. we have not broken the circuit between the consumer unit and the first light?
(3) We intend to buy a new cable to replace the bad cable. (We have found a way to obsoleting the bad cable, and replacing the link between the kitchen and bathroom via a different route.) Are we doing the right thing, or is there something else we have not understood, or some other problem in the wiring circuits or the Consumer Unit we have not thought of?
Answers to our three questions and helpful advice will be much appreciated.
