Economy 7 trips circuit breaker each night when cheap rate kicks in

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Have you paid him in full? If not, withhold all or some payment, if not tell him you’re going to citizens advice. I wonder if you could call BC?
 
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I am not a domestic electrician, I was always industrial so may be wrong, but this
1661855340736.png
Seems wrong for a new consumer unit, most RCD's have
Type A.png
or similar printed on them to show what type they are, the sign shown is for type A, not sure the date when this started, but my very old RCD's like yours don't have any type marked. Today we have type AC, A, F, B, S etc. Although type AC are no longer fitted, it is rather technical down to amount of DC and frequency and delays, which you don't need to know about, but fact the info is missing points to this being a rather old installation.

Sounds like a 'Borrowed' neutral.
I tend to agree, seems very likely the electrician has made an error. Since around 2005 electricians doing domestic work have needed to provide minor works or installation certificates which are submitted to either the LABC or Scheme provider to get the completion certificate or compliance certificate depending on the route taken.

If the electrician displays any of the scheme providers logos, or shows in any way he is a scheme member like internet web page or sign written van, then he is responsible to ensure the work is registered, unfortunately if he don't then down to the home owner to register the work, however it is clear a home owner can't do that without the installation certificate so non issue of the certificate does show he was doing some thing he knew was not legal.

There has been a case "Pembrokeshire trading standard EICR court case v Mark Cummins trading as M C Electrics from Haverfordwest" where an electrician was prosecuted for not doing the work he said he had done, however there is nothing to say what the home owner got from this. He got fined, but that does not go to home owner.

I had a problem with my mothers house where a builder ran off and would not correct faults, including electrical, and thinking it had all been done up to that point legal, I contacted the LABC to say I was taking over the work, it seems the builder had failed to register the work, it caused me even more problems as a result, and the priority was to get wet room up and running. But our attempts to get money back from builder failed as LABC got their first, and builder stopped trading.

So threat come first, yes trading standards may take him to court, and stop him doing it again, but that does not help you. What is more likely to help is contract his scheme provider, they may put a boot up his back side, however they are not likely to admit that to you.

But as said that RCD seems like old stock to me, my old house no logo fitted 1992 with second hand RCD, not sure when the logos started to be printed on the RCD, maybe others can help.
 
Most likely wired incorrectly. Is there a timer / controller or similar where the immersion heaters are connected next to the hot water cylinder?


but this Seems wrong for a new consumer unit,
It is wrong. CGD branded stuff disappeared several years ago, it's all Lewden branded now.
Probably old stock that's been laying around for years. Type AC RCDs, which are no longer permitted for most loads from the end of September 2022, just a few weeks away.
Hopefully it was a very cheap installation.
 
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What ACTUALLY has the plumber changed?

Has he actually changed the element?

I can't help noticing both elements top and bottom are identical, so has he changed BOTH of these? Or none of them even?

I liked the idea about a borrowed neutral, if that was the case, this would have gone unnoticed with old non-RCD consumer units.

Or I suppose a neutral wire pinched to earth at the isolator could be the cause, that may have gone unnoticed in the past.
 
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...Some photos... Include the meter, and the cables to and around the Consumer Unit(s) and the timer if separate.

.......An error may have been made by the plumber, but a competent electrician should be able to trace and rectify it.

How long did the electrician take, and what do you know about her qualifications? Which Competent Person Scheme is he a member of? Did they test the electrical installation before fitting the new Consumer Unit?

One plausible cause is an incorrectly placed neutral wire in the CU.

BTW I said "switch off at the wall." The MCB is a single pole device so not good enough to isolate the immersion heater.
 
Where do the immersion heater cables go?
There must be another box somewhere for boost control for the top heater, and probably terminals for the lower heater
Sounds like something could be messed up in there probably causing both immersion heaters to be fed from the overnight consumer unit

Brian
 
Where do the immersion heater cables go?
There must be another box somewhere for boost control for the top heater, and probably terminals for the lower heater
Sounds like something could be messed up in there probably causing both immersion heaters to be fed from the overnight consumer unit

Brian
Assuming there IS a boost controller - there may not be one.

It would be good if SteveJ1967 replied back, as I'm sure we could get to the bottom of this quite easily.
 

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