Electricity tripped

Hmm water surface tension would prevent any water draining through a 1/16" hole.
In practice no, as the air inside the unit expands and contracts, so will as it expands blow the water out. And from lowest point when is contracts yes it could suck it in, but it can go out again.

The surface tension is more of a problem elsewhere on the fitting, as water can stay on the joint and then be sucked in as the air inside cools, but then be in wrong place to be blown out again.
 
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OP says, they don't have switches. So removing fuse worth ago.

"Conservatory (no switch).
Boiler (no switch)"
Apologies -

I suppose you are correct in that it could show a L-E fault but not a N-E fault - but then that would also apply if there were a switch so perhaps a good test in either situation.
 
This takes me back, around 1990 I returned from the Falklands to Sizewell 'B' in Suffolk, and the 10 years of working abroad had seen the introduction of the RCD.

The safety features were clear, but the lack of switching on the neutral, caused loads of problems working out what had caused the trip. And the idea of 1 amp feeding 300 mA and that feeding 100 mA and that feeding 30 mA was good, but in practice a nail in a portacabin to hang a coat, that hit a cable, still took out them all.

Yes 1 minute delay to no delay should work, but it didn't.

So we have needed to find ways to isolate the fault. Clamp-meter-small.jpg The meter to left was what I returned from Hong Kong with, the idea of measuring current without breaking the supply really helped, but it would only measure in 10 mA increments, I in 2023 finally got the meter to the right, which could measure in 1 mA increments.

I am sure many other electricians were the same, the cost of a meter to measure in 1 mA increments was over £100 until the Chinese made the cheap (£35) option, which could measure AC and DC current, and in the main we relied on the RCD tester.

In theroy we were suppose to test with no load, often rather pointless, if the circuit did not trip at 15 mA then we have 15 mA to spare, so testing with the circuit connected for the non trip, and disconnected for trip current would make sense, however in the real world, it would be tested same for both no trip and trip. So often the commissioning electrician had no idea what the base leakage was.

So it was in real terms, trust to the lord, and we had no idea how much extra leakage would cause the RCD to trip. Some people on this forum tell me their house never tripped, but I know my old house would have a batch of trips, maybe 6 times in 14 days, then 2 years before next trip, and I never did find out why. That is in spite of having insulation testers and RCD testers to hand.

So that house lost two freezers full of food before moving, so this house all RCBO protection, well the three freezers are on to 30 mA RCD sockets, on an UPS supply.
Diffrence line neutral 8 Feb 24 reduced.jpg
And whole house, has 8 mA leakage, But be it the insulation tester VC60B.jpg or RCD tester Loop impedance tester.jpgwe can hardly expect the DIY guy to have access to them. Their only way is to disconnect items, so we look at the likely culprits, outside lights, then outside sockets, followed by anything with mineral insulated heating elements so immersion heaters, ovens, washing machines, dishwashers, and frost free freezers. After that items which use water, central heating, shower units.

Once that fails, then no option but find some one with the test equipment. The test gear shown is the cheapest I could find, and still looking at £150 to buy it, to hire because it needs recalibrating after each hire, around £75, so it seems prudent to use an electrician.

But I would want to disconnect any supply outside, before calling an electrician, as I hate spending money. Yes with the test gear shown I would find the fault, however I have some skill, I would not like to say a DIY person would find the fault.
 
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UPDATE

Thank you for everyone’s input.

You are all amazing. My partner has just changed the fuse in the boiler switch and it’s all working now. Thank you so much. We have heating, Wi-Fi and hot water now. YEAH!
 
UPDATE

Thank you for everyone’s input.

You are all amazing. My partner has just changed the fuse in the boiler switch and it’s all working now. Thank you so much. We have heating, Wi-Fi and hot water now. YEAH!
 

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Hopefully a 3A fuse was used.

I guess we are all surprised. And wonder how long this will last, as it doesn’t explain the original fault. Or is the conservatory switched off now / fuse removed ?
 
Morning

My electric tripped again this morning.
It seems to be the same circuit (downstairs sockets) again.

My partner changed the fuse in the boiler but this time it didn’t work.

I’m trying to think what has changed recently. Never had this problem before and been in the house since 2007

About 12 months ago we had a new RCD fitted.

The only thing I can think of is that I bought my son a mini fridge from Morrisons for Christmas.

This is the only new appliance. It is in his bedroom on a different circuit to the one that has tripped though. Any ideas?

Thanks
 
Hopefully a 3A fuse was used.

I guess we are all surprised. And wonder how long this will last, as it doesn’t explain the original fault. Or is the conservatory switched off now / fuse removed ?
Yes, he used a 3A fuse. He replaced like for like.

It has tripped again this morning.

My son has a new mini fridge that he got for Christmas.

I’m wondering if that is connected but it is in his bedroom on a different circuit.
 
Try testing the boiler fuse. Put it in a plug for a low-power appliance, like a lamp. Or test it with a multimeter if you have one.
 
There is no logical reason that changing the boiler fuse would have fixed this RCD tripping. I think something just dried out.
I note the UK has had rain/snow in the last 24hrs.

Did you remove and leave out the conservatory fuse? That is the first thing to do. (you said the fan was wet before)

You also mentioned an outside socket not working. With the whole house electric off, you could open that up and see if there is water inside.
 
A earth to neutral fault on circuit "A" can cause an RCB to trip when the MCB on circuit "A" is switched OFF.

The RCD is tripped by a partial current through the RCD from a load on a circuit that is NOT faulty.

The good circuit appears to be the faulty circuit as the RCD trips when a load on that cicuit is switched on.


rcd trip.jpg
 

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