My electrics are tripping

[RacheyC]

Hello,

For a couple of weeks now my electrics seems to randomly trip, sometimes early in the morning, sometimes they're gone when I get home from work, but usually come back on again no problem. Yesterday they tripped and wouldn't come back on, tried a bit of trial and error and found if I knocked the 'sockets upstairs' switch off, then the rest of the electrics would come on.

So...I've switched ALL of the upstairs sockets off and tried switching the 'sockets upstairs' switch back on again and they still trip.

To give you an idea of what's upstairs...I have a power shower (has it's own switch on the switchboard thing), a boiler and a number of sockets. The lights also have their own switch.

I'm at a loss...living on my own so not sure who to call so I thought I'd start here with you guys. No heating or hot water!!

Included links to two pics of my switchboard below.

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh3/racheyc/DSC07423.jpg
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh3/racheyc/DSC07422.jpg

Many thanks
Rachel[/url]

 

[JohnD]

two likely causes are:

Water. e.g. rain in an outdoor fitting, or earth leakage on an immersion heater, boiler, CH pump, kettle, electric iron, tea urn

Cable damage - crushed under floor; nail or crew into wall or floor penetrating a cable.

If it's an appliance, you might be able to identify it by UNPLUGGING (not just switching off) all appliances.

Your immersion heater and boiler will probably have a DP FCU in the wall that you can switch them off with.

If you can get an electric clock or timer you can use it to see what time the power trips. If it coincides with e.g. the heating coming on you have your clue.

If it is cable damage then unless you can find it yourself, start asking round friends and neighbours for a recommended local electrician.

I see from the pic that you have one RCD for the whole house. This is not a very good way to do it as a fault on any one circuit will trip off all power to the entire house, including circuits that are not faulty. Also, several minor earth leakages on multiple circuits (such as electric shower and oven) can add together and be enough to trip the RCD. Changing this would cost some hundreds of pounds though. Let us know if you are willing to contemplate it, for further suggestions.

 

[tommy.h]

have you tried unplugging everything on upstairs circuit? then one by one reconnecting them until you find which is causing the trip.(bit time consuming be you should find faulty appliance on your own) could be anything on that circuit.

 

[RacheyC]

I've unplugged and switched off everything upstairs which is the odd thing as it still trips when I try and flick the switch back up.

Hunting for squished cables now...

 

[JohnD]

if that doesn't work, unplug all the downstairs stuff too.

Because of the way your CU is configured, it could be an accumulation of leakage from anywhere else. I would suspect the shed circuit, any outdoor lighting, the cooker, and the immersion heater. Unfortunately, switching off the MCB may not isolate the fault, as it could be Neutral to Earth, and the MCB only isolates the Line pole.

It is even possible that your RCD is faulty and is tripping too eagerly though this is not common - they more often fail and stick closed.

edited: If you mean that the RCD trips when you switch on the Upstairs Sockets B32 MCB, that's good, at least you have isolated the main fault to the Phase side of the one circuit. Sometimes they can be more difficult to track down.

 

[ColJack]

would an earth-neutral still trip the RCCB if the live was switched off since no current is then flowing in the circuit to trip it... ?

did you have any work done over the summer?

have you only recently turned the heating back on?

 

[julioarca]

would an earth-neutral still trip the RCCB if the live was switched off since no current is then flowing in the circuit to trip it... ?

indeed it would trip

 

[ColJack]

you sure?

how would it compare current flowing in the phase and neutral coils if no current was flowing in the phase coil to start with?

 

[plugwash]

At least in the RCD pictures I have seen both live and neutral wires go through the same coil. If there is an imbalance it induces a current in the coil. current flowing in the neutral with none in the live is just as much an imbalance as current flowing in the live with none in the neutral.

 

[ColJack]

you're right.. i didn't have my ac theory head on...

for some reason I got it into my head that since neutral is tied to earth, then it's at the same potential so no curent would flow..

 

[plugwash]

for some reason I got it into my head that since neutral is tied to earth, then it's at the same potential so no curent would flow..

But of course in real life wires, MCBs, RCDs etc all have resistance. Resistance combined with current flow means voltage difference.