RCD will not stay on

[JohnW2]

Fair enough - and nothing else which is 'always on' even when all the heating bits of the cooker (oven, grill, hotplates etc.) are turned off? Were all those 'heating bits' turned off when you got the trips, particularly the tripping of the MCB?

Not that I'm aware of. Nothing was on, the two ovens have the usual selector and temperature knobs each (everything off/set to 0).

I was afraid you would say that! That obviously makes it less unlikely that anything within' the cooker is at fault - suggesting that the most likely place for the problem is where the supply enters the cooker or somewhere else in the wiring of the cooker circuit. Whatever, disconnecting the cooker circuit at the CU in the way you propose will get rid of any of those problems, and allow you to get the rest of your electrics working. The first thing for an electrician to do is presumably to get the cooker disconnected from its supply, and then test the cooker and the cooker circuit wiring separately.

Kind Regards, John

 

[rotor]

Well, thanks to the excellent advice and reassurance received here, I now have electricity back in my house! I was able to disconnect the cooker circuit with no issues -- I was very careful every step of the way, and ended up with a working RCD!

So thank you very much everyone for your input, I really appreciate the help!!

Now I'm off to find an electrician that can diagnose both the circuit and the cooker...

 

[JohnW2]

Well, thanks to the excellent advice and reassurance received here, I now have electricity back in my house! I was able to disconnect the cooker circuit with no issues -- I was very careful every step of the way, and ended up with a working RCD!

That's good to hear. In fact, it recently occurred to be that you really only needed to disconnect the neutral - since, with the MCB 'off', the live was already effectively 'disconnected'- apologies for not having thought of that before!

So thank you very much everyone for your input, I really appreciate the help!! ... Now I'm off to find an electrician that can diagnose both the circuit and the cooker...

You're welcome. Assuming that it's fairly easy to get at the connection to the cooker, and electrician should be able to ascertain very quickly whether it is the cooker or circuit which is at fault ... and then take it from there. Please do keep us posted, since yours is a rather unusual problem, from which many of us can probably learn!

Kind Regards, John

 

[deadshort]

I would search for the cooker switch, I don't think the cable from the cooker is connected directly to the CU.

Regards,

DS

 

[JohnW2]

I would have search for the cooker switch, I don't think the cable from the cooker is connected directly to the CU.

That's a good point. I think all of us here had assumed (I know!!!) that since no local cooker switch was mentioned, there was not one - at least, not one which was easily accessible!

Of course, if it transpires that the problem is with the circuit (even the 'cooker switch', if there is one), rather than the cooker (it appears that the problem is upstream of all the functional switching in the cooker), then it still might have been necessary to disconnect the circuit at the CU.

Kind Regards, John

 

[rotor]

I would search for the cooker switch, I don't think the cable from the cooker is connected directly to the CU.

Regards,

DS

A thick cable comes out of the back of the cooker, and snakes away under the counters in the direction of the CU (which is under the stairs). If I shine a torch down there, I can see the cable disappearing into a hole in the wall. So there is definitely no switch in the kitchen. Given that there is a dedicated cooker MCB, my guess is that the installer decided to skip the switch, which is a pretty poor decision.

 

[JohnW2]

A thick cable comes out of the back of the cooker, and snakes away under the counters in the direction of the CU (which is under the stairs). If I shine a torch down there, I can see the cable disappearing into a hole in the wall. So there is definitely no switch in the kitchen. Given that there is a dedicated cooker MCB, my guess is that the installer decided to skip the switch, which is a pretty poor decision.

Thanks for confirming. As deadshort has implied, it was a bit remiss of us all not to have asked, but a switch, if present, would have been such an obvious way of isolating the cooker that I (and I presume others) 'assumed', if only subconsciously, that had one been there you would have told us (or, indeed, simply switched it off on your own initiative)!!

Kind Regards, John

 

[deadshort]

Well, bodge it Billy strikes again !

Check the connections !

Regards,

DS

 

[EFLImpudence]

Original post:

- The cooker doesn't have its own switch in the kitchen. I pulled the cooker partially out, and there is a thick cable coming out the back of the cooker, and snaking away under the cabinets, which I assume goes directly to the CU.

 

[JohnW2]

Original post:

- The cooker doesn't have its own switch in the kitchen. I pulled the cooker partially out, and there is a thick cable coming out the back of the cooker, and snaking away under the cabinets, which I assume goes directly to the CU.

Ah ... but that was over 24 hours ago, which might be stretching it a bit for my memory! On t'other hand, maybe I was not 'subconsciously assuming' but, rather, 'subconsciously remembering the OP'!

Kind Regards, John

 

[deadshort]

Original post:

- The cooker doesn't have its own switch in the kitchen. I pulled the cooker partially out, and there is a thick cable coming out the back of the cooker, and snaking away under the cabinets, which I assume goes directly to the CU.

Origional post

"Assume" ………


The OP has NOW confirmed after checking the entire route of the cable that there is no switch.

Kind regards,

DS[/u]

 

[rotor]

Here is the reason why the RCD kept tripping!

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• rotor
• 7 Apr 2015
• 1

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• rotor
• 7 Apr 2015
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• rotor
• 7 Apr 2015
• 1

 

[RF Lighting]

That would do it....

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

Has it taken three months for the smell to lead you to this?

 

[rotor]

I was waiting for that comment!!

No... just took me 3 months to upload the pics from my phone so I could post them. The smell was horrendous though!