Tripping electric thingy....

[Tone243]

Okay,I admit I know little to nothing about electrics apart from DON'T TOUCH them as you know nothing about them and stupidity kills.I have no wish to add to Darwinian principles and end up as a 'most stupid death' on some T.V. show(television,not transvestite...)

Anyway,Saturday morning at 4AM I got up to find no electrics in house at all.Staggered blindly to fusebox(okay,I know a bit) with 35 kilos of German Shepherd determined to trip me up in the darkness.

Upon investigating I found that this white box in the photo has blown.I trip the switch back and all is good.No other houses appear infected and street lights work okay.Then this evening at 5ish the same box insists on doing the same thing again repeatedly...eventually it stands.

The only thing that was on overnight was the computer and heating as is par for the course.The box tripping out also led to the digital electric usage reading shutting down.Photos are included below.Thoughts on what the box actually is(I know,I know) please,how to prevent it happening again,what could cause it and whether I may need a sparky in or is it electric board issue?And btw we back onto a substation.No idea what difference that may make but,hey ho..

 

[Tone243]

The thing on the right kept tripping.

Sorry,u may need to turn your head for this one:

last one:

 

[ricicle]

Your photos haven't appeared. It sounds like a main RCD which, if serving the whole property, could indicate an earth fault on any of the whole installation. You could do some detective work by isolating all appliances (unplug if possible) to try and narrow it down, but as it seems intermittent you will have a job. There could be a small fault on the fixed wiring that is being sent over the limit of the RCD by an appliance suddenly switching in. Or it could be wet/damp/moisture somewhere. Or it could be damaged wiring (rodent ?) somewhere.

 

[ricicle]

Ah the photo has appeared. Yes that is an RCD and it's activation is caused by earth faults.

 

[Tone243]

Right then,any way to narrow down what may cause these faults?It has been raining all day here today but when it first tripped it was pretty dry...

Or just look for a decent sparky?

And how dare u suggest we may have rodents?!!?(joking)

 

[ricicle]

Not necessarily rain - leaking bath/shower/sink/pipe somewhere ? This would usually be over or near a light or junction box or leaking down a wall to an outlet of some kind.
An electrician with an insulation resistance tester will be able to trace a standing fault although it can be a bit trickier on the intermittent ones.

 

[RMS]

As suggested you should get an electrician in to carry out certain tests. An insulation resistance test may well locate the fault.

There could be an intermittent fault on an appliance. This can be a pain to find. Appliances in a kitchen environment are common causes. Damp under kettle bases is very common. Washing machines, tumble dryers, fridge freezers etc.

An electrician should be able to rule out any problems with the fixed wiring.

 

[viewer]

Do you need the computer on all night? If not then turning off and unplugging this would be a first thought. Computers may get hot or have temperature controlled fans and they can 'leak' electricity to the earth so tripping your RCD.

 

[Tone243]

What we think it is is the shower.The guy who lived here before was a keen albeit rather bad DIYer.The shower/bath has not been sealed properly ,the guy used the sealant strips and as the tiles are uneven there are thin gaps there where the water can go down.

As the first out occurred a couple of hours after I had a shower/cleaned bathroom and the 2nd after my daughter spent ages in there with the water running this may be the case.

And below the bathroom is the hallway and the water has run down the wall here before but never into electrics.However there is a light socket close by...possible water has gone into that?

 

[Tone243]

Do you need the computer on all night? If not then turning off and unplugging this would be a first thought. Computers may get hot or have temperature controlled fans and they can 'leak' electricity to the earth so tripping your RCD.

It does stay on all night and switches itself on and off downloading updates and stuff and cooling off.We may have to see if that is the case if resealing the shower doesn't work...

 

[skenk]

You want to get the shower seal sorted ether way, I have seen severe damage to structural woodwork (not to mention the room below if there is one) from just a bad shower seal left unfixed, ok that was over a period of years but small leaks are bad news too.

 

[londonboy]

My guess is something to do with the central heating