Tell us about your faults!

[kung]

Hi ALL
Just thought id put this one up for all those faults we find.
heres one to kick it off !
Domestic RCD tripped and wouldnt reset cause was a blown low energy light bulb.
There you go now for yours !

 

[pennywise]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

As above they aren't going to be 13amps each, should have elaborated slightly sorry.

 

[Jason Smith]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

Thanks mate, I know a 13 amp will protect the main feed in, thats going in tomorrow. Clearly I need to brush up here, and research yours and pennywise comments. As long as the cable is safe for now, I am in a position to change things as the rewire progresses. I am researching as pennywise suggests the fact as pennywise say thermostatically controlled bits are not subject to diversity, and your comment is obviously close to that as well. I know that my wires cant become overheated if I follow the suggested course of action, and when we have sorted a definitive answer, as I say, I can change things.

 

[pennywise]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

Are they oil filled towel rails with the element in one leg.

 

[Jason Smith]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

Thanks you two, Between us we got it right then, from the socket 2.5 to a 13amp FSO, 2.5 to the distribution jb and alls well. Obviously, nothing can fry from this arrangement. I still dont know how to send a thanks from here so it appears on your Listings !

 

[electric-ian]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

No probs Jason, Hope its helped.. I suspect the loading is in actual fact so small that all 4 will easily run on 13A.
I think the no diversity rule is for thermostatically controlled water heaters not space heaters unless anyone else knows different........

 

[bugsy]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

Called to a job that sockets were tripping the RCD.
after inspection, found that cables had been selo-taped together ( live to live , neutral to neutral etc ) under the floorboards and were arcing.
Builder did not have proper junction boxes etc to make correct extension to existing ring !!!!!
"Should have used maybe different tape" was the reply by the customer when I showed her what had happened !!
Cookoo !!! Cookoo !!!!!

Defo ID 10 T fault

 

[amberleaf]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

On Friday 19th February I got a Call from my mate who is a Contractor , he’s building a ramp for Disable Persons at the front of the house in Blackburn , the House owners Electrician let him down and asked me to help him out . Sat morning 20th February . I was to put a light with PIR outside the front door . well the S--- hit the Fan , Turned around and asked my Mate where the hell is the Main Earth in the Building . this Electrician had Power up Main D/B box and left out the Earth ( L/N Only ) ←← I looked at my mate . he’s tell me to shut up . ( PS . Metal Sockets in the Kitchen , Expensive Lighting Metal 230V Mains , Metal Switches’ all around the Building . Well It took me 2 Hours to put the 16mm2 Main Earth to the D/B box , all new Plaster work , had to Cut out a lot of Plaster Board and a Lot of Swear Words . PS had to give my Martindale a Paracetamol , ( the Main Cut-Out fuse Holder is Broken at the bottom . Exposed Live Cables I’ll have to Call out Norweb . you will be asking what the House Owners was thinking . I had to makeup a Lie the Earth cable was broken . I had to Repair it . 4 and half weeks the house had No Earth . I had to ask The Houseowner to hold off the rest off his Money , PS till I have a Word with Him . Thank there Lucky Stars no one was hurt ( if you pay Penults you get Monkeys ) ↔ am not sure to report him or Not : Two Disable Persons in the House . very nice Family . Myself I’ve to go round on wed to do a Full Inspection on the House , My Mate had to explain to the Houseowners the Imprecision’s . personally I would Not like to see this Persons Face

Electrician Works for a Big Company . Extra Pocket money , Basically when electrics are installed there are two ways people do it. The way where everything is tested to ensure it is working as expected and is safe, and the other way which is known as 'wire it, fire it and leave'. By that I mean fit the wiring, switch on the power, lights light up ok, job done, take the money and run.

Ambeleaf .

 

[andrewhubbard]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

hi all i need some help with my college course work, im 1st year apprentice and stuck on this question, the question is when testing between phase and neutral tails at the c.u. a reading of 0.6 M ohms was observed - describe the procedure you would adopt following this reading

PLEASE HELP!!!!
Thanks

 

[Jason Smith]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

This is a quick reply for you mate because you are probably sat there trying to get past this question for college tomorow, will answer you fully tonight. I assume you are doing an IR test- insulation resitance on a whole board and not individual circuits-The minimum requirement for IR is 1 MO. Yours is much below that and therfore the wiring is suspect, ist thing to do is to switch off all the breakers on an obviously already dead board , except 1. test again. You will then find the circuit thats giving a poor reading, effecting the whole board- loads of learning for you to here, like removing accesories than cause bad ir results, how to test circuits with non removable accesries etc, selv, 240 volt ir testing, etc. More later, be good if you could post the actual question almost word for word., I

Quick question 4 u- I assume you are testing load side of the board, andnot the tails out to the meter PRIOR to connection ? - dont worry to much, as the answer is gonna be the same.

 

[andrewhubbard]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

hi thanks for your response and you are right it is for college tomorrow, the question word for word is as follows:
when testing between phase and neutral tails at the c.u. a reading of 0.6 M ohms was observed - describe the procedure you would adopt following this reading.

thanks drew

 

[oldtimer]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

Did a job last week and I was to replace a broken pendant no big deal I hear you say ok job done then a call I have no lights in my kitchen ?

Well me said I only changed the pendant also rememered to mark the black switch wire with red tape so where did I go wrong ? checked out the kitchen and yep no power lots of head scratching then went back to pendant and found I had 1 switchwire 2 neutrals 2 lives and 4 earths.

Hang on I thought 4 earths so had another look and found that some plonker had damaged the insulation on a red so they put a bit of green sleeving on it and yep I marked the sw then disconnected the rest and put it back together again thus causing the problem.

 

[JW_Shock]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

Went to a customers house with tripping mcb for his shed supply... reset mcb no problem ...got a call next day tripped again, no appliance was switched on in the shed but still tripped. the customers says he works all day in the shed leaves it with no issues, MCB ( fed from 20A type B from garage ) trips during the night...basically found ( after traceing cable route where i could see it he had thrown a metpost onto he armoured cable and moisture was getting in during the evening. Nearly drove me insane i was questioning my competence to find it i,d meggar it twice and the readings were fine.

 

[scotsparky]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

In my old firm found a supply to the local butty van.
16mm from busbar to an Isolator. 63A hrc on L1 32A hrc on Neutral No RCD then straight out to a 32a external socket on 2,5mm SWA

I was told it was none off my business and i shouldnd have padlocked it off as they were paying me off.

 

[JulianC]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

Got a call out of the blue from a letting agent today asking if I could call a local tenant and arrange to pop round to investigate dead sockets in a utility room. Tenant only been in the property a week. Plug socket tester in: dead as a dodo. Notice control switch in adjacent boiler cupboard. Flick switch. Socket tester beeping away happily. Quite possibly my easiest fix yet.

 

[Phil]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

Got a call out of the blue from a letting agent today asking if I could call a local tenant and arrange to pop round to investigate dead sockets in a utility room. Tenant only been in the property a week. Plug socket tester in: dead as a dodo. Notice control switch in adjacent boiler cupboard. Flick switch. Socket tester beeping away happily. Quite possibly my easiest fix yet.

nice one I once got a call from one of the night club managers, all the lights not working on a section of the ground floor. turned on the switch on the grid plate all back on .... she had been there 6 months ? she said oh someone must had turned them off when leaving last night I just leave them on all the time, along with the air con and all the other money burners . just glad its not me paying the 15k lecky bill sat on the desk.

a friend asked me to look at his kitchen socket that had stopped working. after taking the socket off quickly found the fault . or what was left of it, he had new chrome sockets fitted some four years ago, the guy that did them for him also did a bit of auto electrics, wires not quite long enough so he extended them with car cable. terminal block and what was left of the wires inside the socket and he had the toaster and kettle plugged into them did well to get four years out of them. took all the other fronts off and same old sketch on 5 more of them. needless to say a remedial work was needed to the his other halfs dismay, words to the effect of "I told you not to use him" and that was after he had fitted the gas fire that got condemned.

 

[lovellandmawkes]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

I was once called to a student house. When I asked what the fault was, one of them piped up, 'every time I turn the taps on, the telly goes off.'
Turns out the boiler was tripping the RCD.....

 

[chris gray]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

i was once called to a student house. When i asked what the fault was, one of them piped up, 'every time i turn the taps on, the telly goes off.'
Turns out the boiler was tripping the rcd.....

class

 

[Phil]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

I was once called to a student house. When I asked what the fault was, one of them piped up, 'every time I turn the taps on, the telly goes off.'
Turns out the boiler was tripping the RCD.....

quality I hope you didn`t disturb their sleep and turned up after dinner time I made the mistake when we were looking after the student lets of turning up first thing. urgh what a horrible site of some long haired scrag wandering around in his boxers

 

[High Tower]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

quality i hope you didn`t disturb their sleep and turned up after dinner time i made the mistake when we were looking after the student lets of turning up first thing. Urgh what a horrible site of some long haired scrag wandering around in his boxers

complete with skid marks and crusty stains

 

[Phil]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

then there is the scary stuff they leave under the beds and the experiments that are growing in the fridge, and just think these are the people you will be voting for in 10 years or so

 

[Jason Smith]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

This was a cal out to a government bulding with 5 staff working in offices above it. Yes they are 25 mil tails. in a metal box. The original contractors failed to put grommets in, hence what must of been a huge bang and flash.The tails fed the heating system, and the resulting bang luckily fried the contactor as well, making it non operational. We Removed the tails at source. We were paid for the emergency call out, however the original contractors were caled in to repair.

 

[lovellandmawkes]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

then there is the scary stuff they leave under the beds and the experiments that are growing in the fridge, and just think these are the people you will be voting for in 10 years or so

Too right mate.
I don't want to turn this into a student bashing thread but I've had some horrible experiences working in the homes of our future doctors, lawers etc.
This includes kicking many a stiff tissue out of the way in bedrooms and trying to undo work top high sockets in the kitchen but not being able to get enough purchase on the screws because my feet kept slipping on the grease covered floor.

 

[scotsparky]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

Jason the phase and neutral conductors are also going through seperate metal penetrations so watch for electromagnetic effects.

 

[Hawk81]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

Got a call out recently to a house. when i arrived they said that thier RCD for all the sockets would not stay on. So i asked them what all did they have plugged in when the RCD first tripped. They said only the fridge. I then unplugged the fridge. turned on RCD it stayed on. So i thought fault in the fridge. Thought i'll plug it back in to see if it trips again. Fridge plugged in and the RCD stays on. I was just about to leave when the RCD trips again. I asked his wife if she has just plugged anything in. she said no. RCD will not reset. I unplug fridge again, RCD will still not reset. Turns out his wife has plugged in an extension lead that is all burned and melted but she didn't think it could be it so thats why she didn't tell me bout it.

 

[Jason Smith]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

Jason the phase and neutral conductors are also going through seperate metal penetrations so watch for electromagnetic effects.

Thanks- I didnt attach the phot of the bottom of this contactor unit, but no Grommets fitted at all. What had happened was that the installer had left hiself no room to work properly, and when trying to route his tails, had jammed the outside of the tails to the metal casing, dislodging the grommetts as shown. Groms totally missing from the bottom entry points. This one was clearly an installation issue as the fault cause.

 

[Graeme Harrold]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

Just got this one today on a static caravan. Was taking a Ze inside the van at the CU during inspection, and the reading was off the scale. Tred again at the plug in supply and got the same. Only when I pulled the sheath back on the SWA did I find out why..........

 

[Notsosmart]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

The joys of finding the installer hasn't used the correct glands

Was there enough slack on the cable to re-terminate Graeme?

 

[Des 56]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

You may have a valuable archeological find stuck to that box
Has it been carbon dated ?
Looks like a prehistoric dafodil bulb to me

Why would someone hide it behind a shroud ?

 

[superd25]

Re: My fault !

Hi all new member here, hello! I thought i would post a problem i have, i have been asked to repair a shower that I didn't fit, it needs a new control board not a problem. However the shower is wired in 2.5 T+E on a 30 Amp fuse. If I repair the shower am I reponsable for the dangerous install which is 20 years old and the owner isn't that keen on changing as he has never a any trouble with it??? Think I know what everybody will say but you never Know.

Hi all new member here, hello! I thought i would post a problem i have, i have been asked to repair a shower that I didn't fit, it needs a new control board not a problem. However the shower is wired in 2.5 T+E on a 30 Amp fuse. If I repair the shower am I reponsable for the dangerous install which is 20 years old and the owner isn't that keen on changing as he has never had any trouble with it??? Think I know what everybody will say but you never Know.

 

[Phil]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

in a word yes