any chance of a little advice please on a lighting circiut

[angellonewolf]

any help on this would be great info I can give went to other half's parents house as they called to say they got a problem with there lighting circuit when mcb is switched on the power is on for a few/10 minutes and the mcb trips again

they had the consumer unit replaced 6/9 years ago its a split phase rcd one side main switch for the 2 6amp mcbs one is the lighting circuit I do not know what the other is yet

there is first I need to test the mcb ? as I there is 2 6 amp I can just cheak its not the faulty mcb

they have a few variable lighting switches and one ceiling fan and 2 2d energy saving fittings in the bathroom and kitchen I think I need to cheak as they are the first items I think might poss be causing a fault ?

any help would be great angel

 

[Leesparkykent]

any help on this would be great info I can give went to other half's parents house as they called to say they got a problem with there lighting circuit when mcb is switched on the power is on for a few/10 minutes and the mcb trips again

they had the consumer unit replaced 6/9 years ago its a split phase rcd one side main switch for the 2 6amp mcbs one is the lighting circuit I do not know what the other is yet

there is first I need to test the mcb ? as I there is 2 6 amp I can just cheak its not the faulty mcb

they have a few variable lighting switches and one ceiling fan and 2 2d energy saving fittings in the bathroom and kitchen I think I need to cheak as they are the first items I think might poss be causing a fault ?

any help would be great angel

Best advice anyone can give is to get an electrician in to carry out some tests.

 

[angellonewolf]

yep but i think with a bit of thinking should be able to sort this out and a littlemmore help than call someone was not my first idea lol

thanks angel

 

[bigspark17]

Sounds like either water ingress or damaged cable, sounds like your trying to sort something your not qualified or have the understanding to undertake. Get a recommended spark in.

 

[angellonewolf]

i passed my part 1 part 2 and part 3 city and guilds 20 years ago but never persued it as got in to a family run work so i do have a good understanding for sparks work but not a great deal of practial experance as why i am posting on the fourms as not seen this any time before

 

[Leesparkykent]

i passed my part 1 part 2 and part 3 city and guilds 20 years ago but never persued it as got in to a family run work so i do have a good understanding for sparks work but not a great deal of practial experance as why i am posting on the fourms as not seen this any time before

you should carry out an IR test.

 

[angellonewolf]

sorry to say i do not have the meter to do it with and if it gets to that then a sparky it will be my why was to cheak the mcb not the best chance but as easy to test as there is another there to use do that first

vis cheak switches and ceiling roses and remove any item that cant be cheaked and proven as said ceiling fan 2d lights and varabile switchs as this would prob be the most lightly

 

[angellonewolf]

i done these cheaks before on a nextdoor 8 years ago when they poped round to say there lights was not working done all the cheaks still could not find any thing as a last resort i said have you done any work before you had the problem yes was the answer her otherhalf put up a picture in the hall way and yes the nail was in the cable

 

[Leesparkykent]

sorry to say i do not have the meter to do it with and if it gets to that then a sparky it will be my why was to cheak the mcb not the best chance but as easy to test as there is another there to use do that first

vis cheak switches and ceiling roses and remove any item that cant be cheaked and proven as said ceiling fan 2d lights and varabile switchs as this would prob be the most lightly

why have you come on here for advice then?

 

[Octopus]

This needs moving to DIY

 

[Octopus]

why have you come on here for advice then?

Because he he wants sparks info for free!

 

[Leesparkykent]

This needs moving to DIY

its already in the DIY section

 

[SJD]

any help on this would be great info I can give went to other half's parents house as they called to say they got a problem with there lighting circuit when mcb is switched on the power is on for a few/10 minutes and the mcb trips again

they had the consumer unit replaced 6/9 years ago its a split phase rcd one side main switch for the 2 6amp mcbs one is the lighting circuit I do not know what the other is yet

there is first I need to test the mcb ? as I there is 2 6 amp I can just cheak its not the faulty mcb

they have a few variable lighting switches and one ceiling fan and 2 2d energy saving fittings in the bathroom and kitchen I think I need to cheak as they are the first items I think might poss be causing a fault ?

any help would be great angel

It is not totally clear (at least to me) from the description what is tripping - is this just an MCB tripping, and/or an RCD?

It is far more likely to be a fault in the connected lighting circuit than a fault with the MCB (and/or RCD), and better to find out where the fault lies, rather than randomly changing components in the hope of fixing the problem.

 

[angellonewolf]

just to see if i am going at it the right way and not just missing something simple

if the vis cheaks dont throw something up i would then move on to the lighting loop find the end and disconect each one in turn untill i narowdown the fault

but this is time consumming and thought there might be a better way even if i had ir meter yes will tell me if theres a fault but not where it is and cant think of a better way of finding it

 

[Octopus]

I have been wondering how he is going to check an mcb with a meter!

 

[angellonewolf]

can i say thanks for all the replys any help will cut down the amount of time i am playing

yes its the mcb that is tripping as its a split board and all other circuits are covered by the rcd the lighting has not got an rcd protection


my 17 th edition board is split but has 2 rcd units covering all circuits i had this done by a sparky good bloke and will call him if i have to but dont want to get told yea bud its the bla bla witch is some thing i could do my self

 

[Leesparkykent]

repeatedly resetting an mcb until you narrow down the fault isn't a good idea. A sparky worth his salt with proper test equipment could probably narrow the fault down for the price of an hours call out.

 

[telectrix]

i could operate on my booze damaged liver but i'd rather have a surgeon do it.

 

[Octopus]

Time to get my coat

 

[Darkwood]

Hi anglelonewolf, welocme to the forum.

You say you have previously got qualifications but are not a practicing electrician thus your out of touch with it I can assume, regardless of onsite experience your training will have taught you that fault finding will require basic test instruments in order to trace and identify the possible causes of a fault that you describe, as you express you do not have testing equipment then all we can advice is call in an practicing Electrician as there isn't really a lot you can do unless you by chance spot the fault on a visual inspection or can relate it to a specific area by switching the lights on one by one... If it is taking approx 10mins to trip it could be an overload issue, again you would need to calculate the loading and ask a few questions to boot.

PS check any outside lighting and detectors for water ingress - common issue as the seals breakdown, these can give delayed tripping.