Went to do just this sort of job yesterday.
Customer called asking if I could issue a cert to proove that the caravan hadn't caused the small electrical fire on the site where it was stored
, as the site owner said this van had caused the supply cable of the next van to burn out & catch fire
& had to be removed from the site asap & repair costs paid.
The site sparks said it had to be this caravan that was at fault because the rcd at the supply end had tripped
& the state of the internal wiring just confirms his suspisions.
The most major of faults being that the main switch in the caravan (40amp 30mA rcd main switch + mcb's for circuit ocpd's) it is over rated at 40amp, this alone could cause major problems with all the wiring & is probably what is causing the rcd to trip
.
All that advice & fault diagnosis given in the time it took him to smoke his smoke, he didnt even need to get a meter out apparently, all for the princely sum of £20.
Anyway I digress. So I Turned up & customer says " yes we bought it very cheap because it was owned by a squaddie in Germany & he had it rewired to use over here.
On the initial look around found:
(1) mix of sockets some were German shuko type others uk 3 pin.
(2) lights & sockets on same ocpd 10amp type C mcb
(3) all neutrals crimped together outside of small cu showing some bare conductors.
(4) scotch loc used to connect new cable to battery charger (+ve 24v) & its burnt out/melted
(5) cu & all cable joints located directly behind the gas fire (3" between them)
(6) uninsulated spades used for 230v termination into battery charger & no barrier
(7) charger left loose on the floor behind gas fire
(8) singles used for mains supply to charger, not enclosed & drapped over the gas pipe.
Starts to test;
(1) no cpc at any sockets, they have all been cut away.
(2) Gave up at this point & told the chap that I'd only charge for fuel used to get there & his best option would be to have the thing sorted before using it again.
I thought this was going top be such a simple ...bish bash bosh...heres the cert & invoice type job.
At least the compliment from customer was " thank you I appreciate the no bulls*** approch you have".
