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paul_griff

Can anyone help with this one?

After deciding to do a periodic test on my own house (five years after moving in) I have come acrossthe following problem
The neutral of the upstairs ring has continuity (less than 1 ohm)to the neutral of both the upstairs and downstairs lighting circuits also the earths of mentioned circuits have continuity between them.

I can understand continuity between earths of upstairs and downstairs lighting circuits as cpc's are joined at two gang two way switch at bottom of stairs. But as for the rest of it i'm baffled, I have done all the obvious things like disconnecting neutrals and earths at consumer unit, removing loads (allthough no lighting transformers yet) asked my fellow electricians at work but no-one has an answer!

I have started looking under floors and finding bad things like unused live cables taped up and left under the floor and a spur taken from the ring in 1.5mm, needless to say I have rectified these and am expecting to find more such problems. Due to dodgy wiring I have found so far I will not be suprised to find interconnections between circuits somewhere, got a day off tomorrow to get to the bottom of it, so any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
 
a possibility is that somebody has fitted an outside light, tried to take it from a switch position and, finding no neutral at the switch , has pinched a neutral from the nearest point on the RFC. something along those lines, anyway.
 
Thanks for the reply Telectrix, Outside light is a possibility but i think i have traced them both, Front one was wired on spur fed from ring main in 1.5mm so is currently disconnected and rear one appears to be fed from main junction box for downstairs lighting circuit allthough i have not followed the cable in it's entirety so will look into that. Some idiot has been playing that's for sure
 
iv'e also seen an intruder alarm panel wired L from light switch and N from a RFC JB.
 
have you eliminated a fault between neutrals and cps, u say you disconecected the neutrals form the common bar but if there is a e-n fault the cpcs would nedd seperating at the same time
 
yes I have disconnected both neutrals and cpc's from their respective common bars at the consumer unit, could be a fault between neutrals and cpc's but as it is on three circuits i'm thinking its not a cable fault.
 
Latest on this one, It is not a neutral to earth fault on the cables as when the main incoming isolator is switched off continuity between neutral and cpc's dissapears as would be expected, must be due to parralel earth paths through bonding or other circuits.
 
PROBLEM SOLVED !

I have finally traced the problem to a 30A junction box buried in the wall less than two meters away from the consumer unit. All lives were kept seperate, but neutrals were all commoned together as were earths, cowboy DIY job I'd say.
Now I just need to rewire it all properly and see if I can plaster it or if I need to get a professional in!

Thanks to all for the suggestions, much appreciatedContinuity Between Neutral Of Ring And Lighting Circuits DSCN0686 - EletriciansForums.netContinuity Between Neutral Of Ring And Lighting Circuits DSCN0688 - EletriciansForums.net
 
I followed offending cables from consumer unit, had narrowed the fault down to between consmer unit and first fittings upstairs so it was time to start chopping!
 
Congrats! You must have an xray machine! Thank you for getting back to the forum with your success. You don't mean plaster a JB in though, no you don't, no, nope, na.
 
PROBLEM SOLVED !

I have finally traced the problem to a 30A junction box buried in the wall less than two meters away from the consumer unit. All lives were kept seperate, but neutrals were all commoned together as were earths, cowboy DIY job I'd say.
Now I just need to rewire it all properly and see if I can plaster it or if I need to get a professional in!

Thanks to all for the suggestions, much appreciatedView attachment 9178View attachment 9179

Have'nt i told you before ? You must'nt hide junction boxes in the wall
:D
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Congrats! You must have an xray machine! Thank you for getting back to the forum with your success. You don't mean plaster a JB in though, no you don't, no, nope, na.

No, no, no, I do not mean plaster a junction box in, that's what the idiot that gave me the problem did. I fitted all new cables between board and upstairs first fittings, just need to clip and cap the cables then plaster the cables, not junction box!
 
Wish you could of told whoever put it there in the first place! I would not dream of leaving it there as my trashed kitchen wall can now testify, floor to ceiling chase and all new cables!

Just think of the satisfaction you've got from tracing a pig of a fault (forgot to say: well done on that by the way). Unfortunately you'll find a lot of that sort of thing having been done & not only by the DIY brigade.
 

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