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Edhie421

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Hi everyone,

Not an electrician myself, but seeking knowledge, a second opinion and/or advice on the necessity to take action. Hope this is the right forum - please forgive me if not.

We had a big fright today. Post refurbishment work, we put a kettle on in the kitchen and didn't realise it had gotten some water into the base. Clearly that must have messed with it because the breaker tripped and every socket in the flat went without current. So far so good, fusebox working as intended, and kettle about to be replaced.

What's worrisome is what happened next. While we were trying to figure out what was up (didn't immediately get it was the kettle) my partner flicked a light switch on in an adjacent room, and got a big shock (not static, a proper painful, scary one).
The lights are on a different circuit breaker from the sockets, and it hadn't tripped, and didn't trip even when my partner was shocked.
The switch itself is metallic rather than plastic, and it's new (we've been in the flat for years but our previous switches were plastic.) We have several switches of that same make now.
Once the kettle was unplugged, everything went back to normal, and the switches now work properly.
That said, I'm very wary now. It was my understanding that a properly earthed switch, even a metallic one, shouldn't lead to that sort of incident.

Basically, my question is: shall we chalk it up to bad luck/defective kettle/bad practice having it too close to the sink, and try to forget about this?
Or is it more probable there is a wiring issue somewhere, and should I call a licensed electrician to have it checked?
 
You say the flat has just been refurbished
Do you have any certification from the electrician who installed the new switches and other things?
My concern is that although things in the house may be bonded together and have the appearance of being earthed, you may be missing a connection to a reliable earth source.
There are other reasons why this could happen also.

Bottom line is that it sounds like you may well have a dangerous fault lurking there and it needs a professional electrician with the right test equipment to ensure it is safe.
 
Hi - In my opinion it’s unsafe for continued use, sorry. There’s some wiring error as it’s not supposed to work like that. If you’d called me “after hours” I would advise you to turn off the main switch so all electricity is off (safe) and I’d attend as a matter of urgency. Someone here may be able to assist on short notice if you need help.
 
Basically, my question is: shall we chalk it up to bad luck/defective kettle/bad practice having it too close to the sink, and try to forget about this?
For the kettle tripping the electrics out - yes.

For the shock - ABSOLUTELY NOT!

Or is it more probable there is a wiring issue somewhere, and should I call a licensed electrician to have it checked?
YES.

As already said several times above this is not something to be ignored in any way. You must get this professionally checked as sadly lives are lost every year to faults fitting the sort of description you have just given.
 
Thank you very much for your replies, everyone! This is very clarifying. I've listened to your advice and called a professional to come and check it - he'll be around later today. Very grateful for your reactions; it can be hard to figure out when to worry and when to shrug things off and you've really helped us categorise this properly. Cheers!
 
Definitely get it checked. Imagine how you would feel if someone got a fatal shock at some point in the future.
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Thank you very much for your replies, everyone! This is very clarifying. I've listened to your advice and called a professional to come and check it - he'll be around later today. Very grateful for your reactions; it can be hard to figure out when to worry and when to shrug things off and you've really helped us categorise this properly. Cheers!

Excellent. Let us know what they find.
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Make sure they check that your new metal switches are earthed.
 
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Hi everyone, a little update on this situation!

The electrician came over and found that there was a short circuit somewhere on the light circuit. After further examination, it turned out it was between the ceiling light and the switch that shocked partner. The little bit of mystery here is that, although he checked every component, once he had taken everything apart and put it back together, the short circuit was gone. To be on the safe side, we're still going to replace the switch.

As regards earthing, most of the new metallic switches are earthed properly, but this specific one was earthed on the back panel rather than on the front - metal - panel, so once we get the replacement, I'll give connecting it myself a shot (my first electric DIY! I'll have to make sure I don't forget to switch the board off....)

Lastly, our light circuit wasn't on the one RCD in the box (it's a smallish flat) so he put it on it just to be safe, and we're looking into replacing the box by one with RCBO breakers soon.

So all in all, sounds like we did well to heed your advice! I shudder to think of what might have happened if we kept living with a short circuit (actually still unclear on why it didn't trip the MCB - mysteries of the universe I suppose!)

Thank you again, all, for your advice. It was precious.
 
A short circuit, assuming the circuit is electrically sound should have caused disconnection of the circuit and not created a shock hazard.

That sounds reasonable!
The electrician took readings of - I think the impedance? (Sorry, I'm tragically new to this!) And it returned 0 before he fiddled with the lamp and the switch, and was back to normal levels afterwards.

Am I correct that this points to a short circuit? I also don't know why the breaker wasn't tripped. Not sure where to go from here, to be honest :/
 
Sounds like a low insulation resistance reading but nevertheless if the switch was effectively earthed it should not have posed a shock hazard.

Ha, thank you for this! Learning vocab on the fly, heh.

Do you think the fact that the earth cable is connected to the "inside-the-wall" (another term I lack) part of the switch rather than the front panel could suffice to explain this? Or would you reckon it points to a deeper issue?
 
Probably not but the earth should be to the switch plate. I would be verifying the switch is effectively earthed, replacing the metal ones with plastic may just be masking an issue.
 
Probably not but the earth should be to the switch plate. I would be verifying the switch is effectively earthed, replacing the metal ones with plastic may just be masking an issue.

That sounds very reasonable! I was planning on getting the same (metallic) switch but another copy of it, and earthing it to the plate (as opposed to the back as it was now.) But perhaps I should wait before I do that.
How would one go about checking the earthing of a given switch? I suppose I might need to make a longer appointment with a professional, in less of a rush, now that the switch is out of commission and the situation seems back to normal!
 
It wouldn't have taken long to check the earth at the switch.

Hmmm I think he might well have tested it, but I'm not sure - will investigate what the test looks like.
I think it's also possible since the cable was there and connected he assumed the earthing was at least existent, but what you're saying is that might not be the case, correct?

Thank you very much again for all these explanations!
 
I see! It's all clear now - I was a bit fuzzy on the earthing at first but now I think I've finally wrapped my head around it. I should have been more adamant to have that checked... I thought if the guy was satisfied with the way the wires looked, that'd be enough.
Do you think this can wait for a bit now, since the switch is not in use anymore and the circuits seem to work fine, or have I earned myself another emergency call?

I'm learning a lot though all this! What a fantastic community. I'm very grateful.
 

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