Fault finding

[High Tower]

Ok, one of the hardest things you guys will have to deal with as sparks will always be fault finding, it really only does get easier with experience, so........... im going to describe some of the faults i have been to.

i would like your theory's, ideas and suspicions, how you would go about testing to confirm your theoreys and any rectifications.

Please remember there are no stupid answers. soooooooo

 

[High Tower]

two bedroom terrace house, front door opens into dining room, leads to living room, leads to kitchen.

Cu s in dining room to the right of the front door.

6 way very early crabtree 60898, only 4 circuits used, 2 power and 1 shower.

Fault was catastrophic loss of lighting, breaker was in the on position and working fine, whole house in darkness apart from dining room which was working.

over to you guys

 

[Baker1988]

it sounds like the entire lighting is run of the 1 mcb so that's why it all went off except the dining room (should upgrade to a split board haha), as the board is in the dining room i would assume that the cable goes from the board to the dining room lights to start with then onto the kitchen then upstairs, there is probily a loose connection either on the live or the neutral wire in between the last light that is on in the dining room and the first light that is off in the kitchen, the first thing i would do is a visual inspection on the ceiling rose from the last light that is working to see if there are any loose cables if there are no loose connections that i can see (i wouldn't touch any cables at the moment as they are still live and this would not comply with eawr reg 12 "i think") i would go to the next light and check that ceiling rose if i could not see any thing i would go to the last point on the circuit and do a quick check to see if the line conductor is live with a voltage indicator if there was a live feed then it would make me believe that the fault is on the return path(neutral) so i would then go to the board isolate it then put a link between live and neutral (r1/rn) or put both cables in chock block then go to the furthest point and do a r1/rn continuity test and work my way back till i got a reading then i would no the problem was in between that fitting and the next fitting, so now i have narrowed it down i would check the connections and probily find a loose wire.

sorry for the essay answer

 

[High Tower]

Im going to let others join in before i digress the rest.

 

[Paul.M]

Im going to let others join in before i digress the rest.

I wont say anything HT. It may take a few days before others join in mate, its not the busiest of forum sections.

Good idea for a thread HT, I'll post one up from a fault find call out from yesterday and post up a picture of the fault. I wonder if Trev can post up fault finding scenarios as well, I'll ask him.

 

[Baker1988]

Im going to let others join in before i digress the rest.

Lol so I take it that I am wrong! haha

 

[High Tower]

I wont say anything HT. It may take a few days before others join in mate, its not the busiest of forum sections.

Good idea for a thread HT, I'll post one up from a fault find call out from yesterday and post up a picture of the fault. I wonder if Trev can post up fault finding scenarios as well, I'll ask him.

Yeah mate the more the merrier, just think its only fair to let em run for a little while so a few people can have a pop at it, yours and trevs would be great too

Lol so I take it that I am wrong! haha

Assume nothng ! first rule of faultfinding, comes just before "the DIY client is probably lying"

As i said i will let it sit for a while in case there is any more interest.

 

[Paul.M]

Lol so I take it that I am wrong! haha

Erm, not wrong but not 100% correct. Only a few pointers that would make a big difference. Lets see what others come up with.



The thread "fault find #2" is not from yesterday but its a good one to start off with.

 

[Marvo]

Can I ask if it's a single or 3-phase CU?

 

[Paul.M]

Can I ask if it's a single or 3-phase CU?

Domestic single dwellings in the UK are single phase mate unless special permission is given by the local authority or it is divided into flats that demand more than the incoming supply cable can hold. In this case it will be a single phase supply.

 

[High Tower]

Can I ask if it's a single or 3-phase CU?

Nope not telling na na na na na na

 

[Marvo]

Nope not telling na na na na na na

Lol, WTF kind of a reply is that? I think you might have a nasty dose of 'five year old' syndrome. There's been a bit of it going around in the public forums recently and I fear you may have caught it.

 

[High Tower]

Lmao, I was going to say I'm not telling you because of your superior skill and knowledge, you don't need the help, but I'm not telling you because I don't wanna lol

 

[Marvo]

Lmao, I was going to say I'm not telling you because of your superior skill and knowledge, you don't need the help, but I'm not telling you because I don't wanna lol

*tears*
I'm still at a loss how '....superior skill and knowledge' and 'you don't need the help' ended up as 'Nope not telling na na na na na na'

 

[High Tower]

On the grounds of I couldn't think of anything more witty or intelligent at the time lol