Scrapyardthing
DIY
Hi
Recently my son complained that he was getting shocks from his laptop when plugged into the mains in his room. I checked the socket and the others in his room and the wiring looked fine - red to live, black to neutral and firmly connected. I then used a plug-in Ring Main tester which indicated "L-N Reversed" on 2 of the 3 double sockets in his room. All 3 sockets are on the same circuit and controlled by same trip switch on the consumer unit. One of the faulty sockets is on a ring (two cables connected - this was the socket from which he was exoperiencing the shocks) and the other a spur (single cable). The spur had its earth connected to the socket but no tail back to the metal cage (not sure if that's an issue?).
I find this odd because we have lived in the house (a bungalow) for 23 years and my wife and I used it as our bedroom for several years and this is the first time that there has been any hint of an issue. I have done wiring myself in our previous house and in this one but it's so long ago I'm not sure if I did anything with wiring in this room. I also did get a professional to check out my work and to connect the new consumer unit at the time (20+ years ago).
Does anyone have any suggestion as to what may have happened here and what might one to rectify it? Is it likely that something has happened in the loft or more likely that the problem has existed since the sockets were first wired?
Thank you in advance.
Recently my son complained that he was getting shocks from his laptop when plugged into the mains in his room. I checked the socket and the others in his room and the wiring looked fine - red to live, black to neutral and firmly connected. I then used a plug-in Ring Main tester which indicated "L-N Reversed" on 2 of the 3 double sockets in his room. All 3 sockets are on the same circuit and controlled by same trip switch on the consumer unit. One of the faulty sockets is on a ring (two cables connected - this was the socket from which he was exoperiencing the shocks) and the other a spur (single cable). The spur had its earth connected to the socket but no tail back to the metal cage (not sure if that's an issue?).
I find this odd because we have lived in the house (a bungalow) for 23 years and my wife and I used it as our bedroom for several years and this is the first time that there has been any hint of an issue. I have done wiring myself in our previous house and in this one but it's so long ago I'm not sure if I did anything with wiring in this room. I also did get a professional to check out my work and to connect the new consumer unit at the time (20+ years ago).
Does anyone have any suggestion as to what may have happened here and what might one to rectify it? Is it likely that something has happened in the loft or more likely that the problem has existed since the sockets were first wired?
Thank you in advance.
