Discuss Major domestic electrical problem in the UK Electrical Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net

The little plug-in jobbie, you can plug it in anywhere. It won't record what the voltage is over time, and probably won't even record a maximum. But you can plug it into any socket, where you have good line of sight to, and just see what happens to the voltage over time. It won't do anything more than what the electrician can do with their MFT - but the advantage is, it's there all the time, and the electrician is not.

As others have said, the voltage should be in the range 230V +10% / -6% (216.2V to 253V). Whilst the plug-in jobbie won't be callibrated, in practice they are likely to be accurate (I've just compared my £10 plug-in jobbie that I bought from Maplin 15 years ago with my calibrated MFT, and they match exactly). If you visually monitor the voltage over time (a few days) and notice it ever going above 253V, you have a little more to back you up when you phone the DNO.

When I had problems with my house, they fitted a little black box in the meter cabinet, tailed in to the supply meter, and left it there a week or two (while all around me stuff stopped working). I don't know whether or not these posher data logger type devices record transient surges or not - I suspect not.

Could you give us a bit more information about the setting? Are you in a rural area, with overhead supply lines, or a more urban setting? Do you know if you get your earth from an earth rod (which we would call a TT earthing system), or whether you get your earth from the supplier? If you're unsure, a photo of the service head (meter box) might help.

Also, have the losses of appliances coincided with any particular time of day, particular weather (bad weather/lightning) etc?

An SPD would ideally be fitted at the origin of the installation - an electrician might be able to fit one in your existing consumer unit, or in a separate enclosure next to it.

You can buy extension plugs/4-way adapters with SPDs in them from Wilkos/Tesco and the like - these will protect sensitive equipment plugged into them against surges, but not necessarily against sustained overvoltage or a broken neutral.
 
Uk power networks, London.

0800 029 4285
Give them a call on Monday,
Tell them that multiple lights are flashing and several appliances have blown.
They should send someone round to check it out swiftly.
 
Could you give us a bit more information about the setting? Are you in a rural area, with overhead supply lines, or a more urban setting? Do you know if you get your earth from an earth rod (which we would call a TT earthing system), or whether you get your earth from the supplier? If you're unsure, a photo of the service head (meter box) might help.

Also, have the losses of appliances coincided with any particular time of day, particular weather (bad weather/lightning) etc?

It's (very) urban - so underground. Whatever caused the appliances to go all happened at the same time (apart from the digital water timer which looked like a slow burn - literally). On the circumstantial evidence it looks as though the timer burned out over a period of time and finally shorted - causing the problem with the other appliances. No idea how this could happen though.
 
Hi - timers often cook “for some time” before finally expiring, but I think it’s unlikely to have caused the problems seen in the other appliances.
 
thasnks for the update. good to know you got it sorted. was it DNO or landlord responsibility?
 
Finally resolved. Turned out to be a loose connection on the negative cable supplying the building. Very difficult to trace and only discovered by a buzzing/ sparking noise from the corridor cabinet.

Nice one, thanks for letting us know.
 
Hi - looking for some expert help please. I recently had the following problem. Water heater digital timer burnt out, fridge/freezer, extractor fan and cooker hood all blown and will not restart (fuses all checked). It's the second time the water timer has burnt out in a matter of weeks - and suspect this caused the other appliance problems. I have had 2 electricians in to test and advise - neither could find any problem with the circuits and had no idea what caused the appliances problem. 3rd digital timer now installed. Clearly I need to get to bottom of this as I can't afford it to happen again. (I'm not an electrician BTW). Any help / advice gratefully received. Thanks in advance.
Where are you based some members may be close and offer to help you out. A picture of the CU Fuse board may help , not the innards leave the cover on, and point out what has tripped.
 

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