OP
- Reaction score
- 4
Well I think what you said about getting reliable readings is key. I've got numbers coming out of my ears but no smoking gun.If you are looking for an LE fault, its one process, for a NE fault it is another. The trick is to reliably get readings, its also the hard bit. Without getting into the difficult forum issues of safety etc etc. Your best bet is to provoke an NE fault by drawing lots of current, does not matter where from, i.e. kettle, immersion heater and all that. Then isolate L and N from suspecting areas. i.e. your double pole garage isolator. Otherwise its get a pro in to start to pull circuits out of the board to test, assuming the fault wants to play.
Today I can't reproduce the effect of reducing the overall leakage current (at the meter tails) by isolating the garage. And I can't provoke any fault to trip the RCD. My wife's had both the wash m/c and tumble dryer running and I've whacked on the toaster and induction hob at max and although I can see an increase in overall leakage current, isolating the garage has no effect.
I think the poor IR on the garage lights (and visibly rusty 20-year-old battens) is something worth fixing in its own right, but it doesn't appear to be playing a part in my RCD tripping. (Which now hasn't happened since I started investigating 11 days ago.)
This amateur has now pulled a lot of wires out of breakers and busbars to measure IRs, unscrewed numerous faceplates looking for nicked neutral wires, done leakage and/or IR tests on loads of appliances, and I've reassured myself about the general health of the installation. I've found one or two weak points, but "the fault doesn't want to play".
I think I'm going to leave it a day or three and mull it over. I've got a new tv coming that will need some other diy efforts, and then an updated iphone to sort. I could be on a different forum trying to sort those out...
Thanks for all the interest and suggestions guys and I'll see you in a few days.