No 1st floor lights

[Phil004]

I had an intermittent fault where the RCD tripped, it started around 2 months ago after removing a light for decorating, however the RCD has reset for periods since. Last Friday it tripped and now won’t reset, the bulbs are all ok. We have had an electrician out today for a few hours to investigate/rectify but he couldn’t give a definitive answer after taking down all the fittings and separating the wires, What would the way ahead be??

Thanks for your help in advance

Phil

 

[rapparee]

You seriously need to get a different electrician.

You know the fault is due to a dodgey reconnection of a light fitting

Did he have any testers to put on the cables.

Or did he just poke about a bit

 

[rapparee]

Have you still no lights after he has been there for a few hours?!

 

[Phil004]

Thanks rapparee, still no lights. As he disconnected each one I attempted to reset the RCD, it didn’t reset. It only reset when all the wires were disconnected and separated down, trying to understand what may cause this issue

 

[Phil004]

he used a Mega tester and said it would appear that either the wire had been cut or damaged such as drilling/ screwing, not carried out any such work for over a year

 

[telectrix]

as rapparee said, you need to get an electrician who knows what he's doing.

 

[SparkySy]

Sounds like a neutral earth fault possibly, did you pull or pinch any wires when you removed and replaced the fitting for decorating that's where I'd start very carefully looking with the power off!

 

[rapparee]

he used a Mega tester and said it would appear that either the wire had been cut or damaged such as drilling/ screwing, not carried out any such work for over a year

You see when they were separated down. He should have been putting them back on one by one. Even if he was only able to restore half the lighting circuit. But to just leave.....

What's his plan to get it sorted.

 

[telectrix]

hope he didn't charge for failure.

 

[Dustydazzler]

Screwed or pinched cable fella

 

[Phil004]

he said further investigation at the end of the week as he is busy, maybe taking the upstairs floor up or cut holes in the ceiling, I’m not convinced.... As telectrix confirms I need a decent electrician, but where to find one, if your not in the know is challenging

 

[Phil004]

thanks for your input guys, would you not pay for the time?

 

[Dustydazzler]

thanks for your input guys, would you not pay for the time?

Depends what your agreement was

If you agreed to an ‘investigation’ call out then that’s that

If you paid to have the fault completely rectified that’s different

 

[Phil004]

i asked him to have a look at it because it wouldn’t reset....... where’s a good place to find a decent electrician?

 

[James]

i asked him to have a look at it because it wouldn’t reset....... where’s a good place to find a decent electrician?

Here is a good place to start.
With luck someone local will pipe up soon.

 

[tony clark]

what sort of light did you replace it with might be able to do something on wednesday all depends if i can finish a job tomorrow if not i might have a number for you to call not sure if he comes your way but he may know someone hes old school so you should be ok. pm me if you dont have any luck

 

[Phil004]

Hi Tony it was an ikea 5 light spotlight, I loosened off for decorating, the RCD wouldn’t reset Friday So opted for a new light but still fails to reset, it was one of the same style,

 

[Phil004]

Tony,

Not sure how to PM on here, but if you have any availability that would be great

 

[Phil004]

hi Tony,
I got your PM message but can’t message you, would you be able to send me a contact number by PM

 

[static zap]

Screwed or pinched cable fella

Were any fresh screws put thru ceiling ?

 

[telectrix]

an educated guess is a badly made joint above the new light, disturbed when moved.

 

[James]

an educated guess is a badly made joint above the new light, disturbed when moved.

Or the new light fitting screwed into a bit of twin + E

 

[Phil004]

Ok, that makes sense, I have loosened and retightened the mounting screws

 

[Markyd]

Were any switches loosened or removed for re dec....any outside lights on circuit.......

 

[Phil004]

no Switches removed before issue started and no outside lights on the circuit