Tell us about your faults!

[kung]

Hi ALL
Just thought id put this one up for all those faults we find.
heres one to kick it off !
Domestic RCD tripped and wouldnt reset cause was a blown low energy light bulb.
There you go now for yours !

 

[RWJ]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

Good grief! Where do I start! Check out the two connector blocks and what they're connected to

View attachment 6226

NICE!!!

Has someone got bored testing ring continuity and just left it???!?!?

 

[sparc]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

I think the guy that did this just liked mixing up all those pretty colours ... Actually, he just used flex cord for everything, including the 2-way lighting, with the CPC standing in for LIVE. I liked the CPC snipped off on the RHS, and the unguarded live bus, lack of bonding, and .... and this supplies a pool :cry_smile:

 

[Jurassic Sparks]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

as my grandfather used to say (looking at me) common sense aint so common

 

[Mr.Si]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

So finally decided to do the tests on my house now that my meter is calibrated.

Ring Final is fine (it's a shame) except there is no end-end continuity of the CPC, so it's not fine and yet at all of the sockets I didn't find any issues with CPC connectivity, meaning it could be a break between a pair of sockets. Grrr. Maybe I can convince my wife that ripping it out and starting again is the best approach. (It'll be far easier).

I suppose I'll have to do an end-end of each individual socket. Man I wish I had a wander lead...!

Interestingly though, most of the sockets in my bedroom are spurs from somewhere... that's another investigation job for saturday.

 

[sparc]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

Can't you connect CPC to it's respective Live (leaving other L and CPC unconnected from board) then go to each socket in turn and check L to E there. Then repeat with the other CPC and L connected at board.

 

[Mr.Si]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

Yes, that is the alternative. Probably a better idea really.

 

[greenspark]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

Had a fault where a lighting MCB had operated and would not reset. Everything looked hunky dory in the D.B. and within the light fittings. Then, I remembered that my first boss had said always to check if there are external lights on the circuit first if it is a lighting fault. I went outside and found 2 bulkheads with the cabling enclosed in PVC Conduit. Directly adjacent to the one bulkhead was an inspection bend in the conduit which had a partially damaged lid that would definately let rain in. When I removed the bulkhead cover, the water poured out and revealed soaking wet and previously shorted Line and Neutral connections.

 

[sparc]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

That lovely 'Gottcha!' moment. ... on on to the next job with a spring in your step.

 

[greenspark]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

Even better, the boss wasn't expecting it rectified until at least lunchtime and it only took an hour. Even better, the customer was his ex-wife so she took great enjoyment in making bacon butties for me and my mate to eat whilst we put our feet up and watched the clock tick. I've learnt to appreciate those moments, they seem few and far between!

 

[Stuart McNeice]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

Hi,
Im having a bit of a problem with a job i recently went to look at for a friend. The problem was that when the shower was turned on the lights through out the house started to flicker. The shower is also very old and im nt sure what kW the shower is or the cable size due to only having a quick glance at the job. The house is an old house with an old consumer board with mem memera fuse carriers. i would not have an awfull lot of experience with this old boards but im assuming 1st off the shower is drawing to much power, and being so old also has no rcd protection. Is there anyone with any advice as to what could be the problem?

 

[Danbo]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

Don't know if this is the right section for this.
I was called to a job simply to add an outside socket. Came off the ring and then tested the circuit. The house had recently been rewired so i presumed there would be no problems.
After opening the front of the CU i couldn't find any ring circuits...ALL individual wires into each MCB. My first thought was they all must be radials.
Nope...Both the upstairs and downstairs rings had been wired into 2 different 32A MCB's.
I've seen some bad wiring in my time but not something so basic on a new install, i was shocked.
I know the firm who did the work and all I can presume is it was an apprentice who wired the CU up.. but that wouldn't excuse the fact the work wasn't checked. Should I report them to NAPIT who they're with, or speak to the owner.

What do you think?

 

[mickys86]

It might be worth chatting with the owner. He might not know what's going on and would probably be pleased for the information

 

[Danbo]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

Probably right...i'll give the owner a call. It had made me alittle angry to see such blatent incompetance, but like you say the bloke who owns it might not have a clue. Thanks

In keeping with the theme of this thread...I did recently see a gem of a fault when ripping out before a rewire last year. An electric fire must of had a fault previously and damaged the line wire into the fire. Instead of replacing the damaged cable with a PVC cable or flex...he had used a Steel wire which you use to suspend things from etc and just wrapped it up in insulation tape.

 

[sparkinlee]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

Got called today to look at an immersion heater in a flat in a 70s build block. Went to test Zs, and the MFT wouldn't take a reading - checked voltages and found earth floating at 23v above neutral! Went back to fuse board in flat and found the same.

Went to meter cupboard downstairs, located the correct SWA supplying the flat in question (the design appears to involve the armouring and all the metal conduit and trunking providing the earth path back to the incoming supply) and found:

...armour visible, and no electrical connection between the gland and the armour. When I pulled down on the cable...



It appeared to me that the SWA had probably never been properly terminated, so quite possible the flat in question had been without an effective earth connection for 30+ years!

Upon clamping the armour properly in the gland, Ze (or should that be Zs?) at the fuse board in the flat fell to 0.08!

 

[jackdollar524]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

Domestic RCD tripped and wouldnt reset cause was a blown low energy light bulb

 

[Jurassic Sparks]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

first of all I would start by measuring the voltage at the main isolator in the consumer unit, check the connections are secure ( they are often loose)
check the voltage with everything switched off on the incoming side from the cutout/meter
230/240 v it will vary a little
then switch the light on and see how much voltage drop is occuring and record it ( should be nothing)
then operate the shower and measure again
if the voltage stays more or less the same plus or minus 4V then repeat the test on the switched side of the main switch from the neutral bar and the copper bar feeding the fuses ( if you can access it safely)
if the results are the same the problem lies further on
it could be a loose connection withing the fuseboard
or it could be the lights are spurred of the shower or the shower is spurred of the lights???
not unusual but lethal
you really need to see how the shower is fed from the isolator switch follow the cable along
often the old fashioned MK1 eyeball is the most efficient method
if the voltage drops of alarmingly on the first test, then its the supply cables either loose undersized or possibly the supply cable to the house failing, I have also seen the cut out fuse loose ( it should have screws and nuts to pinch it up)
but thats a supply company problem
stick some pics on here it you like

 

[Mr.Si]

on rewiring my lounge (finally) fi.ding annoying and naughty (by todays' standards) things.

also, how many different types of masonry does one house need?!

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

 

[Jurassic Sparks]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

naughty naughty
no grommet for the cable leaving
the CPC should be feed to terminal block first for the fitting and then looped to the back plate
wires are ok in the safe zone just a bit of a bodge
with an attic hatch above it would have been easier to drop down
as fas as masonery it depends on the bodgers and whats handy
I recently found concrete used to patch studwork walls!!
and that bodge dates from 1958 when the house was built, the house had pre made studwork walls, you slotted into place, and you were supposed to drill the timber at top and use a rod to force a gap into the cardboard cells for the cables
this lot used a sledgehammer by the look of things and then used concrete to infill
that took soem digging out for a rewire???

 

[erniexx]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

Following a recent Consumer Unit upgrade last year. We had two mcb trip events for no apparent reason. The last trip was accompanied by a smell emanating from the CU. I ordered a new mcb. As I went to fit it, I noticed that the pair of wires were charred, and came out of the terminals by hand!

 

[Jurassic Sparks]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

there has been some problems with poor quality chinese clone equipment doing the rounds
even through the wholesalers
I would suggest you get the MCB checked, you may need to change them all

 

[Marie-Claire]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

im female i have no faults - joking apart i had non tripping rcd's the were totally faulty, in fact i wish i would have took them apart now as i bet they were empty inside

 

[Silly Sausage]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

.........

 

[1shortcircuit]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

im female i have no faults

Wrong! You do have a fault!!!

Your Avatar was made TOO SMALL lol

 

[fali786]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

What would you do if a manufacturer spec did not work in terms of cable size required?

 

[telectrix]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

don't quite follow what you mean. do you mean it won't carry it's rated current?

 

[fali786]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

The terminals are not large enough for a 16mm cable.

 

[telectrix]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

what are you trying to get 16mm into? maybe that the accessory is not rated to the current that 16mm will carry.

 

[Jurassic Sparks]

its a bigger problem that you realise
Counterfeit Kills » Blog Archive » COUNTERFEIT KILLS

 

[Acer]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

Hi everyone, this is also my first post but could'nt resist replying...got an enquiry from old customer who had just bought a barn conversion but none of the lights or sockets worked....off I went armed with tester, neons etc .....got to house plugged in socket tester..nothing....dropped switch cover..no live.....took cover off fuseboard and found all cables unconnected and just pushed back into box...then saw there was no incoming supply...!!!! must be what they mean with 'buyer beware'...

 

[Acer]

Hello again....just remembered another one...several years ago I visited some friends who had just bought an old farmhouse..there was an attached barn partially converted which was now being worked on by the new owners...as I chatted to my friends the carpenter mentioned that when he had moved a drum of cable he received a shock....I was a bit sceptical but went to have a look anyway...I found two drums of cable, lighting and power, with cable running off into the stud walls...not only were both drums 'live' but so were some of the cable ends sticking out of the plasterboard...someone had second fixed the fuseboard...!!! with no rcd on the system either this could have been very nasty...

 

[barnzi]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

Both the upstairs and downstairs rings had been wired into 2 different 32A MCB's.

I've seen that before in a commercial environment, except that the different ends of the ring had been wired into the same phase on two different DBs! In different parts of the building! Came as quite a shock when the electrician turned off the main breaker on one of the boards and discovered that one of the phases was still live with no apparent source...

 

[Plonker 3]

Not so much a fault, but a friend of mine asked me to go round and give him some advice. Wasn't expecting to find this,there was once a wall there but he has knocked it down and he wants to move the meter and just asked if it was OK to put new tails in :shocked3:. As he thought all he has to do is bury any excess cable from the DNO under the floor.

I should of may be been a little more professional but I just had to laugh as it was all I could think to do. I think he got the idea though, I have no idea what he is going to do and don't dare to ask neither.

 

[Ohmyword]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

I've seen that before in a commercial environment, except that the different ends of the ring had been wired into the same phase on two different DBs! In different parts of the building! Came as quite a shock when the electrician turned off the main breaker on one of the boards and discovered that one of the phases was still live with no apparent source...

I've probably mentioned my "classic example" of something similar on here before. In case you haven't heard it; working on a village shop which had two 6/8 way Wylex c/units. One of the circuits (ways) in unit A was fed into one of the circuits (ways) of unit B. My mind still boggles at the dangerous situations that that scenario would create. Switching off unit A would mean unit B would still supply it thro' a fuse-way onto the bus-bar........and vice versa.
Also recently, while upgrading a mains consumer unit (in a builder/DIY's house) I discovered, the hard way, that two of the lighting circuits (fed from two separate ways) had been "turned" into a ring main. Never assume anything or take anything for granted - you're a long time dead!

 

[TPES]

Look what I just found feeding the immersion

 

[Jurassic Sparks]

oops!
looks like they need to get smoke detectors installed??

 

[CHRIS 1973]

lights on all the time, no lights in other 2 rooms

famous quote "he put all the cables back where he had them from"
anotherone "i got worried when there was a bang when was wiring celing rose"

lol

 

[TPES]

Spot the fault if you can on this bathroom vanity mirror light...

A hint is that the customer says the lamp blows instantly when the switch is pressed..."but it has been working fine"

 

[vernam616]

Looks like L-N are connected in the same connector?, picture quality isnt great

 

[telectrix]

from yesterday.3 core/E feeding external class 1 security light. cpc cut off, cable slightly too long. like the FCU held together with tape. the client has young kids. FFS.

 

[TPES]

Spot the fault if you can on this bathroom vanity mirror light...

A hint is that the customer says the lamp blows instantly when the switch is pressed..."but it has been working fine"

The fault is.......
Someone's had the transformer away!! 230v straight into the ELV lamp, as soon as you switch on...POP!! The customer said.. "well it didi work...and no ones touched it"