Working in your own gaff when things don’t go to plan

[littlespark]

Spent yesterday morning running a spur in my kitchen from one double socket on the rfc to a new one along the same wall.

Original socket is just beside the multi gang grid switch for appliances. More on that later.

Wife came home from shopping with the birthday girl, ranted at me for not doing any dishes, as is typical, and proceeded to fill the dishwasher…. Which didn’t work.

Got the tools out again and started looking.

The original socket and spur both tested fine with 2 prong voltage detector first, then with ELI tester. 244v, but the socket for the dishwasher although also read 244, it wasn’t lighting up the 240 light on the 2 prong.
Was also giving a warning light on the ELI as power between N and PE.

Healthy would be
L to N yes
L to PE yes
N to E no

This surprised me as every other point on the same circuit was ok.

So although I hadn’t worked on it, I deduced the only solution was to look in the grid switch plate.
Lo and behold, pulled the grid forward and not one, but two neutrals popped out… the two legs from the ring on each end.

So, dishes done, and I’m back in the good books.



Although.

They went all the way to the Metrocentre and didn’t buy me anything!

 

[pirate]

Doing stuff at home is always fraught with unexpected difficulties...
My washing machine, 2 years old, stopped working last week. It was fine in the morning, but when I put another load in that afternoon, nothing...pressed the switch and absolutely nothing at all. The Panel remained blank. I checked all the usual stuff, the fuse, the socket etc, had to drag it out of position...and it's still sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor awaiting a visit from the "engineer" on Wednesday. I did wonder if there's maybe a fuse fitted internally, but frankly can't be bothered taking out the numerous screws to remove the cover.

 

[littlespark]

Well, that’s what I thought at first. Fuse in plug, or dishwasher fault… it’s got a really soft button as the on/off and I can see that failing eventually.

I’ve seen those grid switches fail in the past as well, and you end up needing to replace all of them and they’re not easy to work on with you head banging off a wall unit.

I hate it when a one hour job turns into an evening of fault finding.

 

[baldelectrician]

I stopped using grid switches a long time ago, ended up using 20A DP switches in a cupboard or in the meter cupboard next to the meter.

 

[buzzlightyear]

I hate it when a one hour job turns into another cleaning the floor.

Ho cindrea have you not done the dishes yet
And get my tea ready, I'm going to the ball.