I am having problems with the electrics in my House what could the problem be?

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lucycecca

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I rent a house and have lived there for 4 years. Recently the the switch on the fuse board for the electric sockets keeps fliping. We don't have excesieve amount of electrical products plugged in. What is happening is that I cant plug in and switch many thing on at once as the switch flips turning all electricity to sockets off. For example.. I can't watch tv & put dishwasher on at same time. I can't put computer and tv on at the same time, I have a fish bubble lamp and a net light in my autiistic sons room in his sensory corner and I can't put them on if I have the tv or dishwasher on. Even putting dishwasher and washing machine on at same time flips switch some times. The only things we have switched on all the time are the fridge & freezer every thing else we switch on when we need it and switch off when not using. What could be causeing this problem. Alot of the time the problem does acure when the tv is switch on and you switch some thing else on. I did think about perhaps a fault with tv. The tv is almost new though, its a Philips hd ready lcd tv. Surely if there was a fault with tv then the electrics would blow each time tv is switched on. The only other thing I can think of is the previous tenants did drill in to a electircal cable by mistake but they said they had it fixed. If this hasn't been fixed properly then could this be causing problem. This was over 4 years ago and electrics have been working fine until a few weeks ago. I want to contact the agency I rent from to get then to send out a electrician to have a look. But want to get some advice first. As If I get them to send a electrician to have a look if it is found to be a fault of my part or with a appliance in my house I will be made to pay call out and repair charges if needed. I don't really want to have to pay out unless I have too so wanted to get some advice first.

If you need any more information to be able to help or if you want me to take a pictur of fuse box and post them Let me know.

Any advice you can give I would be very greatfull

thanks in advanced

 
Good Evening and Welcome to the forum, Lucy.

Someone will be along soon to answer you as "best as they can". They will need more info and better still - be there in person to diagnose.

"if you want me to take a pictur of fuse box and post them Let me know."

That would help to a certain extent. It would also help if you take a picture of your suppliers' fuse. The items that are near the Consumer unit. (they can tell what type of supply you have).

Regards

Welshy.

 
Need to know..

Is it an RCD or MCB thats tripping?

is it a switch that occupies two slots in the fuse board with a test button?

If 'yes' then its an RCD...

Picture would be a great help..? :)

oh by the way...

Welcome:DB)

 
. I want to contact the agency I rent from to get then to send out a electrician to have a look. But want to get some advice first. As If I get them to send a electrician to have a look if it is found to be a fault of my part or with a appliance in my house I will be made to pay call out and repair charges if needed. I don't really want to have to pay out unless I have too so wanted to get some advice first.

Hi Lucy

Welcome to the party

Contact your agency straight away,,get the sparky out

I do alot of maintenance for these agencies.

Have you had anybody from the agency come to do safety checks ie gas/electric ??????

would be interested to know

 
You could ask to see a copy of the last electrical inspection..

that would have a date letting you know when it was last checked??

Or is there a copy stuffed by the fuse box?

A4 sheets...

either one page or three dependant upon type of certificate?

The Landlord has a responsibility to have the electrics checked on a regular basis...

(its a bit like an MOT for a car.)

:)

 
You could ask to see a copy of the last electrical inspection..that would have a date letting you know when it was last checked??

Or is there a copy stuffed by the fuse box?

A4 sheets...

either one page or three dependant upon type of certificate?

The Landlord has a responsibility to have the electrics checked on a regular basis...

(its a bit like an MOT for a car.)

:)
But they dont

PAT their appliances thats all they are interested in

 
Here are some picture I hope they helped. The first 2 I took when it triped again just now and the second 2 photos I took after I had managed to get it up again.

One other thing I maid a mistake earlier it isnt the socket switch that keeps tripping (fliping) its the residential current device switch and when it trips it knock out electricity to all socket in the house. Hope this helps.

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That wasn't help full. Turn off all the switches to the left of the rcd. Then turn the rcd on, and slowly each separate switch to the left. The circuit that has the fault 'should' trip the rcd. Once this has been found, unplug and turn off everything you can think off and try again

 
Here are some picture I hope they helped. The first 2 I took when it triped again just now and the second 2 photos I took after I had managed to get it up again.One other thing I maid a mistake earlier it isnt the socket switch that keeps tripping (fliping) its the residential current device switch and when it trips it knock out electricity to all socket in the house. Hope this helps.

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Point 1.

There appear to be two holes in the front of the fuse box?

that is a not a good sign at all.. they do need to be covered up with blanking plates....

Thats your landlords responsibilty...

fortunate thing is the fuse box appears high up the wall so person unlikely to stick their fingers in...

But gap should not be there!

Point 2.. RCD.

The big switch that trips is an RCD (the 'R' bit is residual not residential, but that an aside.. easy mistake!)

Cuz it is the RCD it is less likely to do with the quantity of appliances switched on..

The RCD measures electricity escaping to earth..

instead of going back down the neutral wire. (leakage!)

most common causes are faulty appliance that uses some form of water dripping a bit of damp across a terminal somewhere..

e.g. kettle... especially cordless with damp in the base bit.

Steam iron.. cracked case.

Washing machine / Dishwasher... internal leak

Fridge / Freezer faulty pump motor

Or a flex pulled loose partially out of a plug top

I guess its more likely to be appliance than the wiring.

However if you have had an appliance with a small amount of leakage..

It is possible that your new TV has another small amount of earth leakage

possible with LCD?

then the two combined exceed the 30ma leakage to trip the RCD....

Check the basic appliances first.

 
I hope you don't mind Lucy. I have enlarged and adjusted the colours etc, in your pics.

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Regards,

Welshy.

 
thanks for your help I will do as you say and will try and see if any of my appliances is faulty.

In response to anoth question you ask. Since we have lived at this house the landlord has only had gas safety checks done. They have never done any safety checks to do with the electric. Should they have done.

thanks again

 
Hello Lucy

Just a thought, Is your cooker on the RCD side. I have been called out to a few times to split load boards where cookers have been put through RCD side and have found they can cause nuisance tripping even when not faulty.

Batty

 
thanks for your help I will do as you say and will try and see if any of my appliances is faulty.In response to anoth question you ask. Since we have lived at this house the landlord has only had gas safety checks done. They have never done any safety checks to do with the electric. Should they have done.

thanks again
The wiring regulations are 'Guidance for good practice for electrical work'. But they are NON statutory.. it is only where other legal obligations require electrical certificates that it can be enforced.. (e.g. licencing requirements for pubs etc..)

There are a set of procedures and guidelines for testing & inspecting electrical installation work to verify the safety of the installation and identify any areas of deterioration which present any hazard or danger to people, property or livestock.

It is recommended a domestic property is inspected every 10 years or change of occupancy.. and a sticker indicating when the next inspection is due should be stuck near the fuse box, with wording like this.

Any good landlord would ensure all reasonable safety checks are carried out on the electrical installtion...

But I'm not sure if there is actually a legal obligation to have inspection carried out on rented property..

It may be a condition of an insurance policy?

The certificate you would be looking for is a

"Periodic Inspection Report".

going back to your fault....

You could have a scenario where a faulty washing machine only produces the fault conditions during certain parts of the wash cycle..

e.g. rinse or drain when water is pumped out of the waste hose...

forcing a leak though a damaged hose, over an internal electrical component??

 
The wiring regulations are 'Guidance for good practice for electrical work'. But they are NON statutory.. it is only where other legal obligations require electrical certificates that it can be enforced.. (e.g. licencing requirements for pubs etc..)There are a set of procedures and guidelines for testing & inspecting electrical installation work to verify the safety of the installation and identify any areas of deterioration which present any hazard or danger to people, property or livestock.

It is recommended a domestic property is inspected every 10 years or change of occupancy.. and a sticker indicating when the next inspection is due should be stuck near the fuse box, with wording like this.

Any good landlord would ensure all reasonable safety checks are carried out on the electrical installtion...

But I'm not sure if there is actually a legal obligation to have inspection carried out on rented property..

It may be a condition of an insurance policy?

The certificate you would be looking for is a

"Periodic Inspection Report".
have a look at this link

http://england.shelter.org.uk/advice/advice-3181.cfm

all electrical appliances provided by the landlord need to be checked on a regular basis ie PAT testing every 12 months

something to bring up with your agency Lucy

 
Hi Lucy, have you been putting any pictures up lately by banging a nail in the wall, cos you might have gone through a cable in the plaster. It can still take a while to trip if the contact in the cable still has a relatively high resistance.

 
But they dont PAT their appliances thats all they are interested in
Yeah this is what I thought, the only time the electrics get checked is if there is a new tennant, surely?

 
thanks for your help I will do as you say and will try and see if any of my appliances is faulty.In response to anoth question you ask. Since we have lived at this house the landlord has only had gas safety checks done. They have never done any safety checks to do with the electric. Should they have done.

thanks again
Most definetly.

 
Yeah this is what I thought, the only time the electrics get checked is if there is a new tennant, surely?
Nope not even then

every 12 months i go do the Pat tests check that everything works,,no broken fitting/accesories,,,,test the rcd with my meter, check there is bonding and most importantly......

Fit smoke alarms !!!!!!!!

only get asked to do full test and inspect when the trenant has done a runner and vandalised the property

my plumber mate does the gas checks and we go together i have lost count of the number of fires,boilers and hobs that he has condemned

they are all in for the quick buck

 
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