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Found out why the electric went down in the kitchen

Thought it was the CB fitted in the consumer box flicked it on and off a few times then held it on it all worked last night Ann put on the dishwasher turned on the oven and it went off again, i went to do the trick with the CB again no joy so i was going to call out an electrician, but me being me decided to have a look at the CB i soon realised that putting slight pressure on the bottom the power returned let go the power went off,
So off came the cover i found about half a dozen screws lose on the CB's then noticed the bus bar from the main switch to the smoke alarms and kitchen sockets didn't look right closer inspection showed the bus bar had been put behind the clamp not into it on the kitchen sockets CB!!!!!!!!

Wipped the bus bar out cleaned it up [it was badly spark erroded] with Ann's nail file refitted it held breath turned it on it all worked

Ann rushed out put on the tumble dryer, washing machine, oven, and kettle i nearly had a heart attack at the thought of the bill i will have coming for all the electric that was being used

Then realised that i had probably saved my self a few hundred quid so rushed out and turned the kettle on again

As i said in the heading don't try this at home unless you feel confident working with electricity if you do and you have unexplaned power outages that don't trip the breakers this may be your problem too!!!

Hope this helps someone Dai

I Have a very easy theory to this, red to red black to black blew to bits.

Pete

Hi Pete
The thing is an electrician working on consumer units etc every day can get complacent and not check everything fully, the kitchen electrics have worked fine since the consumer unit was fitted [three years] but in all honesty it was a fire waiting to happen.
The clamp was stuck when i undid the clamp screw the clamp didn't open i gave it a little bump it opened, the electricion probably never even thought of checking if the clamp was open or not pushed in the bus bar then tightened up the screws not noticing the bus bar was behind the clamp.

Strange i never noticed a horse tethered outside when the work was done

All sorted and even better safe now Dai

pbikerharry wrote:I Have a very easy theory to this, red to red black to black blew to bits.

Pete

Well done Dai, that saved you a very unpleasant wake up call

DEFINITLEY agree with the don't touch if you're not confident comment, I once lived in a house that had no earth or RCD on the shower, and only discovered it when I put in a new unit, About 3 years of showering with the constant threat of electrocution
Last owner obviously thought he knew what he was doing but only endangered himself and anyone else who came after, He also wired the entire extension electrics (sockets, lights, heating) into the same ring I wondered why I kept tripping the circuit when I used a drill

Over the years i have seen so many c0ck ups made by people that should know better not just houses but bikes & cars as well

Some people should not be allowed tools but unfortunatly there is no test when you buy them

Some tools should not be sold to the general public take the small inverter welder i recently bought it is so easy to do what looks like a good weld but with no penetration it is as weak as chewing gum, anyone can go out buy one and make a trailer then tow it up the motorway it makes me shudder to think about it.

I realise not everyone is as handy as me when i was ment to be in school i used to spend time in the local bike shop doing the odd oil change etc, and have kept involved over the years working on my own and other peoples bikes and cars even helping out in my local bike shop on my days off and even now i am retired i still do the odd day in my mates garage

As i said earlier some people should have their tools taken away i could tell you many stories but one of my favourite's was the fella that came into the bike shop when i was behind the counter pulled out a set of points put them on the counter and said "i bought these earlier can you set the gap for me"
Another of my favourites was the phone call to my mates garage a voice on the other end said i topped up the water now my car wont start can you come out to look at it, you guessed it she had filled the motor to the top with water
Or the one that put washing up liquid in the header tank and not the screenwash bottle

Remembering those few has put a smile on my face i'm off down the pub Dai

I lived in an accommodation module in Yemen that had the main earth wire attached to a wood panel - apparently that is wrong....

I don't understand electricity.

If you can't see it and can't kick it, it ain't real.

But the electricians I knew at university integrated functions in the imaginary plane .... wtf

if it ain't real don't integrate it, it can only get worse.

Dai wiskers wrote:Some people should not be allowed tools but unfortunatly there is no test

I realise not everyone is as handy as me....
Dai

Agreed, mostly However, a few folk need to try things themselves for various reasons, like me, For example I just fitted a new exhaust, bottom ball joints and brake compensator on our old Micra for its MOT, Cost me £35 for parts, but would have cost £220 with garage labour costs.
We've all got to learn somewhere, but I agree a shitty job can put folk at risk (car, bike or at home), It's a difficult one I think, For example if you don't get an certified electrician to fit a new hob these days, any problems could invalidate your house insurance, stoopid I know, it's not any harder than wiring a plug really, but enough people must have got it wrong

Health & Safety anyone...............

GRAgusta wrote:I lived in an accommodation module in Yemen that had the main earth wire attached to a wood panel - apparently that is wrong....

I don't understand electricity.

If you can't see it and can't kick it, it ain't real.

But the electricians I knew at university integrated functions in the imaginary plane .... wtf

if it ain't real don't integrate it, it can only get worse.

I'm with you on that one Gawaine. At least when it's wet and sticky you can see where it's leaking from.

Daveg2812 wrote:

GRAgusta wrote:I lived in an accommodation module in Yemen that had the main earth wire attached to a wood panel - apparently that is wrong....

I don't understand electricity.

If you can't see it and can't kick it, it ain't real.

But the electricians I knew at university integrated functions in the imaginary plane .... wtf

if it ain't real don't integrate it, it can only get worse.

I'm with you on that one Gawaine. At least when it's wet and sticky you can see where it's leaking from.

Ha I remember doing all those calcs, imaginary numbers, j operator, funny I have not had to use them in the workplace.

Bit of tale this but stick with it.

A few years ago we had an extension built which included the fitting of a new consumer unit with an RCD (residual current detector). The work was carried out a 'qualified' sub-contractor 'spark' appointed for the builder.

After fitting the new CU we kept having problems with the RCD tripping all for no apparent reason (did not rip when something was being turned on or off).

Then one night I was sitting on the lounge floor while watching TV and the power went off at exactly the same time as the street light outside our house came on (which I could see because I was sitting on the floor). Next evening exactly the same thing happened. Spoke to the spark and he dismissed this as pure coincidence. W*nker.

Called out the MEB (who whoever they were then) to check the power into the house and the guy just happened to turn up five minutes before the street light was due to come on and low and behold it did exactly the same thing again. So he taook the cover off the steet lamp. Killed the power, reset the RCD and then connected the power back to the Street lamp. Pop went the RCD?

"well I've never seen that before' says the MEB spark.

Then called out the local authority street lamp company (the problem took some explaining I can tell you, met with the usual "never heard of that before but we'll check it"

Engineer turns up and it turns out the ballast in the SL was faulty and was sending a big surge back to the mains. The proximity of my house meant the RCD would trip because of the surge!

Ballast replaced and never had a problem to this day.

This did not affact anyone else in the street even though some of their houses were nearer to the lamp post which higlighted the RCD in my unit was over sensitive.

The original spark still refutted that it was in any way down to the budget CU he had installed (which was shit in every way). So I got a spark mate of mine to replace it with a good quality unit. His comments on the original CU and the quality of the work are not repeatable here. The builder was apologetic for the knob he had appointed and knock a couple of hundred quid of the bill for the inconvenience and the cost of the new CU.

Sorry for the long tale but just goes to show that electrickery is a black art.

DT

When we moved into our brand new house 5 years ago there were loads of problems.

The taps in the bathroom had been connected the wrong way round, hot for cold, cold for hot etc. (could have been very dangerous for a child)

The fuse box (ok, i'm old lol) had little stickers showing which rcb was for different things. NON were actually correct. The central heating boiler had a problem for a few days, so we tried to use the emersion heator for hot water, nope! everytime we switched it on it flicked the rcb. Why? because they had fitted the wrong amp rcb.

Back to the cental heating boiler, we had tons of problems with it in the first couple of years. It would set off on it's own, and we had no control over it. The only way to stop it was to cut the power altogether.

This actually reminds me of a friend of mine years ago. I myself fitted one of those "living flame" gas fires in my house. My friend asked me who fitted it for me, I told him I had. He too was wanting one but told me I should have had the gas board to do it as it was dangerous to do it myself. He gave me questions of "how do you know the flue is working properly etc etc. I told him I had done a smoke test after fitting.

Anyway, he got the gas board in to fit his. You guessed, they fitted it wrong, and nearly killed them with carbon monoxide poisioning.

Which brings me to another incident, where a young single lady who lived next door to my in-laws was actually found dead in bed by my farther-in-law. An incorrectly fitted central heating boiler in her bedroom actually killed her.

Mike the frightening thing there is if the Rcd was the wrong rating, was the wire the wrong rating? That is the cause of house fires and the problem is it takes some time for it to happen. I know enough about house wiring to know that if I don't understand it, leave well alone

I got an electrician in to find out why it constantly flicked the rcb, well one rcb. This was when I found out all the little stickers were in the wrong place. The one that it constantly flicked showed that it was for the upstairs lighting circuit, Jeez!

Correct one fitted, and all was well. The electrian did a check on the wiring because he thought the same as you. fortunately it was wired with the correct wiring.