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We've woken this morning to half the house not working. On checking the distribution unit the rcd had tripped.
Tripped so half the circuits in the house were off. Reset the rcd and it trips instantly.
Switch off each individual circuit under that rcd, Reset the rcd, switch circuits back on one at a time and I find the faulty circuit is the garage.
Garage has its own distribution unit supplying 4 circuits so switch each of those off at the garage unit, Reset the circuit in the house, switch the individual circuits back on in the garage until the rcd trips again and I seem to have narrowed it down to one ring main supplying some of the power sockets in the conservatory and in the garage.
Unplug every device (freezer, tumble drier in conservatory, bench grinder in garage) Reset and still trips.
Unless I've missed something I'm now looking at a fault in the wiring on that circuit. Just having a think..... next step will be to take each socket front off in turn and check for faults I think..... hoping I find something obvious. If its not that then what else? What else do check before I start trying to fault find on the ring main wiring itself?
Oooo! I guess it could possibly be a faulty circuit breaker? The one for the faulty ring main... I'll go and swap it around.... then I'll be at the sockets I fear.
Open to suggestions at this point!
Any underfloor heating in conservatory? Is that on a spur off that ring? You’re on the right track IMO, case of tracking down the culprit. Got any water ingress anywhere? We had an airb&b once where electric tripped as an ants nest was filling the socket back box…
Just a process of elimination really, as you are doing..; if that ring is tripping with nothing plugged it then it must be sockets or the wiring itself, or a faulty breaker.
Edit, yes could be a bit of damp somewhere as its been very wet recently, it doesnt take much to trip the breaker.
Doesn't seem to be the breaker. Let's hope I find the culprit pulling sockets off then.
Not hung any new Christmas present wall art recently?.......
With my mind jumping to the worst, rhe furry friend is what I'd first thought. Each time I rule out an easy fix it gets more concerning!
Nothing obviously wrong behind the first socket. Conservatory has become a junk store so my wife is currently rearranging boxes to access the next socket while I make a brew. Grr.
Does it feed an outdoor light or socket?
Ahhh, good thought onza. In my isolation I discovered the outside light wasn't working but after changing the bulb I confirmed that is on a different circuit and is fine however..... you have just reminded me there is an outside socket. Presumably for a mower but since I have a petrol mower I never use it and had forgotten it. OK will try that next if the last socket in the conservatory is OK.
Nope. Outside socket is on a different circuit, still live and fine.
Visually the sockets in the conservatory seem fine but I have not yet actually unwired any, just pulled forward and inspected. Time to unwire one at a time. One is in an external wall of the conservatory, which due to some subsidence is badly cracked and very damp so although the socket looks OK I'll try unwiring it, tape the ends and try resetting the breaker.
external wall of the conservatory, which due to some subsidence is badly cracked and very damp so although
I guess that's the most likely suspect so far.
If you can live without that circuit and when the weather dries up a bit it starts working again that's another way of testing it.
A ha! Yes it seems to be the socket in the damp conservatory wall. With the socket off and wires just taped for the moment, the circuit reset and rcd isn't tripping. Socket isn't scorched or anything but the copper contacts are verdi gri a little so it's damp. I guess damp enough to be causing the problem.
Oh and that socket seems to be a spur not a ring main, so I'm OK with the circuit on and the freezer plugged in again on the other socket.
After a turkey sandwich I'll see if I've a spare (dry) socket front to put on.
Plastic or metal knock out box? Or surface mount? We've got a damp wall and had the same problem, had to change the box as well as the faceplate as it was earthing back to the metal box.
Metal box sunk in the wall. I was surprised, the box isn't rusty (yet).
The neighbour's oak tree has been removed (took legal action from me, insurance were f'ing useless for a decade) so cause of subsidence is gone now at least. Wall seems stable.... as stable as any wall in south London. The proper fix is likely remove the cracked external render, attach expanded metal mesh, re render. Although the wall is so damaged I worry it needs rebuilding. However we don't use the problem socket currently so a junction block to keep things safe for the time being is fine... and a surface mount plastic box might be the longer term cheap solution.... we need to move anyway as family has outgrown this house and now the subsidence is solved moving is possible at last.
I recently had an issue with vegetation from next door undermining a garden wall...
Not to the point it caused a problem but it would have done eventually if left unchecked.
Next door is managed housing /granny flats so trying to get the HOA to do anything about it was proving difficult...
... Until I pointed out the cost of rebuilding the wall, and if it came to it, I'd sue them for the full amount if I had to rebuild it after warning them about it.
It got sorted pretty quickly after that!
Water in outside light was what did mine.
I’ll claim the win then with the water ingress shout. We had a (very) damp external wall at an old house and the RCD tripped one day and was the same as you report, pissed wet through back box which had corroded the wires through on socket.