J
JohnDonut
Hi Everyone.
A quick question. I am currently selling my house and I am just waiting on exchanging with a potential buyer who had all the surveys done etc. Right before we were going to exchange they decided they wanted the electrics tested which we agreed to at their expense.
An electrician came in and spent the day testing all the electrics and fuse box/circuit board etc and rated them fair and satisfactory in the report. We have lived in the house for almost three years and have never had so much as a power cut or a tripped circuit or anything while here. A week after the electrician came all the power went to the plugs intermittently but not the lights at first. I went to the circuit board and could see nothing had tripped and it looked fine, what I could hear though coming from the RCD unit was an arcing / sparking noise and the smell of burning which gradually got worse. Fearing an electrical fire would start I switched off the main power switch and was left without heating and lights. Fortunately, after a Facebook plea, a nice man who worked as an electrician for a building company came round and made it safe, however, could not get a new RCD due to the time of night and would have to return the next day to restore the power which he did. He showed me the RCD unit which has been re-wired incorrectly and had melted one of the connections and left scorch marks. He said that a loose connection was found between buzz bar and RCD causing extensive heat damage to the breaker and that there was a good chance of an electrical fire had I not have shut off the electrics when I had.
Obviously, no one has messed with the RCD since the electrician tested the unit, so it must have come from him, and even if he didn't cause it, he certainly didn't notice it during the safety tests.... he also broke one the light switches.
Now this electrician has a pretty good score on check-a-trade and was genuinely a nice guy, but what do I do now? Contact him and tell him about it with a view to getting back my costs to fix it. Or just ignore it? Should I get a full electrical safety test done again? I really don't want the same guy coming round and have a quote for ÂŁ110 for another check.
Advice please
Many thanks
A quick question. I am currently selling my house and I am just waiting on exchanging with a potential buyer who had all the surveys done etc. Right before we were going to exchange they decided they wanted the electrics tested which we agreed to at their expense.
An electrician came in and spent the day testing all the electrics and fuse box/circuit board etc and rated them fair and satisfactory in the report. We have lived in the house for almost three years and have never had so much as a power cut or a tripped circuit or anything while here. A week after the electrician came all the power went to the plugs intermittently but not the lights at first. I went to the circuit board and could see nothing had tripped and it looked fine, what I could hear though coming from the RCD unit was an arcing / sparking noise and the smell of burning which gradually got worse. Fearing an electrical fire would start I switched off the main power switch and was left without heating and lights. Fortunately, after a Facebook plea, a nice man who worked as an electrician for a building company came round and made it safe, however, could not get a new RCD due to the time of night and would have to return the next day to restore the power which he did. He showed me the RCD unit which has been re-wired incorrectly and had melted one of the connections and left scorch marks. He said that a loose connection was found between buzz bar and RCD causing extensive heat damage to the breaker and that there was a good chance of an electrical fire had I not have shut off the electrics when I had.
Obviously, no one has messed with the RCD since the electrician tested the unit, so it must have come from him, and even if he didn't cause it, he certainly didn't notice it during the safety tests.... he also broke one the light switches.
Now this electrician has a pretty good score on check-a-trade and was genuinely a nice guy, but what do I do now? Contact him and tell him about it with a view to getting back my costs to fix it. Or just ignore it? Should I get a full electrical safety test done again? I really don't want the same guy coming round and have a quote for ÂŁ110 for another check.
Advice please
Many thanks
