Electrician advice please

[duffy87]

Hi all recently had smart meters fit, after the installation the technician couldn't get the sockets to turn on they just kept tripping. Turns out all the sockets in the house are on one RCD which I believe that's a problem in its self. But after 43 hours of no sockets in the house not working my land lord finally came with an electrician so he says, just found out he fits stair lifts and he admitted he only had his 16th edition. He's changed an RCD and removed wiring for a single plug socket in the dining room which he says was tripping the switch. My questions are should all my sockets in the house run into a single RCD and 2 is some one with a 16th edition even allowed to carry out these works?

Thanks

 

[DPG]

It's not a good idea having all your sockets on one RCD, but then the issue only started when you had the smart meter fitted. There have been a few cases where the RF emissions from the smart meter can cause some RCDs to trip. Is your meter close to your consumer unit?

And it's not a good sign if the electrician who visited has not kept up to date with regs.

I'd be very suspicious of his findings to be honest. Why change an RCD if he found a faulty socket circuit? Did he actually test anything?

 

[UNG]

Hi all recently had smart meters fit, after the installation the technician couldn't get the sockets to turn on they just kept tripping. Turns out all the sockets in the house are on one RCD which I believe that's a problem in its self. But after 43 hours of no sockets in the house not working my land lord finally came with an electrician so he says, just found out he fits stair lifts and he admitted he only had his 16th edition. He's changed an RCD and removed wiring for a single plug socket in the dining room which he says was tripping the switch. My questions are should all my sockets in the house run into a single RCD and 2 is some one with a 16th edition even allowed to carry out these works?

Thanks

I see a few issues here
The first being that the guy fitting the meter could not get the sockets to turn on following the installation of the meter
It is conceivable that the wiring to a socket could cause an RCD to trip but why was this only after a smart meter was fitted
In the past it was normal to wire a number of circuits to a single RCD but not that common now

If the wiring has faults it begs the question has the installation had an EICR done in the last 5 years and if it has who did the EICR on the property

 

[duffy87]

It's not a good idea having all your sockets on one RCD, but then the issue only started when you had the smart meter fitted. There have been a few cases where the RF emissions from the smart meter can cause some RCDs to trip. Is your meter close to your consumer unit?

And it's not a good sign if the electrician who visited has not kept up to date with regs.

I'd be very suspicious of his findings to be honest. Why change an RCD if he found a faulty socket circuit? Did he actually test anything?

He never tested anything, he was surprised when he turned the mains off that the lights went out and he couldn't see lol. Sockets used to trip atleast twice a week before the meter was fitted. Was only after it was installed it gave up all together. He said he changed the RCD because it was proper burned is how he put it. He's removed the wiring from the socket and the sockets have stayed on for the time being.

 

[DPG]

He never tested anything, he was surprised when he turned the mains off that the lights went out and he couldn't see lol. Sockets used to trip atleast twice a week before the meter was fitted. Was only after it was installed it gave up all together. He said he changed the RCD because it was proper burned is how he put it. He's removed the wiring from the socket and the sockets have stayed on for the time being.

Yes, I'd a feeling that no testing was done. Has your landlord had an EICR carried out recently? It's a legal requirement.

 

[duffy87]

I see a few issues here
The first being that the guy fitting the meter could not get the sockets to turn on following the installation of the meter
It is conceivable that the wiring to a socket could cause an RCD to trip but why was this only after a smart meter was fitted
In the past it was normal to wire a number of circuits to a single RCD but not that common now

If the wiring has faults it begs the question has the installation had an EICR done in the last 5 years and if it has who did the EICR on the property

I'll be honest I am a roofer I have no idea what a EICR is, he had some guy come and test the electrics not so long ago, my wife was home and heard him n the landlord talking in the cellar about the mains box, she couldn't hear exactly what was said but she 100% heard the landlord say just pass it and I will get it sorted. Nothing was ever sorted.

 

[duffy87]

Yes, I'd a feeling that no testing was done. Has your landlord had an EICR carried out recently? It's a legal requirement.

Check post above pal. Thank you

 

[DPG]

I'll be honest I am a roofer I have no idea what a EICR is, he had some guy come and test the electrics not so long ago, my wife was home and heard him n the landlord talking in the cellar about the mains box, she couldn't hear exactly what was said but she 100% heard the landlord say just pass it and I will get it sorted. Nothing was ever sorted.

An EICR is a report on the condition of the electrical installation.

I'd ask him for a copy of the EICR. Post it up on here, but with names and addresses redacted

 

[duffy87]

An EICR is a report on the condition of the electrical installation.

I'd ask him for a copy of the EICR. Post it up on here, but with names and addresses redacted

I think we may have a copy I'll check later would u also like a picture of inside the box, seen as tho the smart meter lad decided to take it apart and start messing.

 

[westward10]

Can you show a pic of this replaced rcd.

 

[duffy87]

Can you show a pic of this replaced rcd.

He made sure he took that with him.

 

[littlespark]

If what the LL said in the cellar was true, I think the EICR will be glowing with all the right information….

What we need is the report, AND photographs of the equipment the report talks about…
Ie, the circuit details against the consumer unit.



It could well be that a failing socket has completely given up coincided with the meter being changed…. But for an electrician to diagnose a problem without the proper test equipment doesn’t seem right at all.

 

[duffy87]

If what the LL said in the cellar was true, I think the EICR will be glowing with all the right information….

What we need is the report, AND photographs of the equipment the report talks about…
Ie, the circuit details against the consumer unit.



It could well be that a failing socket has completely given up coincided with the meter being changed…. But for an electrician to diagnose a problem without the proper test equipment doesn’t seem right at all.

I'll try get what I can my LL isn't forthcoming at all with information, my main concern was the RCD because most ppls houses have up stairs and down stairs on different ones and even the kitchen some times, so for everything in ours to be on one RCD is strange especially when we have 2 RCDs that say sockets on them but only 1 is connected.

 

[westward10]

He made sure he took that with him.

What it looks like now with the new one.

 

[brianmoooore]

First thing I'd check is polarity. Has the meter installer reversed the polarity, either making it wrong now or making it right when it was wrong before? This is the only thing I can think of that could conceivably cause immediate RCD tripping after a meter change
Wouldn't cause tripping in itself, of course, but would, if there was a particular common, pre existing, serious fault..