HELP!! Downstairs ring circuit MCB stays tripped

Looe21 · Aug 5, 2013

Completely electrically illiterate :gorgeous:: all power was switched off apart from the fridge/freezer and wine cooler when we went on holiday for a week came back Saturday turned on the power all went on except the 1 x MCB for the downstairs ring, which runs the front room and dining room sockets the boiler(with separate fuse) outside light and socket.(And will still not go on, after all we have tired, which will be explained below)

Firstly a bit of back ground information: The week before we went on holiday we had a new boiler installed, (Biasi boiler changed over to a Worcester i28, same electrical connection points were used(fused separately)all was working well.
Prior to leaving to go on holiday we switch off all the Consumer board switches (plugs removed) apart from the kitchen (fridge/freezer, and wine cooler)which runs off a different MCB. Coming back on Saturday, the switches were turned on, but unbeknown to us, one of the kids who didn’t realise that the power was off on the downstairs socket, plugged in the phone charger whilst the power was been switched on, all the other power went on apart from 1 x MCB (downstairs ring circuit)would not switch on and stayed tripped)

What we have done so far:

removed the outside light and socket from circuit (thinking due to the rain the socket might have got damp) isolated the boiler, still tripping
removed the boiler as well from the circuit still tripping
gone through all sockets removed plates and check wiring and tested current through them, isolated sockets at certain points, still tripping

So not sure what the problem could be dogey MCB or a short circuit somewhere?

Jay Sparks · Aug 12, 2013

I had a simular fault a few weeks ago in a rented house. There was a leg between two sockets that had a fault. The leg in question runs under a concrete floor, so no way of getting to it without smashing the floor. I would of just replaced the leg but I found that one of the legs, from cu was in 1.5mm. Luckily, this went to one of the sockets that the dodgy leg was on, so I just didnt connect that leg back up. Tenant was happy because he never used that socket anyway. So he ended up a radial and one less socket. I told the landlord that I needed to add a new leg from cu to first socket (to replace the 1.5mm), then a new leg from there, to the next socket (to replace faulty leg), this would give him his ring back...but he didnt want the expense, or the mess!! Cheap skate!!

Bet I get called back to do it over winter though..lol