Live radiators fix ?

[Jak1708]

Hi all

Got a customer in a few weeks time who has radiators that are live, isolated it to the downstairs ring, ive had it twice before in the past and just isolated parts of the circuit and then followed the cables until I found corroded cable on a pipe which when replaced fixed it.

As I say this worked fine both times and it's what I'll do this time again but just wondered if anyone else had had this same fault and if you got round it in a different / better way ?

Thanks

J

 

[Jak1708]

Thanks for the advice will look at something in writing !

 

[Guitarist]

What do you mean by corroded cable on the pipe? Do you mean that the earth bonding is corroded and you are sitting with a leaking voltage permanently on the metalwork not being earthed?

 

[MNR]

Found this in what was going to be newly refurbished nursery my uncle who is a plumber got me in to have a look as he kept getting belts. Luckily it happened to him and not one of the children. Another case of builder who can 'do' electrics.

 

[Marvo]

I would be looking for three things immediately;

1 Localise and repair the low insulation fault causing the leakage current.
2 Why is the touch voltage so high? Where's the bonding and why isn't it working?
3 Why isn't the RCD tripping and isolating the supply to the faulty circuit?

 

[Knobhead]

Wonder where the newly installed bit of plastic piping will be found?

 

[Darkwood]

Ive had live rads intermittent on a job, ... now i posted this before but i let you try work this one out.... to note the dno fuse was withdrawn by the clark of electrical works and they still came live roughly dinner times and tea time, i worked it out and was laughed at by clrk of works until he was smuggly proven wrong by me
Just to add it was a tns with corroded armoured which gave bad earth so it was converted to tt with earth rods.

 

[Knobhead]

Have a look at http://www.electriciansforums.net/electrical-forum-general-electrical-forum/21227-tingley-taps.html

 

[Darkwood]

Similar in that it was external as you might have guessed, turned out it was a faulty microwave 2 doors up, and throughout the street the old wooden box buried DNO joints had corroded along with the earthing of the SWA, when i earth rodded the house i was in i effectively gave a better return path to the house up the street than its corroded supply cable acheived. Was a real head scratcher to solve as plumber complained he had shocks but whenever we tested the microwave wasnt on, we withdrew DNO fuse and let the plumber continue and you guessed it ZAPPP!, i suggested to clark of works what it was to which he said he'd been doing his job 35yrs and never heard of anything like that and said i was clutching at straws... i said so just cos you haven't heard of this issue your willing to cast it aside and have a installation with a potentially lethal senerio, i said il contact the DNO then and get them out. They confirmed everything i said although my guess was an electric cooker they confirmed it to be a microwave and id created an alternative earth path.... and like your set-up Tony -- all street powered down, road dug and all houses new supply cable, and me 2 earth rods back that had be billed. Although it didnt make up for the time lost on fault.