Newbie looking for advice

[Lou87]

Good morning everyone,
I'm new to this forum I am not an electrician just a frustrated tenant in a private rented property lol.
I was wondering if anyone could shed some light on my problem, basically for seemingly no reason my electrics trip out at least 3 times a week and anywhere from 1 to 4 times in any given day! The estate agents sent out an electrician who has tested all the electrics including the trip box/switch itself and couldn't find a problem inside the property but did find that my overhead supply cable which leads into my kitchen is not only ridiculously old having a cotton/Hessian cover that is also severely deteriorated. This is being replaced this Friday by UK network power engineers. So my question is would or could this deteriorated overhead supply cable be the reason for the electrics tripping?
Sorry it's a long winded post lol many thanks in advance.

Lou

 

[rolyberkin]

Hi Lou, it is unlikely to be the cause. How old is the property, how many RCD trips do you have, how long have you been there and is this a recent occurrence? Can you post a picture of your consumer unit/fuse board? Has the electrician asked you to turn off and unplug all of your appliances such as kettles, washing machines etc? This type of problem is usually caused by a failing appliance or damage to a cable, have you had any recent work done in the house?

 

[telectrix]

what he says ^^^^^.

 

[Lou87]

Hi roly, firstly thank you so much for replying! The property is around 100years old lol, the RCD unit consists of 7 trip switches. I have lived here for 4 years now and the problems with the electrics began in August last year a couple of weeks after have new smart meters fitted. Yes the electrician had me switch off and unplug everything in the property then when asked I had to plug back in and switch on one by one but nothing was found and it never tripped (sods law being it never tripped whilst electrician was here!) I will try and upload a picture of the fuse board with this post, oh and no I haven't had any recent works done the last was done in April 2016 when I had a completely new bathroom and utility room fitted. Many thanks again

 

[rolyberkin]

How do you heat your water?

 

[telectrix]

could this be another case of smart meter interference with RCD ??????

seee this thread.

Smart Meter Tripping RCD - https://www.electriciansforums.co.uk/threads/smart-meter-tripping-rcd.169346/

 

[snowhead]

could this be another case of smart meter interference with RCD ?

That meter is suspiciously close to to the C.U like the linked thread.

But no it can't be, there's no known national problem (predicted response from the smart meter installers)

To the O.P Can you keep a detailed time log of when it trips, it may be usefull in the future for evidence to the Energy suppliers.

 

[telectrix]

funny how the problem arose just after smart meter was fitted and no faults can be found on the installation. i told you smart meters were the Devil's work.

 

[snowhead]

And it's the identical MEM Consumer Unit as well.
And tennanted as well, not that that's got anything to do with it.

There's been no recent updates on the other thread so we're no wiser.

 

[Rpa07]

I would advise having a tug on the meter tails to see if one is loose but I did that on an EICR recently and the blinking thing come out and was flapping around in the air - didn’t expect that!
OP don’t do that but you could ask the fitters that change the overhead to do so.

 

[Spaniel]

Can't see an rcd in ops pic? They look like mem mcbs....

The mem board in other thread has one twin pole.

I'd be slightly more concerned if mcbs where constantly tripping?!?

 

[Lou87]

So sorry had emergency yesterday! Anyway thank you all for all your replies and to answer roly again my water is heated by my gas boiler, thank you snowhead for your reply I will as of now start keeping a log every time it trips hopefully then I may find something in that! I did have a read of that thread that was put up on here and it is suspiciously alike, well I have UK network power coming out tomorrow morning so I will keep you updated. Thank you all again so much

 

[Lou87]

Well today is the day for the new overhead power cable. Woke up at 3.30 this morning to find electric had tripped again! I was up at 2am and electric was fine then the only thing that is out of the norm is we have thick fog here this morning is that possibly that where the weather is damp could that be getting into the overhead cable? I'll attach a picture of the deteriorated part on my outside wall

 

[Wilko]

Hi Lou - did the Electrician or UKPN leave any paperwork? I have seen where poor earthing from deteriorated earth rods can cause odd tripping, but I can't tell from the pic whether that's at all likely. If you've time a pic of the UKPN fuse area will show us whether that's even possible. But this is something the Electrician would have looked for and fixed if needed.

 

[Lou87]

Hi Wilko, UK network power haven't been out yet to replace the cable they're due between 8.30 and 9 this morning. Sorry for being thick lol but what is the UKPN fuse area? I did attach picture of my fuse box early on in this thread? Thank you for your reply