Nightmare of a day. RCD tripiing under any load

[brizospark]

Have had one of them days. I had a board change to do and a few other bits and bobs so everything was going great until I tried to put power back on.

Basically I have replaced a 3036 board with a split load Wylex board. One half of the board is working fine but the other half's RCD is tripping as soon as anything is plugged into it.

If I remove all plugs from sockets then the RCD holds but as soon as I plug anything in, kettle, sky box, TV, it trips instantly. On this side of the board is the cooker, 1 x lighting circuit and 2 x ring mains, funny enough the RCD isn't tripping when the lighting circuit or cooker is on.

Now I have checked that I have neutrals from correct circuits going to the correct neutral bar, several times and these are OK. I tried replacing the RCD itself with the one that was OK and it still tripped. What else is strange is that the kitchen ring is on the side of the board which is fine but if I plug anything into a kitchen socket the RCD which isnt even protecting this is tripping!! I opened up sockets and everything looked OK but it was getting late on so I replaced the offending RCD with a main switch I had in van just so the couple have power on tonight before I go back again tomorrow. Switched on with RCD removed and everything fine.

Anyone had experience with this problem before? Any advice much appreciated

 

[brizospark]

Nice one solar my thoughts exactly.

 

[brizospark]

Solar is right enough what's the point in having this forum if you can't ask!! What do these guys want to just talk about how great they are and how they know absolutely everything!!

 

[Plonker 3]

No it is for electricians to help each other. Not for people who are lazy to carry out work and expect the interweb to help them when the brown stuff hits the fan.

Just out of curiosity will you carry out a global IR on the next DB change that you have to do?

 

[sima24]

So you guys who don't bother testing are happy to give the customer a surprise when the bill doubles at the end of the job?

Yes. Customer is told before that if any problems / faults found they will be charged at £40 ph. This is verbal when quoting and written on quote in black and white. Im not testing on a quote, as far as im concerned if i pick up my tester then im working, and unless the customer would like to pay for a test before then im not doing it.

 

[sima24]

Each to their own but as long as the customer is made aware before I see nothing wrong with it.

 

[brizospark]

No it is for electricians to help each other. Not for people who are lazy to carry out work and expect the interweb to help them when the brown stuff hits the fan.

Just out of curiosity will you carry out a global IR on the next DB change that you have to do?

So was that not the case with this post you tw@?

 

[Plonker 3]

So you are happy to get a reptation for someone who looks for extra work after the event rather than taking a extra half an hour carrying out a bit of work and pass on your findings to the customer before hand?

You dont have to tell them what you have found, just that there will be remedial work required due to your test results.

 

[Plonker 3]

So was that not the case with this post you tw@?

Swearing makes you look like the kind of person who got the response he deserves on this thread.

 

[sima24]

BRizospark did you get to the bottom of the fault in the end?

 

[Marvo]

Yes. Customer is told before that if any problems / faults found they will be charged at £40 ph. This is verbal when quoting and written on quote in black and white. Im not testing on a quote, as far as im concerned if i pick up my tester then im working, and unless the customer would like to pay for a test before then im not doing it.

So what do you do if the customer is on a budget and doesn't have any extra funds. You install the new CU without testing and there's RCD tripping issues, do you just leave them without power, disconnect the new RCD's or put the old CU back in?

 

[dazza1981]

Is a borrowed neutral generally when its been wired in singles?
Im qualified but mainly done new builds since i qualified so i have never come across it.......yet!!!
Thanks

 

[Guitarist]

So was that not the case with this post you tw@?

No need for name-calling.

 

[sima24]

So you are happy to get a reptation for someone who looks for extra work after the event rather than taking a extra half an hour carrying out a bit of work and pass on your findings to the customer before hand?

You dont have to tell them what you have found, just that there will be remedial work required due to your test results.

Again, customer told before hand. An extra half hour on every cu quote, im running a business. I tell every cu change customer that remedial work might be required as until its tested its not clear. I see no difference with any other trade, mechanic is not going to spend half hour of their time for free diagnosing my van before giving a quote. My dentist wont give me a free half hour checkup before a quote for a filling the list goes on.
No disrespect if you do as i said, each to their own but i dont think im doing anything wrong by not working for free

 

[brizospark]

Yeah fault was damaged cable at JB under floor

 

[wersolaruk]

Did u find it anyhow?