Short circuit after water damage- advice please ?

[Andy Brown]

Hi all.
Advice please. Had a flood 36 ish hours ago where several tens of gallons of water came through kitchen ceiling passing over the kitchen lighting circuit.
The lights (6) are ceiling inset 240 downlights, no transformers. The lights are connected in the circuit with connection blocks and then connection block cases over each connection.

During the flood the rcd tripped out. Now the short is still there. Can’t turn the kitchen light switch on without the rcd tripping out.

Plastered Ceiling is now dry ish.. may be slightly damp still. Anyone any experience of lighting circuits taking a long time to dry out ?

There’s no obvious damp on the connectors I can see. Now I’m wondering if the water has carried debris into the connectors and it’s that which has created the short.

I’m not a sparky. Ideas folks?

Cheers

Andy

 

[Octopus]

Duplicate

 

[Strima]

Get an electrician in to inspect the wiring in the affected area.

 

[telectrix]

what he said. the cost can be passed to your insurers.

 

[Pete999]

what he said. the cost can be passed to your insurers.

What he said^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

[David M]

As Strima said ^^^
Water ingress can take a while to dry out properly, especially if it has crept into enclosures. It has possibly found its way into more than just the light fittings themselves, switches, junction boxes etc...
An electrician can test the circuits to make sure the wiring is still ok, else its likely going to be an accessory still damp or water damaged.

 

[Strima]

Probably a choc block wrapped in tape still has some moisture in it, Megger at 1000v should dry it out...

 

[Lou]

Welcome! Hope you get your kitchen fixed, let us know how you get on!

 

[buzzlightyear]

Probably a choc block wrapped in tape still has some moisture in it, Megger at 1000v should dry it out...

i bet it was like Niagara falls in that kitchen, it will take more then 3to 4 days for that to dry out .
the best get a spark in sort the chock blocks out and unwrap the old tape. and put in some j/boxes.

 

[Pete999]

i bet it was like Niagara falls in that kitchen, it will take more then 3to 4 days for that to dry out .
the best get a spark in sort the chock blocks out and unwrap the old tape. and put in some j/boxes.

Diss the fittings, remake safely the connections, leave it to dry out, get someone competent (an Electrician in to test the wiring, reinstall the fittings if the y are OK if not replace them, retest on completion get the Electrician to give you a MNWC job done, oh and make sure the plumbing doesn't leak again, otherwise your insurance premiums will rise exponentially.

 

[Taylortwocities]

I agree with the above. Water gets everywhere. I remember a similar happening at a house i visited. I looked at a standard light bulb in a pendant light fitting. The bulb itself (inside the bulb envelope) was half full of water. How the water forced its way in there I cannot explain.

Every junction that you have in the ceiling area will have damp or water in it. The RCD will keep tripping until it has properly dried out. As above an electrician should be sorting this for you.

And as a last thing. There should never ever be anything like tape used to insulate anything. So this is a good time for your electrician to put right any cowboy installation work. (on your house insurance?)

 

[Midwest]

Our next door neighbours unvented hot water system sprang a leak, & was doing it all day long until they came home from work. Caused extensive damage, as you can imagine. The insurers eventually decide to take over the whole refurbishment and used some 'international rescue' company, that did everything.

OP are you not insured?

 

[marconi]

You need to allow time for everything to thoroughly dry out before re-energising the wetted circuits. And before energising they need to be thoroughly tested by an electrician. The problem with being hasty is that the electricity can 'track' between the wires which causes arcing and permanent damage to insulation; such damage will then cause problems later on and potentially a fire. For peace of mind you are strongly advised to leave it off, provide some extra warmth in the room to dry out and arrange an electrician with test equipment to visit. All you described happened to my aunt and the insurance company expected such post-flood work to be done and paid up on the basis of the bills and certificates all was now safe Take a note of your gas and electricity meter readings between now and when all is dried out because you can then submit a statement showing how much extra energy you have consumed to dry things out.

 

[Midwest]

You need to allow time for everything to thoroughly dry out before re-energising the wetted circuits. And before energising they need to be thoroughly tested by an electrician. The problem with being hasty is that the electricity can 'track' between the wires which causes arcing and permanent damage to insulation; such damage will then cause problems later on and potentially a fire. For peace of mind you are strongly advised to leave it off, provide some extra warmth in the room to dry out and arrange an electrician with test equipment to visit. All you described happened to my aunt and the insurance company expected such post-flood work to be done and paid up on the basis of the bills and certificates all was now safe Take a note of your gas and electricity meter readings between now and when all is dried out because you can then submit a statement showing how much extra energy you have consumed to dry things out.

My neighbour didn't. Rung me that night, I was on hols. Told him to check into hotel, don't switch anything on till I got back. He did, but was back at home the nest day, energised everything, using the 'bang test', all was okie dokie