Turning consumer unit on after water damage

[ancienthistory]

Hello wise electricians of the world! I am in the UK. Recently we had a water leak which caused some damage in our home, we are currently trying to dry everything out. The water certainly affected at least some electrical circuits (e.g. water was coming through kitchen ceiling spot lights.)

My plan as a homeowner would be, turn off consumer unit, wait until all has dried out, test circuits, turn everything back on. However my contractor is saying according to regs the consumer unit cannot be turned on for 28 days following water damage to the property, indeed he's saying it cannot even be tested. Seems a bit weird to me. Can someone please help me --- under what conditions can we test and reactivate a consumer unit following water damage to the property? To be honest right now I only want to turn on the breaker to the boiler so the CH can go back on.

Thanks in advance

 

[snowhead]

Ask the contractor to provide the reference number of the reg and the name of the book it comes from.
And say what their trade and or speciality is.

Is this contractor anything to do with an insurance company, do they mean rules / guidance and not Electrical or Building regs?

 

[ipf]

28 days is a new one on me.
A good inspection and test would certainly satisfy, IMO.
I'd also be looking at which circuits have been affected.
We can't tell but you've haven't had a 'river flood', by the sound of things. Has the main supply or distribution equipment been affected?

 

[plugsandsparks]

I can see the chicken and egg scenario, you cannot turn on until it is dried out and you cannot dry out using boiler / dehumidifier without power. If it was my house, provided the CU never got wet (if it did, it is scrap) i would disconnect all ccts and wire a temporary cable from the CU to the boiler to get the heating on and perhaps an extension lead from CU for a de-humidifier. Leave it a week or so in this weather and start testing each cct before reconnecting to CU. lighting ccts can be trickier to test as you will need to ensure light switches are in on position and then flip around the 2 way switches to test each leg. Its doable but better to know what you are doing and why.
BTW i did have a similar problem with a leak causing water to come out of a ground floor light switch. After isolating that cct, i stopped the leak but water did continue to appear at the light switch for days after. Eventually i could dry out the backbox and cable and fit a new light switch.
Hope this helps,

Just read above post.. If the incoming supply and meter got wet, i would assume that is/has already been dealt with by energy co.

 

[brianmoooore]

As above. There's certainly no electrical regulation relating to the subject in any way.
Assuming the consumer unit itself has not been affected by water, there's absolutely no reason why any circuit that's away from the affected area and passes an insulation resistance test shouldn't be turned on.
Circuits in the affected area that test OK should be all right to turn on as long as liquid water isn't still dripping, and a bit of common sense is applied.

 

[ancienthistory]

Thanks Snowhead. He is a general building contractor with electricians on staff. He is nothing to do with the insurance company.

Thanks ipf that is helpful, we already got an independent electrician to check insulation resistance is good and that RCDs are working. He reported everything fine so tbh we're not sure what the problem is. But our main contractor is insistent.

Plugsandsparks thanks for your comment. Yes actually we wired in a builders board which we have been using to run dehums/heaters for several days now. So the chicken and egg problem is solved. Now we just want to turn the main circuit board back on.

This advice is really helpful thanks everyone so much. So nobody knows what this 28 day rule could be?

 

[ancienthistory]

Thanks brianmooooore. There is no visible evidence of any water damage to the consumer unit itself.

 

[ancienthistory]

If hypothetically speaking there was water damage to the consumer unit would that change the situation? (Bear in mind the unit is currently visibly completely dry and RCDs/insulation resistance has been tested with no problems.)

 

[SJD]

This advice is really helpful thanks everyone so much. So nobody knows what this 28 day rule could be?

I'd say this 28 day rule is something made up by the contractor to avoid having to do any work before they feel like it!

 

[brianmoooore]

Damp components in the CU would change things completely. A main switch, RCD or MCB that leaks current in the off position would be extremely dangerous to anyone working on the electrics..

 

[ipf]

Just think, how many water leakage problems there are every winter, especially in extreme conditions. If there was a 28 day 'dry out' period, people all over the country would have been freezing to death up until a week ago.

 

[buzzlightyear]

28 days to test it, what is it 28 days old beef. Post here where you live and some one
Might help near your localation.

 

[plugsandsparks]

Possible issue with CU is if water tracking along the cables and then running inside CU. I had a similar issue with a large house with a large DB and a shower leak upstairs caused excessive water to run along the cables, all the way back to the breakers and fill those, eventually ccts started to trip and by the time i arrived, it was a rights old mess, in the end for various reasons, i changed the whole board and breakers.

 

[freddo]

Damp components in the CU would change things completely. A main switch, RCD or MCB that leaks current in the off position would be extremely dangerous to anyone working on the electrics..

Water in the mechanical parts of the MCBS RCDs etc. can also cause corrosion that can cause the mechanisms to seize or the contact parts become high resistance. If water has entered any of the internal parts of the consumer unit they must be replaced.

 

[brianmoooore]

Water in the mechanical parts of the MCBS RCDs etc. can also cause corrosion that can cause the mechanisms to seize or the contact parts become high resistance. If water has entered any of the internal parts of the consumer unit they must be replaced.

Yes, safety critical components, so this is a given.