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Hi, I am a newly qualified electrician and have a quick question. A friend asked me to take a look at a socket that was making an arcing noise after a water spillage so I went round to have a look. I ended up swapping the socket for a new one and this fixed the aching noise however when I checked it with my plug tester it showed a L-N reversed fault. I then checked other kitchen sockets and they also showed the same fault. He said it has been like this for the past 5 years and hasn't been a problem and I didn't have much time so we left it at that but I said I would look into it.

I guess that next step would be to check in the fuse board? First thing that comes to mind is that it could be connected up wrong in the fuse board, but if it is connected up correctly how would I go about finding the fault? It is an old flat with old electrics and there is probably many problems but I doubt my friend will want to spend the money.

Any general advice on what to do would be great. Thanks.

Edit - I was meant to tag this as domestic and not commercial.
 
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Is it cabled in pyro or twin/singles? I have seen it a few times on pyro in flats where cables have been confused by a less than competant person. As for fault finding you may get lucky and find it in the CU but it could be in a JB hidden somewhere, in the back of any socket outlet and be prepared for it to take time to find
 
Check the other sockets in the flat, then check if it's had a meter change and whether it's wrong at the meter.
 
After this LN reverse result with a plug in tester i guess you then used a recognised approved tester to confirm the reading and not rely on a cheap £10 socket tester... if that's the kind you mean?
 
As stated, check polarity at meter first, then go from there.Are all sockets reversed on all other circuits?.
 
what darkwood said .

its your socket tester thats faulty

I didn't say that! - I commented if the socket tester is a cheap £10 plug in tester then he should confirm it with an approved calibrated tester - His socket tester may give false and confusing readings when the circuit may have another issue the tester can't recognise as well as the obvious 'its a faulty tester' scenario.

The OP's post is ambiguous he ay well mean a recognised calibrated tester if not then as a newly qualified sparks should know not to rely on a cheap quick checker... that aside i hope he didn't leave the circuit this way as also he's in a position of responsibility now and reverse polarity can be deadly under fault conditions... whether its his friend or not he shoud have isolated all effected circuits for safety and not re-energised until resolved.

Im given the impression he's not resolved it left it as is, with the intention to return another day - i would recommend he pops over to his mates and tries to sort it now or isolate the effected circuits completely -Physically!
 
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Totally agree with Darkwood.

As above I would check polarity at the meter, the CU incoming tails and the out going mcb. From them results I would check EVERY socket on that circuit, visual may find it, if not bell it out. Find it out and sort it out. Not a hard fault find really.


Edit:- Why as an electrician working a friends house changing a socket and fault finding are you only using a socket and see tester?
 
You cannot and should not leave that circuit operational without at least confirming your findings with a better piece of kit.Think of how anything plugged in to that circuit behaves if a plug top fuse blows...you can get a crackin AVT for 40~60 squid...
 
Hi, I am a newly qualified electrician and have a quick question. A friend asked me to take a look at a socket that was making an arcing noise after a water spillage so I went round to have a look. I ended up swapping the socket for a new one and this fixed the aching noise however when I checked it with my plug tester it showed a L-N reversed fault. I then checked other kitchen sockets and they also showed the same fault. He said it has been like this for the past 5 years and hasn't been a problem and I didn't have much time so we left it at that but I said I would look into it.

I guess that next step would be to check in the fuse board? First thing that comes to mind is that it could be connected up wrong in the fuse board, but if it is connected up correctly how would I go about finding the fault? It is an old flat with old electrics and there is probably many problems but I doubt my friend will want to spend the money.

Any general advice on what to do would be great. Thanks.

Edit - I was meant to tag this as domestic and not commercial.
phase neutral reversal top end.....

get a Ze then check all other finals are reversed...or not....

this will indicate if polarity is correct at incomer (polarity live)...and if so how many finals have been affected....

there may be an odd aroma whilst carrying out tests so make sure you dont linger....
 
Put the washer on and see if it goes backward.

large appliances are not worried about reversed polarity because on the continent Shuko sockets do not have a polarity reference. The machine senses direction current flow and makes sure everything is happy. Perhaps we should adopt a few continental practices, including siestas (2 hour lunch breaks have got to be beneficial for the health).
 
large appliances are not worried about reversed polarity because on the continent Shuko sockets do not have a polarity reference. The machine senses direction current flow and makes sure everything is happy. Perhaps we should adopt a few continental practices, including siestas (2 hour lunch breaks have got to be beneficial for the health).
2?? try4 or 5 hours.....then again explains their massive unemployment rate (its been high in some areas since 2002)
 
My money's on reverse polarity at the consumer unit or meter. Seen it several times in this area. A few years ago a contractor was replacing meters for Hydro Electric & terminating them red, black, red, black instead of red, black, black, red. Since then a polarity check on at least 1 socket is carried out after a meter change.
 

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