Discuss New kitchen, live earth fault!! in the UK Electrical Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net

J

Jeff.wd

Hi.. We have just had a new kitchen fitted, a few sockets moved, led lights, new supply for the electric oven and a rcd board fitted.
They told us they had checked the supply before they started and everything was fine, we knew to meet regs the board needed replacing, during installation the kitchen fitter drilled through a cable, getting a large flash but no fuses had blown (still the old board at this point) he told us straightaway and said he would get the electrician to check it, when the electricians returned to finish the kitchen and fit the board they told us the cable was fine and they had crimped it, ( would that mean removing some of the plaster and conduit to access the cable, in order to crimp it.)
The next day when the gas/plumber was fitting the new gas hob, he was getting tingling shocks from the gas pipe, when we plugged the hob into the socket for the ignition, (with the socket switched off), it tripped a rcd on the new board, we spoke to the electrician and he was convinced we had a faulty hob, he told us to try another appliance in that socket, we tried a hairdryer and it worked fine with nothing tripping. We then plugged the hob in and all appeared okay, over the weekend my partner received several shocks from the metal sockets above the worktops, we informed the electrician and he said he would come after the weekend.
On arrival he thought it would be a short visit and easily sorted, after 4 hours of trying to diagnose the fault, we now have been told that there is 80 volts leaking via earth to the bonding, they said the kitchen is testing and okay and the downstairs/kitchen ring is okay through the hallway, once they test in the lounge they pick the fault up there? They left saying they would phone colleagues and technical teams for ideas.
They are coming back next week to try and solve the problem, they said the conclusion is either a pressure fault or possibly a badly wired plug on a appliance?
Now my thoughts, all cables from the main board in the garage run up to the ceiling cavity, I presume the feed and return for the downstairs/kitchen ring, will come down from the ceiling go under the floorboards and return else where, the cable that was drilled through, comes from the ceiling going directly down the wall (no sockets etc) then under the floorboards,I asked them what the cable that was, they said it is not part of the kitchen ring, I can't think that it can be anything else other than part of the downstairs ring? Would drilling into that cable possibly cause a surge, resulting in a fault some where on the downstairs ring?
They want to charge us for diagnosing and repairing,unless it was caused by the work in the kitchen!!
Many thanks for any help/advice or guidance.

Cheers Jeff.
 
Oh Dear,what a headache. Just spent all day on kitchen ring with not too dissimilar problems. It is impossible to speculate on what the cause may be without seeing the layout and so on. However I really dont know about leaving a fault of that magnitude/danger without sorting it out. So where are you now as regards your supply got power everywhere but Kitchen? What circuit is turned off that will tell you what circuit one is talking about. Nightmare!
 
Oh Dear,what a headache. Just spent all day on kitchen ring with not too dissimilar problems. It is impossible to speculate on what the cause may be without seeing the layout and so on. However I really dont know about leaving a fault of that magnitude/danger without sorting it out. So where are you now as regards your supply got power everywhere but Kitchen? What circuit is turned off that will tell you what circuit one is talking about. Nightmare!
Hi thanks for your reply, all circuits have power, the hob is currently still unplugged, I believe they may have temporarily removed the bonding from the gas pipe, because that was drawing the voltage from the earth towards the sockets in the kitchen that were giving shocks. They said it isn't life threatening?
 
Jeff.... do you have the EIC (electrical installation certificate) for the new fuseboard?

I wonder if he has equipotential bonding cables to his water and gas!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hi.. We have just had a new kitchen fitted, a few sockets moved, led lights, new supply for the electric oven and a rcd board fitted.
They told us they had checked the supply before they started and everything was fine, we knew to meet regs the board needed replacing, during installation the kitchen fitter drilled through a cable, getting a large flash but no fuses had blown (still the old board at this point) he told us straightaway and said he would get the electrician to check it, when the electricians returned to finish the kitchen and fit the board they told us the cable was fine and they had crimped it, ( would that mean removing some of the plaster and conduit to access the cable, in order to crimp it.)
The next day when the gas/plumber was fitting the new gas hob, he was getting tingling shocks from the gas pipe, when we plugged the hob into the socket for the ignition, (with the socket switched off), it tripped a rcd on the new board, we spoke to the electrician and he was convinced we had a faulty hob, he told us to try another appliance in that socket, we tried a hairdryer and it worked fine with nothing tripping. We then plugged the hob in and all appeared okay, over the weekend my partner received several shocks from the metal sockets above the worktops, we informed the electrician and he said he would come after the weekend.
On arrival he thought it would be a short visit and easily sorted, after 4 hours of trying to diagnose the fault, we now have been told that there is 80 volts leaking via earth to the bonding, they said the kitchen is testing and okay and the downstairs/kitchen ring is okay through the hallway, once they test in the lounge they pick the fault up there? They left saying they would phone colleagues and technical teams for ideas.
They are coming back next week to try and solve the problem, they said the conclusion is either a pressure fault or possibly a badly wired plug on a appliance?
Now my thoughts, all cables from the main board in the garage run up to the ceiling cavity, I presume the feed and return for the downstairs/kitchen ring, will come down from the ceiling go under the floorboards and return else where, the cable that was drilled through, comes from the ceiling going directly down the wall (no sockets etc) then under the floorboards,I asked them what the cable that was, they said it is not part of the kitchen ring, I can't think that it can be anything else other than part of the downstairs ring? Would drilling into that cable possibly cause a surge, resulting in a fault some where on the downstairs ring?
They want to charge us for diagnosing and repairing,unless it was caused by the work in the kitchen!!
Many thanks for any help/advice or guidance.

Cheers Jeff.
If Kev the Kitchen fitter drilled through a cable, it should be fairly obvious to where he drilled, unless the boil in the bag sparkie ( sorry Kenny couldn't resist) covered it up and tried to hide it, however they screwed up it's down to them to sort it, don't let them bully you into accepting anything less that perfect, the Kitchen company will more than likely be a member of one of the CPScams NICEIC, NAPIT or something like that, if they try to fob you off find out which scam they belong to and get them involved.
 
as last 2 posts. don't be fobbed off. tell them you are going to get an independent electrician out and bill them for it. also as murdoch says, make sure you have an installation certificate.
 
I would be VERY interested to see the schedule of test results... can you post a copy?


Faults like yours don't normally "happen" without something else contributing to the situation....
 
If Kev the Kitchen fitter drilled through a cable, it should be fairly obvious to where he drilled, unless the boil in the bag sparkie ( sorry Kenny couldn't resist) covered it up and tried to hide it, however they screwed up it's down to them to sort it, don't let them bully you into accepting anything less that perfect, the Kitchen company will more than likely be a member of one of the CPScams NICEIC, NAPIT or something like that, if they try to fob you off find out which scam they belong to and get them involved.
It was a fitter that has his own business, he does a lot of work for a large kitchen supplier, we gave him the job independently, cash in hand!!
 
I would be VERY interested to see the schedule of test results... can you post a copy?


Faults like yours don't normally "happen" without something else contributing to the situation....

IMG_0361.JPG
 
I

Well we paid in cash,but we do have the certificate. Why do you ask?

Just wondering if he is going to do the LABC Part P notification?

I think the spark who changed the board and the chap who did the kitchen change have a moral obligation to investigate FOC...
 
So the upstairs sockets aren't protected by a RCD - why not? The installation doesn't comply with the regs....

Can you post a picture of the fuseboard?
 
So the upstairs sockets aren't protected by a RCD - why not? The installation doesn't comply with the regs....

Can you post a picture of the fuseboard?
From rcd readings looks like a high integrity board. Upstairs sockets won't be used out of doors, maybe he is on an old set of Regs:)
 
So the upstairs sockets aren't protected by a RCD - why not? The installation doesn't comply with the regs....

Can you post a picture of the fuseboard?
He was a kitchen fitter, you can't expect it to be right when you employ those cowboys to do electrical work.
 

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