uksparks
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- Reaction score
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Hi,
Got called to a customer today, background is he has been doing some DIY... he had replaced a load of light fittings and plug sockets, he said we extended this one here and burried it in the wall etc... found one twisted together with tape, no connectors etc... anyway..
The problem is, since yesterday, he said the plugs downstairs don't work... hmmm
I plugged the socket tested in, beep beep beep beep beep, Earth and Live Reverse.... so i go to another, and get the same, then go to another, and its already beeping at me without switching the switch on, its a Fluke socket tester, first two are lit up, then switch it on then its just the first one so suggest Live earth reverse.
I then get the MFT out, plug it in at a socket,
Line to Neutral = 5.5v
Line to Earth = 230v
Neutral to Earth = 230v
Hmm, that's not right...
I pulled off all the face plates down stairs that I could that appears to be on that circuit one at a time thinking ill find the problem, but nope, nothing, all seemed in order (a mess but in the right holes). They said they did not extend or chop any circuits on the plugs, only the lights (they work fine).
Oh its a radial by the way.
So then the lounge, I took the faceplate off, left all conductors hanging (terminated in wagos) turned back on, same problem on sockets, but the ones he had changed were all dead, so im thinking must be somewhere else, put it back together.
Looked at the consumer unit, dual split board, a mess, blatant cowboy who fitted it, everything in the wrong places etc, but anyway, RCD protected. So the circuit was holding fine, as was the RCD.
I put a jumper between Line and Earth and then went round the sockets to get an R1+R2, all seemed pretty much in order, went round everything I could find, all seemed to be ok.
Then hooked Line to Neutral, went round the sockets, not a bloody sausage, nothing, not on any socket anywhere, nothing hooked off the circuit.
Then hooked Neutral to Earth and got a reading on everything.
So then I thought, well everything appears to be in the correct places so what the hells going on... I said it Friday night, I want to go home now thanks, and am going back next Tuesday and have left the circuit off.
My next step is to remove all faceplates on the circuit, so perhaps 15 say, then try to connect one at a time and see what happens.
Has anyone got a better suggestion as ill be honest, im stumped on this, I normally find these things quick and move on, but I spent 2.5 hours then this evening and couldn't work it out.
He assures me he has only changed Faceplates, only 4 of them down stairs in the lounge, you could see they were new. He has not touched anything else on the plug circuit.
Got called to a customer today, background is he has been doing some DIY... he had replaced a load of light fittings and plug sockets, he said we extended this one here and burried it in the wall etc... found one twisted together with tape, no connectors etc... anyway..
The problem is, since yesterday, he said the plugs downstairs don't work... hmmm
I plugged the socket tested in, beep beep beep beep beep, Earth and Live Reverse.... so i go to another, and get the same, then go to another, and its already beeping at me without switching the switch on, its a Fluke socket tester, first two are lit up, then switch it on then its just the first one so suggest Live earth reverse.
I then get the MFT out, plug it in at a socket,
Line to Neutral = 5.5v
Line to Earth = 230v
Neutral to Earth = 230v
Hmm, that's not right...
I pulled off all the face plates down stairs that I could that appears to be on that circuit one at a time thinking ill find the problem, but nope, nothing, all seemed in order (a mess but in the right holes). They said they did not extend or chop any circuits on the plugs, only the lights (they work fine).
Oh its a radial by the way.
So then the lounge, I took the faceplate off, left all conductors hanging (terminated in wagos) turned back on, same problem on sockets, but the ones he had changed were all dead, so im thinking must be somewhere else, put it back together.
Looked at the consumer unit, dual split board, a mess, blatant cowboy who fitted it, everything in the wrong places etc, but anyway, RCD protected. So the circuit was holding fine, as was the RCD.
I put a jumper between Line and Earth and then went round the sockets to get an R1+R2, all seemed pretty much in order, went round everything I could find, all seemed to be ok.
Then hooked Line to Neutral, went round the sockets, not a bloody sausage, nothing, not on any socket anywhere, nothing hooked off the circuit.
Then hooked Neutral to Earth and got a reading on everything.
So then I thought, well everything appears to be in the correct places so what the hells going on... I said it Friday night, I want to go home now thanks, and am going back next Tuesday and have left the circuit off.
My next step is to remove all faceplates on the circuit, so perhaps 15 say, then try to connect one at a time and see what happens.
Has anyone got a better suggestion as ill be honest, im stumped on this, I normally find these things quick and move on, but I spent 2.5 hours then this evening and couldn't work it out.
He assures me he has only changed Faceplates, only 4 of them down stairs in the lounge, you could see they were new. He has not touched anything else on the plug circuit.
