RCD - anyone had this

[highspark]

Call out - lighting had fell into a fish tank whilst guy was on holiday.

He returns to a load of dead fish and no power.

RCD is main switch protecting whole house.

With all circuit breakers down... RCD still wont switch back on.

So disconnected fish tank from mains. RCD still wont switch on.

Disconnect RCD from everything switch now reinstates itself.

Switch everything on 1 by 1. Lights ok up and down... Alarm ok. Down sockets trip. Up sockets trip. Kitchen sockets trip. Cooker ok, Garage trip.

Without doing anything else but putting the front cover back switching MCB's on one at a time and then switching RCD on afterward the RCD holds and seems to be working fine.

Madness and not ghe first time its happened to me... Bloody RCD's

 

[plugsandsparks]

Dunno, dodgy RCD ?

 

[topcat]

Had a case were cable to fish tank had tracked water from fish tank to socket and soaked it worth a check

 

[MDJ]

Did you actually test the RCD on times half, one and five at nought and one hundred and eighty degrees to determine whether it is faulty or not, jeez.

 

[telectrix]

the only concrete thing here is that it takes <30mA to kill fish.

 

[markc123]

As MDJ said, RCD test everything - that will determine whether uve got a faulty RCD or not. If not, you'll have to get your fault-finding head on :biggrin5:

 

[Robotstar5]

the only concrete thing here is that it takes <30mA to kill fish.

and they wanted the power back on to cook some chips?

 

[onions1066]

Sounds like a neutral to earth fault so when you are energising socket circuits with some load on its taking out rcd, did you check for neutral to earth fault?

 

[highspark]

All tests fine. Done ramp and trip times before I left

Couldnt do any RCD tests at first becuse it wouldnt switch up...

Madness!

 

[rattlehead85]

Sounds like a neutral to earth fault so when you are energising socket circuits with some load on its taking out rcd, did you check for neutral to earth fault?

Yep my thoughts exactly. He needs to separate them neutrals and check them with an insulation resistance tester. Could be an old RCD which has the tripping mechanism ceased and the strength of the fish tank fault has now freed it up hence can now operate as it should.

 

[onions1066]

Has to be all neutrals out then back one at a time and try to reset. After that it has to be the rcd.

 

[HandySparks]

the only concrete thing here is that it takes <30mA to kill fish.

Or that he was away long enough after the event that the lack of heating killed the fish (if tropical).

 

[Deleted member 26818]

You heat up a fish, I find it tends to kill it fairly quickly.
Perhaps my fryer is set too high?

 

[RmBo_0]

Or no one has feed them for 2 week!

 

[Deleted member 26818]

If I were Inspector Morse, or Poirot, I'd be looking for a cat.
Perhaps one of the neighbours has a cat?

 

[Des 56]

Or no one has feed them for 2 week!

My brother(amateur fish owner) was taking a 2 week holiday,he fed the fish enough to last them the 2 weeks,the smell was the tell tale sign of the tank of death

 

[snowhead]

My brother(amateur fish owner) was taking a 2 week holiday,he fed the fish enough to last them the 2 weeks,the smell was the tell tale sign of the tank of death

Is he just practicing on the amateur fish and will he eventually move on to owning Proffessional fish?

 

[telectrix]

only 1 grade higher than DIY fish.

 

[Engineer54]

If it was a tropical fish tank the fish probably died from lack of heating as well as lack of oxygen from the pump!! Or unless equiped with an auto feeder, starved to death... lol!!

 

[trev]

Is he just practicing on the amateur fish and will he eventually move on to owning Proffessional fish?

My ambition is to eventually manage Billy The Fish. (only Viz readers will understand that one)