Nightmare of a day. RCD tripiing under any load

[Sparkie30]

You say your not a Electrical Trainee and have done 2391 so my question is what the hell are you doing energizing a replacement consumer unit when clearly you have not undertaken any testing! Sorry but clearly you should go back to college!

With regards to no time to test prior I always always book a 5 minuet slot in at the end of a day prior to starting the replacement CU usually on way home from a job to do 2 IR Tests!
1. IR - LE
2. IR - NE

This takes about 5 minuets to do and will never put you into this situation where you have a not tested CU which you have energized and "TRIP"

so you telling me you learnt everything in college? i think i know the answer to that mate

 

[LED Lighting]

Ok so if you have a customer half an hour away you will travel there at the end of a day grafting to carry out a few tests then go there the next day? You obviously have more time than me. Well sorry mate but that's not for me and I can guarantee you 99% of sparks wouldn't do this either!

With regards to energising the board prior to testing. In a newly wired job I would not do this but because it was a straight replacement I will admit I do this and again so will the vast majority of other sparks

What a load of HOT AIR!

Yes I have had some CU Changes some 3 hours away and every time if its not practical I always IR before undoing anything!
You dont need to unplug anything anything as at the end of the day your only "PAT Testing" the appliances and installation all at the same time!

This is an added bonus because if an appliance has a fault then you can quickly identify this before starting.
I did this the other week - Dead short NE and <1Mohm LN and LE. Advised them it needed fault finding at rate which they agreed to - spent 4 hours and over 50% of cables where shot! went from CU Change to rewire like that!

 

[LED Lighting]

so you telling me you learnt everything in college? i think i know the answer to that mate

Not at all - just clear basics - dont energize circuit unless you tested it!
Common Sense sorry

To brizospark

Forget the IRs for a minuet as that will be picked up with the RCD, but what about no continuity on conductors and you have protected 2.5mm broken ring with a 32A!

Sorry cowboy springs to mind - and considering you need to issue a certificate how do you get these results? Disconnect everything again to retest it? Or make up the results?

 

[Paultrim123321]

If people are suggesting they have been asked to come in and replace the CU...who is making that decision? The client?
If someone rings me and asks to have a CU replaced I would want to know why they think it needs changing?

As the inspector that is up to me.

If a CU needs replacing there's every chance the wiring will need attention, therefore surely testing has to be carried out?

 

[Guitarist]

What a load of HOT AIR!

Yes I have had some CU Changes some 3 hours away and every time if its not practical I always IR before undoing anything!
You dont need to unplug anything anything as at the end of the day your only "PAT Testing" the appliances and installation all at the same time!

This is an added bonus because if an appliance has a fault then you can quickly identify this before starting.
I did this the other week - Dead short NE and <1Mohm LN and LE. Advised them it needed fault finding at rate which they agreed to - spent 4 hours and over 50% of cables where shot! went from CU Change to rewire like that!

No wonder the local sparks are complaining!

 

[moospark]

3 Hours away? Hadaway! I could be in Wales by then.

 

[sima24]

I never test when quoting. I provide a quote for board and explain in simple terms that any faults that are found (if any) will be charged accordingly. Also i agree with some posts that this situation seems very simple, no disrespect to poster but i would have known this fault as a 1st / 2nd year apprentice. Qualifications are one thing but nothing without the experiance.

 

[moospark]

And what does "every time if it's not practical I always I.R" mean?

 

[sima24]

Fault in my view is simply 1) borrowed neutral or 2) n-e fault (which would of been found on dead tests). Simples

 

[growler]

have you checked that the neutrals from the rcds and main switch are in the correct neutral bars ? this caught me out before !

 

[Guitarist]

So you guys who don't bother testing are happy to give the customer a surprise when the bill doubles at the end of the job?

 

[trev]

3 Hours away? Hadaway! I could be in Wales by then.

Gadgies waalkin tho marra, nee van lyk

 

[brizospark]

So LED you say you do this for board change three hours away. So you are telling me after a day working you will drive a six hour round trip to do two IR Tests then go back next morning ? WTF? Are you for real? How much are you charging because the fuel cost alone would be ridiculous

 

[moospark]

Gadgies waalkin tho marra, nee van lyk

Nah, He'll ride his sheep. All the way.

 

[wersolaruk]

Some proper tools on here like! Give the guy some slack! Everybody needs help once in a while.

 

[brizospark]

Nice one solar my thoughts exactly.

 

[brizospark]

Solar is right enough what's the point in having this forum if you can't ask!! What do these guys want to just talk about how great they are and how they know absolutely everything!!

 

[Plonker 3]

No it is for electricians to help each other. Not for people who are lazy to carry out work and expect the interweb to help them when the brown stuff hits the fan.

Just out of curiosity will you carry out a global IR on the next DB change that you have to do?

 

[sima24]

So you guys who don't bother testing are happy to give the customer a surprise when the bill doubles at the end of the job?

Yes. Customer is told before that if any problems / faults found they will be charged at £40 ph. This is verbal when quoting and written on quote in black and white. Im not testing on a quote, as far as im concerned if i pick up my tester then im working, and unless the customer would like to pay for a test before then im not doing it.

 

[sima24]

Each to their own but as long as the customer is made aware before I see nothing wrong with it.