O
Octopus
Today I turned up at a job today, to install some downlights and a mirror feed in a bathroom. A nice relatively easy job ..... or so I thought. The owner had been warned that the circuit would need to be RCBO protected and had his "usual" sparky in to do this....
So I took the "futhest" downlight off and connected the MFT - and immediately noticed there was no earth. Hum I thought - so moved back to the JB where the switch and loop are connected and found .... no earths within the JB - in fact I could see all the CPC's had been cut off.
Hum..... so back to basics..... disconnected feed to said JB and checked for Zs .... no earth
Hum..... down to CU - yup all 3 cores connected.... disconnected 3 cores from the CU and tried for R1 + R2 - nothing.....followed feed cable back towards CU and unearthed another JB .... so I opened it up and yup CPC's cut off and not connected.
The client was in the house so I called him and showed/explained what I had found and then it got interesting....
His normal sparky had been in and fitted the RCBO the previous week and as soon as it was turned on, it had tripped and he had spent some time fault finding ..... and then "blamed" the TV aerial amp which he had disconnect - which made me think surely he should have spotted the absense of the CPC's, especially as he should have retested the circuit when he changed the MCB to the RCBO.
I'd like to be a fly on the wall when the client and original sparky have a conversation....
And I should point out that said sparky, had rewired the house just 6 years ago - and in the loft there was a combination of mainly grey and some white sheathed cable.
So I took the "futhest" downlight off and connected the MFT - and immediately noticed there was no earth. Hum I thought - so moved back to the JB where the switch and loop are connected and found .... no earths within the JB - in fact I could see all the CPC's had been cut off.
Hum..... so back to basics..... disconnected feed to said JB and checked for Zs .... no earth
Hum..... down to CU - yup all 3 cores connected.... disconnected 3 cores from the CU and tried for R1 + R2 - nothing.....followed feed cable back towards CU and unearthed another JB .... so I opened it up and yup CPC's cut off and not connected.
The client was in the house so I called him and showed/explained what I had found and then it got interesting....
His normal sparky had been in and fitted the RCBO the previous week and as soon as it was turned on, it had tripped and he had spent some time fault finding ..... and then "blamed" the TV aerial amp which he had disconnect - which made me think surely he should have spotted the absense of the CPC's, especially as he should have retested the circuit when he changed the MCB to the RCBO.
I'd like to be a fly on the wall when the client and original sparky have a conversation....
And I should point out that said sparky, had rewired the house just 6 years ago - and in the loft there was a combination of mainly grey and some white sheathed cable.