its anoying how about 90% of tenants i visit and tell them that cheap bulbs are crap and are the cause of them blowing quickly think i'm talking out of my bottom and carry on using the 10p market bulbs then moan at us that they keep blowing

I'm a fully qualified Electrical Engineer by trade' date=' I did a four year appreticeship, three years at college and a further three years at uni. I'm in charge of around 30 electricians working on anything from PLC control systems to 11000V ring main networks.

And I can't legally install an extra light in my house.

Cheers

Lee[/quote']

I know how you feel. I'm a chartered engineer and spend much of my time on site instructing electricians and problem solving. Went the BTEC OND route then on to a degree. I worked for a large generator factory building and designing just about every aspect of gensets up to 1250kVA. I spent 3 years working for a ship yard and was involved in design/construction/comissioning of HV/LV switchgear, HV generators and control gear. I've also re-wired a few houses in my time. Can't legally replace a dodgy socket outlet in my house now though. That sucks. Especially considering the number of inept sparks out there (present company excluded).

Just a follow up from my original query.

I've now located a good, qualified electrician. He is proposing to install a Volex VCU6, Split Load 12 way consumer unit. The split configuration of 5 mostly lighting circuits, and 5 RCD protected power circuits seems to make sense to me. Again, I'd be very grateful for expert comments as the original replies were extremely helpful.

Just a follow up from my original query.

I've now located a good' date=' qualified electrician. He is proposing to install a Volex VCU6, Split Load 12 way consumer unit. The split configuration of 5 mostly lighting circuits, and 5 RCD protected power circuits seems to make sense to me. Again, I'd be very grateful for expert comments as the original replies were extremely helpful.[/quote']

Sounds good to me ...that will be so much better and safer than your present system

:iagree:

I've also re-wired a few houses in my time. Can't legally replace a dodgy socket outlet in my house now though. That sucks. Especially considering the number of inept sparks out there (present company excluded).

Wrong, you can replace existing socket fronts. You cant run new cables.

Turns out i'm ok. Part P doesn't apply to N.I. yet.

The new consumer unit has been installed but the electrician has now by-passed the RCD because of constant tripping. He spent 4 hours trying to find the cause but with no result. There was no consistency in the tripping, sometimes 3 circuits were fine then none, then 2 and so on. He spent ages connecting, disconnecting circuits and found absolutely no pattern. The only circuit that was consistently OK was a new power circuit in the garage.

He suggested that a possible solution is a 100mA RCD rather than the 30mA installed. Failing that, he's talking about a house rewire! The house is 'only' 40 years old.

Sorry to be a pain, but again I'd be grateful for some expert comments.

Possible nail somewhere through a cable?

Domestic wiring has a lifetime of about 25 years. If your house hasn't been rewired in 40 years then you are due a re-wire.

The new consumer unit has been installed but the electrician has now by-passed the RCD because of constant tripping. He spent 4 hours trying to find the cause but with no result. There was no consistency in the tripping' date=' sometimes 3 circuits were fine then none, then 2 and so on. He spent ages connecting, disconnecting circuits and found absolutely no pattern. The only circuit that was consistently OK was a new power circuit in the garage.

He suggested that a possible solution is a 100mA RCD rather than the 30mA installed. Failing that, he's talking about a house rewire! The house is 'only' 40 years old.

Sorry to be a pain, but again I'd be grateful for some expert comments.[/quote']

What are the circuits that are tripping out (i.e. cooker, ring main)

What are the circuits that are tripping out (i.e. cooker, ring main)

Ring main sometimes, cooker sometimes, extension ring main sometimes! There's absolutely no consistency in what causes the trip and when. He thought he'd found the cause on a number of occasions but never conclusively. He's now decided that the wiring is 'tired' and that it would not have been installed to the electrical safety requirements of today.

.... you havn't been paying hourly rates for your electrician, sounds like a long drawn out job.

Fault finding can be a bit of a bugger, but certain things should be done in order.

When the new consumer unit was fitted, did you get to see the insulation resistance readings of all the circuits for all conductors. Gives a 90% insight into what is going on in the house wiring. People tend to go for the easy option and swap the consumer unit but if the fault is still there, it will return.

The number of times I have been called out in the middle of the night to sort this sort of problem still amazes me. Fitting a 100mA RCD would put you up against the current regs. You need a 30mA RCD protection for showers and other fixed equipment in special locations, and to protect socket outlets that may be used for outdoor equipment. I have to leave not to current standards forms on houses that have just had new consumer units because of this.

Get a test and inspection done on the wiring, 10 years for new stuff and five years for unknown age or last date of inspection. Should clear things up.

Part P was the first step to total compliance, watch out for the upcoming problem of mortgage lenders not handing out the cash if you new purchase doesn't have a gas or electrical certificate in date ( rumoured to be coming in 2007 )

Loads of work there for me

Ring main sometimes, cooker sometimes, extension ring main sometimes! There's absolutely no consistency in what causes the trip and when. He thought he'd found the cause on a number of occasions but never conclusively. He's now decided that the wiring is 'tired' and that it would not have been installed to the electrical safety requirements of today.

The cooker could be a problem ....we had a spate of cooker rings setting the trips off when hot....and the ring mains .......unplug everything you dont need for a start then leave it with just the essential things on (fridge freeezer) and see if it goes off then........nine out ten times it's something plugged in rather than the circuit itself.......

Shame you wern't a bit closer really ... Bengie and I could probably of sorted it ...any sparks a bit closer ?

Might be slowly getting somewhere. Found out that the freezer was causing one of the trips - it's a year old Liebherr expensive job; getting in touch with the supplier tomorrow. Another trip is being caused by a two year old Neff oven. Is there something about Continental electrical appliances?!

Thanks for all the comments; what's slightly worrying is that we knew nothing of all this when we had the original fuse box (like every other house in our neighbourhood). Perhaps ignorance is bliss.

Octygone - fancy a holiday in sunny Merseyside?

.....nine out ten times it's something plugged in rather than the circuit itself.....

Happened to me too on installation. I volunteered to look for the potential item at my leisure, but the electrician insisted on finding the cause of the tripping, since clearly it had identified a problem, before he left. The culprit (a small TV) was eventually found.

Just wondering whether the freezer and oven plugs are sealed? If not, it might be worth checking them in case any of the wires have worked loose until the appliances are looked at properly?

Mo

Might be slowly getting somewhere. Found out that the freezer was causing one of the trips - it's a year old Liebherr expensive job; getting in touch with the supplier tomorrow. Another trip is being caused by a two year old Neff oven. Is there something about Continental electrical appliances?!

Thanks for all the comments; what's slightly worrying is that we knew nothing of all this when we had the original fuse box (like every other house in our neighbourhood). Perhaps ignorance is bliss.

Octygone - fancy a holiday in sunny Merseyside?

Unfortunately I have used all my holiday ...but glad to know that you have found some of the culprits.

Makes you wonder how many faults are in other peoples houses doesn't it ...I see the same things day after day and as Bengie does the same type of work as me I suspect he does too.

I promise I won't say any more on this topic but the problem has been found!

There was an extra cable into a 13 amp ring main MCB (3 cables instead of 2). This didn't seem to be feeding anything and upon investigation the other end had been chopped off with no insulation and was lying live below some loose floorboards. It seems that a previous occupant had done some DIY wiring and either given up or found that something didn't work. This rogue cable was disconnected and hey presto, no more trips.

Thanks, once again, to everyone who helped on the forum.

Good to see you got to the bottom of it .

I promise I won't say any more on this topic but the problem has been found!

There was an extra cable into a 13 amp ring main MCB (3 cables instead of 2). This didn't seem to be feeding anything and upon investigation the other end had been chopped off with no insulation and was lying live below some loose floorboards. It seems that a previous occupant had done some DIY wiring and either given up or found that something didn't work. This rogue cable was disconnected and hey presto' date=' no more trips.

Thanks, once again, to everyone who helped on the forum.[/quote']

I had cables running down the wall, in a surface mounted box, ceiling to floor. So I got an electrician in to see about chasing them into the brickwork (pretty dense, so made sense that they would have been surface mounted.) It transpired the cables were running, unconnected into the "mini basement" (ground space under the floor), so that all could be properly disconnected at source.

Don't yer just love DIY-ers? And the cost you're in for as a following person.

That said, is there a commercial check thingy on wiring, like there is an AA check on cars? Sure it would cost money, but is there a standard (as opposed to "looks ok to me")?

Mo