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a minute or so after turning on the oven the eve tripped and downstairs went dark and all sockets stopped working.
went to the rcd unit and sure enough the switch was down. When I tried to flick it up it instantly tripped.
inthe rcd box there are two set of five labelled switches and then an unlabelled switch that seems to be the master for the other five.
normally it is one of the labelled switches that trips but this time it was the master switch. All the labelled ones were okay but the master would not stay on.
all electrical stuff down stairs has been turned off but still can't switch on.
any ideas or advice?
Turn the oven off and try again?
Turn oven off at cooker switch, it's double pole and will properly isolate oven.
Hopefully this doesn't lead to an epic explosion picture thread!
Oven has been switched off at the big orange switch
no differ
All the labelled rcd switches turned off and the master switch still won't stay on.
i thought that I could isolate the circuit by switching the individual rcds off. When I switched the faulty circuit off I hoped the main switch would stay on but no. Bastard.
as far as I Can tell there is nothing drawing current down stairs but the master switch still trips even with all the labelled switches turned off.
help
If you've got all the individual circuit breakers off and and the RCD still won't reset you need to double check everything is unplugged and try again, a lot of switches will only turn live off and the fault can come through the neutral
Check its not one of the others then.
Turn all off, make sure all light switches are off, etc.
Could be a blown bulb shorting out in coincidence upstairs.
Ballache but switch/unplug everything up and downstairs then start again.
Picture of fuse board?
Try to power up one circuit at a time to see which one is tripping the RCD. From my basic understanding its got to be one of them...
Likely thing to cause a problem is anything with a heating element or an electric motor and water.
So unplug / isolate cooker, kettle, dishwasher, washing machine, tumble dryer and the fridge for good measure.
Does it still trip? If so good news is those appliances are probably okay, bad news is it probably is a circuit somewhere. Rodents can chew cables....been doing any DIY recently?
When I had this the first time it was the dishwasher, second time it was outdoor lighting which for some reason started tripping, presume seals have failed (they are old), third time was me crimping a cable when using an electric screwdriver to refit a light switch
I will start again inthe morning.
the plan is to turn off every switch, try to remove the cooker from the circuit and possibly remove every light bulb.
i will post a picture of the fuse board tomorrow .
dt78 - I can't do as you suggest as even with all the individual circuits turned off the maxi switch trips.
i suspect a short somewhere on the oven wiring and the fault may be through the neutral.
those who cares please check this thread at about 10am tomorrow . Those who don't please check a&be about midday
EMP Bomb, solar flare or CME causing geomagnetic storm?
maybe not, lights still on at here.....
I may may have played too much C&C
Long live the Brotherhood of Nod!
You should have an isolation switch on the cooker somewhere in the kitchen, unless it's a old install, tried turning it to off? And then power up?
sounds odd if you can't turn the rcd on even if all the trips are off. That sounds like a job for a professional with some testing kit.
Unscrew the oven switch and remove the wires from the switch..
Did you leave the 3D printer running ? 😉
Years ago, my Grandma had a similar problem. It was the RCD itself that had failed, nothing to do with any of the circuits or appliances. Just another thing to check, if there are 2 the same size, swap them over and see if the 'fault' follows.
We too have had a master RCD fail, though the oven does sound a prime candidate.
Do you have an emergency call out servicecas part of your house insurance
Please don't start removing bulbs, covers and disconnecting things, I'm concerned for your user name 🙂
Bear in mind that if it is an appliance/circuit that's faulty then you have electricity flowing to earth somewhere and that could be via a metal light switch or metal appliance cover that is easily touched. A logical process of energising circuits and appliances might isolate the problem, but it might also be hazardous
From what you describe I'd suspect the RCD, which an electrician can diagnose and replace if necessary
On a downstairs circuit I guess that you'll have a freezer, unless its on a non-RCD supply. Don't open the door to check the contents 😉 , and be careful about plugging it in elsewhere. The first thing that it'll do is run the motor and an extension lead might not be up to the job [/doom&gloom]
Please get an electrician in!
i had a similar fault on our new rewire and the sparky came back and spent some time investigating it before finding the issues was a slightly loose wire somewhere completely separate to the what we first thought it was. Electrics are simple in theory but can be complex in practice and getting it wrong can be dangerous.
I Have decided to call in a professional as I can see nothing obvious and removing the cooker will be awkward while I am on crutches.
Fortunately the fridge and freezer are on the other circuit so still powered up.
thanks for the advice though
If the rcd main Switch won't set even with all of the breakers switched off it will be either a faulty Rcd or an earth neutral fault which could be on any circuit not just the oven.
If it's not a duff rcd then the only way to establish which neutral is down to earth is to start taking neutrals out of the block in the consumer unit until you can finally reset the rcd. The circuit with the removed neutral will be your issue. Just a case of finding the fault now which could be anywhere!
I think I agree donks. Interestingly the wife has told be that the oven has been tripping the rcd occasionally for age but normally she just flicks it back on again.
i suspect there is a fault in the oven that has caused the previous trips and that now the main rcds has gone pop too.
i I lack the tools or knowledge to check this theory so am calling a sparky. If they diagnose a bust rcd I will still get them to check the oven as I am fairly sure that is the original source of the issue
Sounds like the element in the ovens blown. Ours go with annoying regularity, takes down all the other electrics at the same time. I'd start by removing the oven element (having isolated the oven) and see if that sorts it. If not sounds like the oven element blowing has demanded the main RCD. Any sort of earth leakage withtrip the main RCD, my favourite trick is working on a circuit that's isolated but then cutting connected cable effectively shorting the live yo earth even though there's no current.
“Bear in mind that if it is an appliance/circuit that’s faulty then you have electricity flowing to earth somewhere and that could be via a metal light switch or metal appliance cover that is easily touched.”
Sure, but if it’s already flowing to earth, it ain’t going to flow through you.
'twas a knackered RCD and suspects a dodgy oven element
I'm glad that you got sorted
"Sure, but if it’s already flowing to earth, it ain’t going to flow through you"
Maybe. Only 30mA (and a bit) needs to make it through what could be a dodgy earth. The fault current might find you a more attractive option...
Impressed you found a sparky who turned up so quick...!
I suspect Mrs WCA has tradesmen on speed dial for such events. It avoids the going towards the light possibilities given the OP handle. 😉
I collect useful friends. No call out charge and swapped the rcd from the garage which runs the sauna (can't use that at the moment) soon charge for parts. Next time he is in the area he will replace the rcd inthe garage. I guess that's not bad for a Saturday 😀