Ok folks I’m hoping someone can help me out. Came home yesterday from 10 days away to find the electricity tripped off. House a bit of a mess. Its the middle switch on this that’s tripped.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/JKQXzBcG8BAuE6W7A
None of the other rcds have tripped
Lights worked downstairs and cooker hadn’t tripped but all sockets ( only checked downstairs as it was late) were off.

Same has happened today.
I’m in the house now with everything switched on and plugged in and its fine but theres clearly an issue.
Any suggestions on how to trace it?

Turn one item back on again at a time till you find the one that causes the trips. Then try that item a few times to confirm. Remove it and continue. Try in a different socket to see if it still causes a trip.

The middle one is the main rcd for the 4 circuits to the left of it, they probably and should feed sockets. This main one being off won’t affect the circuits to the right they should include the cooker and lights. Not always strictly this way and not to the latest regs but. The smaller switches are MCB not RCD, the fault is on one of those 4, What do the 4 circuits to the left do is there anything written above them ?, it’s more than likely a duff appliance taking the main one out, fridges are a top suspect. Unplug everything you can for a night except the fridge and go from there

That’s the thing its fine atm and in general. Everything plugged in atm and not tripping ….

That’s what faulty appliances can do, it’ll be an intermittent fault and they are hardest to find

Its says I am on one mcb and sockets up and sockets down on the other.

Andy,

The I am im going to guess is actually IMM and will be the immersion heater, is this on a timer? i it is this might explain why its intermittent. Either check the time the immersion is supposed to come on or manually over ride it to bring it on. if it trips its likely to be the immersion element thats pumped

Immersion heater can be one of two things. The heater element (a pain to replace) or the thermostat (far easier and cheaper). You’ll need a multimeter to check the heater element for continuity, if that’s fine then it’s the easy one.

Don’t rule out rainwater getting in to an outside light…

Trying to talk a non electrician through fault finding steps is akin to wading through treacle and not recommended from a safety point of view.

Next time it happens dont touch anything and call out a professional to have a look.

Never ceases to amaze me what the public think can be sorted out via internet chit chat alone.

Cheers for those that have provided helpful input.

good call on the immersion heater. the only other thing i found was a slightly loose plug in one of the sockets but i wouldnt have expected that to trip it out.

Im now wondering if it would be worth getting the consumer unit replaced with a load of RCD’s or if its ascking for trouble in an old house.

im wondering, if being away (no heating) and a cold wall with a socket upstairs if this could cause the issue? would a damp room cause enough to leak to earth and trip an rcd?

Watch this to help understand what’s happening:

…then call someone with the correct test equipment 🙂

(If you can’t trace it by selectively unplugging appliances – dishwashers, washing machines, electric cookers, immersion heaters, etc. are all likely candidates.)

Drove myself mad trying to trace somnething like this at our house Andy, turned out to be a break in a cable under our garden that went out to an outdoor socket.  It has pissed it down over the last couple of weeks, got any outdoor electrics that might have got soaked?

not really.

id be happy to pay for a sparky if he could properly test it but my worry is the fact its intermittent.

Andy,

Has the immersion been switched on recently? as in the last 24 hours? if it has and the RCD hasnt tripped then it wont be the immersion.

Its unlikely to be caused by the lack of heating and moisture, though there could be an underlying issue. It really could be anything.

The arrangement of one RCD that covers a number of circuits is exactly what you are experiencing, IF you get the consumer unit replaced RCBO is what you want. An RCD for each circuit and this removes collateral damage.

However there will be a root cause that is causing the trip which should be identified and fixed. It could be the wiring or an appliance, or even the RCD. If you cant manage to identify the culprit its likely you will have to get somebody in who has access to test equipment to locate the fault

Ok so if i got a sparky in he could quickl;y say “you need a new fridge” for example or will it mean him checking every appliance attached to every circuit?

If it was me I would unplug all of the items and then go to the consumer unit and perform tests on the wiring. Its likely that would identify the issue or focus it to an area. If there were no concerns then it would be on to trial and error with the appliances.

likely causes could be:
rodent damage cables
damaged cables
faulty socket
cooker element
immersion heater

but could be anything, but they shoudl be able to identify or isolate the circuit as a minimum and then keep investigating

We had this. It was the ice maker in the Samsung fridge that had got jammed and the paddle inside wasn’t able to go round. Defrosted and got it moving again and problem was solved. I was surprised that it was tripping the RCD out rather than something internal in the fridge shutting it off.

thats the thing. Even with everything plugged in it hasnt tripped today or last night.

ie ive got no idea when it may or may not trip. so if i unplug something and plug it in (did this yesterday) ive got no idea if it will change anything.

It might take somebody coming round to test the wiring to help identify the issue. It could be anywhere on any of the circuits that are fed via that RCD.
Its a ballache to try to find the fault but if its happened a few times then its unlikely to just be an errant trip.

You might need to have everything switched on and in operation (every appliance drawing a current) to identify it? and even then it could be on the fixed wiring and it only cause a trip under specific circumstances

Get a sparky in to test all the circuits first, everything needs to be unplugged for this and light bulbs out if doing properly. If the circuits pass then it’s an appliance that is the issue. Hardest but you’ll find is getting a sparky good enough to test the circuits properly. Assuming that’s done then move onto appliances and things like the immersion.

Contacted 2 sparkys so far. Non of them suggested they could do anything unless its tripping all the time 🙁

so we dont have an immersion heater it seems that mcb is for the fridges. nothing over the weekend. tried unplugging the fridge / freezer etc and letting them warm up to try and pull some current and still nothing.

no hum 🙁

Ok I had that it was damp in a socket in the cellar, took the facia off the socket it was all rusty behind. As others have said work your way round the appliances to id the culprit.

My two trips have been a faulty dishwasher and an external light which when turned on tripped the circuit.

Both identified by being methodical and trying to work out what happens to be turning ‘on’ when the fault occurs.

If its not faulting all the time I’d be pretty sure it is something like an appliance or something you have on a timer. Anything with a heating element is a good suspect to start with.