[Help] Sparky Help

[Dorset Seagull]

[MENTION=24827]Justice[/MENTION] and [MENTION=4715]maresfield seagull[/MENTION] in case you were wondering. Had electrician in today to put some outside lights on garage and got him to check for the problem. He tested everything and didn't find any obvious faults and it even tripped in the house when he plugged his drill batteries to charge while working in the garage. The garage power is run from a socket in the study of the house and he suggested we see how it goes and if problems continue to occur he will come back and wire up the garage as an independent circuit.

 

[moggy]

[MENTION=24827]Justice[/MENTION] and [MENTION=4715]maresfield seagull[/MENTION] in case you were wondering. Had electrician in today to put some outside lights on garage and got him to check for the problem. He tested everything and didn't find any obvious faults and it even tripped in the house when he plugged his drill batteries to charge while working in the garage. The garage power is run from a socket in the study of the house and he suggested we see how it goes and if problems continue to occur he will come back and wire up the garage as an independent circuit.

I said originally it should be on its own circuit on the very first page of this thread.
If he tested it, the circuit will not have been onload and he’s likely to have only done a ZS reading. Earth loop.
What you should do is ask him to quote to do it properly.
Oh, I am a qualified electrician by the way

 

[maresfield seagull]

[MENTION=24827]Justice[/MENTION] and [MENTION=4715]maresfield seagull[/MENTION] in case you were wondering. Had electrician in today to put some outside lights on garage and got him to check for the problem. He tested everything and didn't find any obvious faults and it even tripped in the house when he plugged his drill batteries to charge while working in the garage. The garage power is run from a socket in the study of the house and he suggested we see how it goes and if problems continue to occur he will come back and wire up the garage as an independent circuit.

If it tripped When he plugged his charger in
Or did I read it wrong

 

[Dorset Seagull]

If it tripped When he plugged his charger in
Or did I read it wrong

Correct

 

[BN9 BHA]

He tested everything and didn't find any obvious faults and it even tripped in the house when he plugged his drill batteries to charge while working in the garage. .

Apart from this obvious fault
Sorry I will shut up now and stick to plumbing advice

 

[Dorset Seagull]

I said originally it should be on its own circuit on the very first page of this thread.
If he tested it, the circuit will not have been onload and he’s likely to have only done a ZS reading. Earth loop.
What you should do is ask him to quote to do it properly.
Oh, I am a qualified electrician by the way

I think the fact the garage is not on a separate circuit is a legacy from when the house was built. Today he did quote to do it properly

 

[Justice]

I said originally it should be on its own circuit on the very first page of this thread.
If he tested it, the circuit will not have been onload and he’s likely to have only done a ZS reading. Earth loop.
What you should do is ask him to quote to do it properly.
Oh, I am a qualified electrician by the way

Is the right answer, [MENTION=13166]Dorset Seagull[/MENTION] let’s look at this logically how does the electrician know what load you or someone else if you sell the property are going to apply to the circuit in the future, heaters, machinery for example. I would of advised you to get the work carried out ASAP not let’s see how it goes which is irresponsible from hopefully the qualified sparks you hired.

 

[Dorset Seagull]

Is the right answer, [MENTION=13166]Dorset Seagull[/MENTION] let’s look at this logically how does the electrician know what load you or someone else if you sell the property are going to apply to the circuit in the future, heaters, machinery for example. I would of advised you to get the work carried out ASAP not let’s see how it goes which is irresponsible from hopefully the qualified sparks you hired.

He did 4.5 years training at college and 8 years working at an electrical company before going it alone so I assume he is well qualified. He went to school with my son so I know him well enough to trust him.

What is the process for identifying a fault like this and can it always be traced or is it trial and error? Can you be certain it is a fault in the wiring to the garage rather than a fault in the upstairs circuit? For example if there was a pinched/partially broken cable in the section that goes under the garden to the garage would you easily be able to identify that as the fault. Obviously you cant go digging up cables on the off chance.

Just trying to understand if a qualified electrician would always be able to identify what was causing a problem and the steps taken to find out.

As mentioned he has advised that the garage should really be on a separate circuit but said he couldnt be sure it would cure the problem? He said to take the garage wiring where it comes into the socket from outside into the study and run it outside the house and into the main consumer unit as a separate circuit would be c£200. Is that about right?

As there is no room on the board for anymore circuits I presume this can be linked in by another method?

Appreciate all the help being offered on this thread

 

[moggy]

He did 4.5 years training at college and 8 years working at an electrical company before going it alone so I assume he is well qualified. He went to school with my son so I know him well enough to trust him.

What is the process for identifying a fault like this and can it always be traced or is it trial and error? Can you be certain it is a fault in the wiring to the garage rather than a fault in the upstairs circuit? For example if there was a pinched/partially broken cable in the section that goes under the garden to the garage would you easily be able to identify that as the fault. Obviously you cant go digging up cables on the off chance.

Just trying to understand if a qualified electrician would always be able to identify what was causing a problem and the steps taken to find out.

As mentioned he has advised that the garage should really be on a separate circuit but said he couldnt be sure it would cure the problem? He said to take the garage wiring where it comes into the socket from outside into the study and run it outside the house and into the main consumer unit as a separate circuit would be c£200. Is that about right?

As there is no room on the board for anymore circuits I presume this can be linked in by another method?

Appreciate all the help being offered on this thread

Take a photo of your mani fuseboard in the house and you say you have a separate board in the garage but being fed from an existing circuit in the house?
Take a photo of that as well and upload it here

 

[Dorset Seagull]

Take a photo of your mani fuseboard in the house and you say you have a separate board in the garage but being fed from an existing circuit in the house?
Take a photo of that as well and upload it here

Posts 57 and 58

 

[moggy]

Posts 57 and 58

Main board:
You have 3 lighting circuits.
The dining room, kitchen and office.
Are these rooms all downstairs and if so, how many rooms downstairs are there in the house.
Garage board:
Picture only shows 2 cables, lighting and power.
Where’s the 3rd cable supplying the board?

Solution:
You need another way on the main board for garage supply to be on its own circuit.
Depending on the lighting situation, what I’d be inclined to do is remove one of the lighting circuits and loop in from the other downstairs lighting circuit.
Thus, one of the lighting MCBs can be removed and the garage supply can go in there.
This means you get away without having a new board fitted.

 

[Justice]

He did 4.5 years training at college and 8 years working at an electrical company before going it alone so I assume he is well qualified. He went to school with my son so I know him well enough to trust him.

What is the process for identifying a fault like this and can it always be traced or is it trial and error? Can you be certain it is a fault in the wiring to the garage rather than a fault in the upstairs circuit? For example if there was a pinched/partially broken cable in the section that goes under the garden to the garage would you easily be able to identify that as the fault. Obviously you cant go digging up cables on the off chance.

Just trying to understand if a qualified electrician would always be able to identify what was causing a problem and the steps taken to find out.

As mentioned he has advised that the garage should really be on a separate circuit but said he couldnt be sure it would cure the problem? He said to take the garage wiring where it comes into the socket from outside into the study and run it outside the house and into the main consumer unit as a separate circuit would be c£200. Is that about right?

As there is no room on the board for anymore circuits I presume this can be linked in by another method?

Appreciate all the help being offered on this thread

I will respond later mate and yes the fault can be identified with the right test equipment but to be fair to him I’ve got 30 years more experience god I feel old now

 

[Dorset Seagull]

Main board:
You have 3 lighting circuits.
The dining room, kitchen and office.
Are these rooms all downstairs and if so, how many rooms downstairs are there in the house.
Garage board:
Picture only shows 2 cables, lighting and power.
Where’s the 3rd cable supplying the board?

Solution:
You need another way on the main board for garage supply to be on its own circuit.
Depending on the lighting situation, what I’d be inclined to do is remove one of the lighting circuits and loop in from the other downstairs lighting circuit.
Thus, one of the lighting MCBs can be removed and the garage supply can go in there.
This means you get away without having a new board fitted.

Dining room, kitchen and office are downstairs along with lounge, utility room, toilet and conservatory.
Upstairs - 4 beds, 1 en suite, 1 main bathroom

Cable supplying board in garage comes into the box from the bottom and is encased and runs under the garden and connects into the home office/study via the outside wall which is about 10m away

 

[moggy]

Dining room, kitchen and office are downstairs along with lounge, utility room, toilet and conservatory.
Upstairs - 4 beds, 1 en suite, 1 main bathroom

Cable supplying board in garage comes into the box from the bottom and is encased and runs under the garden and connects into the home office/study via the outside wall which is about 10m away

So, I’d put all downstairs lighting on to one circuit which will create a spare way in the board for the garage.

 

[Dorset Seagull]

So, I’d put all downstairs lighting on to one circuit which will create a spare way in the board for the garage.

I'll check but he did say something about moving circuits and I suspect this is what he was probably referring too. Do you think it's likely that will cure the problem, I appreciate that may be difficult to answer. If so then the next question is why has it only started playing up now when it was put in over 20 years ago? (Albeit a new Consumer Unit was fitted 5 years ago but the arrangement was probably the same prior to that) Thanks for the input

 

[moggy]

I'll check but he did say something about moving circuits and I suspect this is what he was probably referring too. Do you think it's likely that will cure the problem, I appreciate that may be difficult to answer. If so then the next question is why has it only started playing up now when it was put in over 20 years ago? (Albeit a new Consumer Unit was fitted 5 years ago but the arrangement was probably the same prior to that) Thanks for the input

I said originally it should be an armoured 4mm cable direct to the main board.
You said the power to the board in the garage is contained so conduit I’d guess.
Now, if the cable supplying the board is fed from a socket in the house, I’m guessing it’ll be into the ring.
That would mean 3 cables into one socket. There is no way you could fit anything more than 3 x 2.5mm cables into a terminal so straight away, the cable is underrated.
It could of course be a radial but seems unlikely given what you’ve said.
Yes, your problems will be resolved if done correctly like has been said

 

[Dorset Seagull]

I said originally it should be an armoured 4mm cable direct to the main board.
You said the power to the board in the garage is contained so conduit I’d guess.
Now, if the cable supplying the board is fed from a socket in the house, I’m guessing it’ll be into the ring.
That would mean 3 cables into one socket. There is no way you could fit anything more than 3 x 2.5mm cables into a terminal so straight away, the cable is underrated.
It could of course be a radial but seems unlikely given what you’ve said.
Yes, your problems will be resolved if done correctly like has been said

Any thoughts on why the current setup should fail for the first time in 20+ years?

 

[moggy]

Any thoughts on why the current setup should fail for the first time in 20+ years?

I could list half a dozen reasons but without proper inspection and testing it would only ever be a guess
I’m just advising what you should get done to correct it

 

[Granny on the wing]

I'll check but he did say something about moving circuits and I suspect this is what he was probably referring too. Do you think it's likely that will cure the problem, I appreciate that may be difficult to answer. If so then the next question is why has it only started playing up now when it was put in over 20 years ago? (Albeit a new Consumer Unit was fitted 5 years ago but the arrangement was probably the same prior to that) Thanks for the input

Has the running machine got the potential to get wet if Garage door was open for example ? just speculating .

 

[Dorset Seagull]

Has the running machine got the potential to get wet if Garage door was open for example ? just speculating .

Nice idea but no as it started happening pre running machine