Consumer unit tripped

greggp_2

Plugged in iron yesterday morning on 1st floor socket and it tripped the entire “consumer unit”. The Iron I am using is 2200 Watt Breville model, flex is a little kinked so could be source of problem? may be on its way out as this has happened to me with previous irons!

Only thing that is puzzling me on the “electrics” though is when it had happened, I then went to switch the consumer unit back on but it wouldn’t let me flick the switch - it was just springing back to off position. I unplugged the iron but still same result. I then decided to unscrew the socket to investigate and then I noticed that the red live feeds were not connected....Strange I thought! This socket does in fact have another 2 sockets spurred off it so there is in fact 3 live feeds into this socket and the holes are not that large so maybe the screws were not as tight as could have been? Therefore maybe the wires came loose when I unscrewed and pulled the socket from the wall... I can’t eliminate this? I reconnected it all and flicked consumer unit and all powered back on fine.

When I came home I decided to have a further look. I didn’t drop the power for the whole consumer unit, only the 30A breaker for the 1st floor sockets. I then proceeded to disconnect the socket again and re-connect it, but while I was doing this I heard a click from downstairs, went to check and the consumer unit had tripped out! Now puzzled! why this would do it while I had disconnected circuit breaker to the 1st floor sockets All other power to the house was still on, Lights, GF Sockets etc....

Electrics were done in the early nineties but I have only been in the house since 2009. The consumer unit has separate 30A, 15A & 5A circuit breakers contained on it. I have not had any other works carried out on the electrics other than changing my sockets to flat plate chrome (earth wires present) and changing to modern flat plate light switches. Have had no problems until now!

Used Iron this morning an all fine.

Any help / advice on this appreciated please?

gas4you

If you are talking about your main rcd tripping, then it is probably a fault from neutral to earth.

Could be time for an electrician in, if you cannot determine which, if any, appliance is causing it.

newbie1980

greggp wrote: »

Plugged in iron yesterday morning on 1st floor socket and it tripped the entire “consumer unit”. The Iron I am using is 2200 Watt Breville model, flex is a little kinked so could be source of problem? may be on its way out as this has happened to me with previous irons!

Only thing that is puzzling me on the “electrics” though is when it had happened, I then went to switch the consumer unit back on but it wouldn’t let me flick the switch - it was just springing back to off position. I unplugged the iron but still same result. I then decided to unscrew the socket to investigate and then I noticed that the red live feeds were not connected....Strange I thought! This socket does in fact have another 2 sockets spurred off it so there is in fact 3 live feeds into this socket and the holes are not that large so maybe the screws were not as tight as could have been? Therefore maybe the wires came loose when I unscrewed and pulled the socket from the wall... I can’t eliminate this? I reconnected it all and flicked consumer unit and all powered back on fine.

When I came home I decided to have a further look. I didn’t drop the power for the whole consumer unit, only the 30A breaker for the 1st floor sockets. I then proceeded to disconnect the socket again and re-connect it, but while I was doing this I heard a click from downstairs, went to check and the consumer unit had tripped out! Now puzzled! why this would do it while I had disconnected circuit breaker to the 1st floor sockets All other power to the house was still on, Lights, GF Sockets etc....

Electrics were done in the early nineties but I have only been in the house since 2009. The consumer unit has separate 30A, 15A & 5A circuit breakers contained on it. I have not had any other works carried out on the electrics other than changing my sockets to flat plate chrome (earth wires present) and changing to modern flat plate light switches. Have had no problems until now!

Used Iron this morning an all fine.

Any help / advice on this appreciated please?

the rcd can pick up a short between earth/neutral even if power is off on mcb
they are so sensitive but this is what saves ur life and not the mcb

dave(electrician)

greyteam1959

Fingers out.........
Electrician in.....

fwor

If the iron is a steam iron, one possible cause of the original problem could be either careless filling or an internal water leak within the iron - particularly if you use tap water in it.

It's not at all unusual for the screws on sockets to loosen over time if they have not been done up properly (i.e. very tightly) in the first place.

And as Dave the electrician says, the second trip out was almost certainly a brief touch from Neutral to Earth.

The only thing that's difficult to cover is the fact that you couldn't reset the RCD after disconnecting the iron.

If you're slightly concerned still then socket testers are cheap to buy and use yourself - or get an electrician to do a full test if you want complete peace of mind - shouldn't be expensive considering it could save a life...