Electric keeps tripping - help!

JoJoB

Would really appreciate some pointers before I make my next move.

Got up this morning to find electric had tripped in the night, pressed in the switch on mcb but it kept tripping every 20 mins even though i unplugged a lot of major appliances.

Got homeserve electrician round. He couldn't fully test circuit as we need to remove built in oven from its casing in order to unplug it from behind, and as it had been on it wastoo hot to do so. He thinks that may be where the fault lies.d

JoJoB

Apologies, trying to post on my phone.

When he left i got call from homeserve saying they can only look at it again if the oven is removed and if the 20 amp fuse on the mcb is removed and replaced with 32amp.

I am concerned as the mcb board says not to exceed totAl load of 60 amps, there are 4 mcbs on the board so surely one increased to 32a would be too much?

This is for an old 2 bed flat, 4 circuits, kitchenette and living room appliances all on the one circuit.

No rcd box. Would dearly love one but I just have no money.

Should i do what insurance company suggest?

Also one of the socket/power outlets makes popping noise when the circuit trips even though nothing is plugged into it. Does his indicate the problem might be with that socket rather than the oven? Or is this noise common?

southcoastrgi

I'm sure one of the excellent sparkies on here will be able to answer this fully, but no popping from a socket isn't normal, it could be that the connector in the socket needs tightening as if it is loose then this can cause your problem it needs to be un-screwed from the wall to make sure all the connections are tight.

muckybutt

JoJoB wrote: »

Also one of the socket/power outlets makes popping noise when the circuit trips even though nothing is plugged into it. Does his indicate the problem might be with that socket rather than the oven? Or is this noise common?

If there is nothing plugged in the said socket that is "popping" then that could well be a loose connection which - and I am not trying to frighten you - could and does cause a fire ! it is definately NOT normal and needs urgent attention.

If you havent got RCD then with the fuse blowing that indicates that it is a short circuit or overload that is causing the problem, does this problem make its self apparent when the cooker has been on or not ?

Uprating the cooker fuse - this would depend on the size of cable that the circuit is wired in, if its just an oven and not a oven hob combined then wired in 2.5mm cable and 20A fuse is adequate as at max the oven would only pull about 12 - 13A, if it has a electric hob as well then the circuit should be wired in 6mm cable 32A fuse which can handle higher loads.

DevCoder

Even applying diversity, without knowing the loadings for the oven (and hob if appropriate) then it's just guessing at what the cas of the cable should be and what the mcb rating protecting the cable should be.

I'm surprised that homeserv (well maybe not) would be saying to up the mcb from 20a to 32a without knowing the cable its protecting as the oven couldn't be removed (unless they took a csa measurement from the mcb end).

Could be choc'd to 2.5mm or 1.5mm at the oven end for all they know.

keystone

krisdorey wrote: »

I'm surprised that homeserv (well maybe not)

:T:T

Cheers

JoJoB

Thanks all for such prompt and helpful responses. I remembered a friend's husband is a builder and he had a look and confirmed the popping socket was the culprit (loose wire touching the back wall and making it short) and confirmed it wasn't necessary to up the amp to 32.

No trips since he sorted it. Oven now won't come on though lol but it was on its last legs anyway so I can live with that. Just glad to not be worrying about electrical fires and defrosting freezer food.

fluffpot

And don't bother with Homeserve again what a pile of rubbish advice they gave you

muckybutt

Glad you got it sorted jojoB :T

If you are at all in doubt with your electrics get an approved sparky in to do an electrical inspection / condition report of the wiring.

ed110220

Glad to hear you got it fixed and it was something simple. I think loose connections inside sockets are quite common, we had one or two when we moved in. The sparking they cause is a significant cause of fires apparently. Sometimes you can actually see the spark behind the switch.

I'm not sure how they work their way loose, but I was advised that it's worth using a larger screwdriver than the usual electrical one for the final tightening to make sure it's firm.