RCD tripping with nothing plugged in

hungledink

I'm having my electrics upgraded.

They've fitted a new fuse box with rcds. Since they've left for the evening however, one of the rcds keeps tripping.

I've unplugged everything from the sockets that keep blowing and it still trips. I guess that means an internal wiring issue?

Is this likely to be an expensive issue to diagnose and repair?

shaun_from_Africa

Do you by any chance have a tom cat? or have you had one in the house in the past?
I've had two in the past and they both had a habit of spraying into electrical sockets which resulted in the RCD tripping off until I had removed, cleaned and replaced the affected socket.

It appears that this is quite a common problem:
https://www.google.com/search?as_q=cat+spraying+electric+sockets&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&lr=&cr=&as_qdr=all&as_sitesearch=&as_occt=any&safe=images&as_filetype=&as_rights
and if this is the cause, you should be able to smell it if you get close to the socket even if it happened a fair while ago.

ohreally

hungledink wrote: »

I've unplugged everything from the sockets

Definitely everything (and switch off)?

Whats on the circuit?

If its not an appliance fault get the guys back out and ask they test the circuit/ RCBO.

jk0

I bet it's a nail through an old cable bridging earth & neutral. This won't have blown a fuse in the past, but will trip an RCD.

It will be hard to track down though, as it could be anywhere.

xyz123

R u 100% sure tg circuit doesn't feed anything other than sockets? It could be someone in past have taken a spur of socket circuit...

brightontraveller

hungledink wrote: »

I'm having my electrics upgraded.

They've fitted a new fuse box with rcds. Since they've left for the evening however, one of the rcds keeps tripping.

I've unplugged everything from the sockets that keep blowing and it still trips. I guess that means an internal wiring issue?

Is this likely to be an expensive issue to diagnose and repair?

Call them back , Multitude of things it could be most wouldn’t charge for a call back same /next day after CU install (some might require you to do certain things e.g. unplug appliances etc and as long as you have wouldn't charge )

Grenage

They would ideally have tested for this sort of thing before the switch; as jk0 says, it's most likely a knackered cable. How quickly does it flip?

brightontraveller

Grenage wrote: »

They would ideally have tested for this sort of thing before the switch; as jk0 says, it's most likely a knackered cable. How quickly does it flip?

Not ideally they would have certainly tested circuits (possibly prior) and after new CU installation so nail shorting would have been picked up assuming there qualified, I'd go appliance still plugged in but could be tight bend, floorboard squashing cable etc loads of things hence get them back...

Heedtheadvice

Unless it is something new since the upgrade (or as has been mentioned something still in circuit as a load like an appliance or immersion heater etc.) or just a damned intermittent fault this should have been located via circuit insulation checks during installation. Explain the problem and get them to call back to test but maybe double check everything is disconnected in the meantime as it may save you a few pennies if you find it is a faulty appliance!