Please help! Flooded bathroom and fused electrics!

Morrigan_2020

Hi all, hoping someone can advise on what is the best thing to do now. 

I stupidly left a shower head running and left the room, got distracted and it was probably 20 minutes.  Only realised what I’d done when the TV turned off.  The shower head had fallen and was pumping water onto the bathroom floor which was running down to the kitchen below through the light fitting. 

I have a family member’s funeral tomorrow and I really don’t need the extra stress.  If I leave everything for a few days to dry out and then turn the fuse back on will that be safe?  Anybody ever been in this position before?

grumbler

Morrigan_2020 said:

 If I leave everything for a few days to dry out and then turn the fuse back on will that be safe? 

The only way to know is to try.

Most likely it'll be safe when the moisture dries completely, but nobody can tell you how long this can take.

I guess it was RCD that tripped, not MCB.

It's very likely that only lighting was affected and only in some particular area but the joint RCD can keep tripping now even if you switch this part off with it's dedicated MCB.

Morrigan_2020

Looking at the fuse box the RCD is the only thing tripped

grumbler

Like I said, you can try your luck right now by switching the corresponding MCB off and then RCD on.

Morrigan_2020

Electrician on the way, decided not to take any daft risks with water and electricity. 

knightstyle

Buy or hire a dehumidifier to dry the place quicker. 

Jeepers_Creepers

Fair do's, Morrigan - you don't want the unnecessary hassle at the moment.

Hard to know what the sparky will be able to do that you couldn't tho' - I mean, he isn't going to start ripping your ceiling down. But, see what they say.

(This happened to sis-in-law a few months back - she left her wee boy showering, which he did - with the shower door open. Water coming down through sitting room ceiling light and plasterboard joints. It hadn't tripped anything - yet - but I just turned off all the MCBs serving circuits that could have been affected (downstairs lights), and said to keep the heating going and try and ventilate the house whenever she's at home. In a week it was bone dry and all good for resetting.)

The thing to do in such situations, if you are pretty confident that the affected area is known, is to turn off ALL the MCBs that COULD possibly be affected by the water - basically all the kitchen circuits, lights and sockets - then  turn the main RCD switch back on. If the RCD now stays on, great. If you want, you could then try turning the kitchen sockets back on (I guess you need to eat) and see if the RCD stays on. If it does, I'd personally be happy to keep using it.

I suspect it's just the kitchen lights that are actually affected, but this could well be shared by all the lights on that floor level. Don't be afraid to test this! With the main RCD back on - and the kitchen sockets - try turning on the lights MCB too. The RCD will 'clunk' immediately if that's where the leak is - in which case turn that MCB back off and reset the RCD.

You really want your CH running if you can - not only is it chilly, but you want the house to dry out as soon as possible.

Mickey666

Morrigan_2020 said:

Electrician on the way, decided not to take any daft risks with water and electricity. 

Fair enough, especially given your personal circumstances.  I'm sure you don't need this sort of problem at a difficult time.

Given that the water ran through a light fitting, I would start by turning off the power to that lighting circuit (ie remove the relevant fuse or trip the relevant MCB).  The reset the RCD.  if only the lighting circuit was affected then the RCD should not trip out and all other circuits should work again as normal.   This will at least buy some time for the light socket to dry out.

If the RCD still strips out then other circuits are also affected, in which case remove ALL fuses or trip ALL MCBs and then reset the RCD, which should now not trip out.  Then replace fuses/reset MCBs one at a time to find out which other circuits are affected.

But hopefully the electrician has arrived by now.

Jeepers_Creepers

... and the sparky is going to say/do exactly what you've said, Mickey :-(

Morrigan_2020

Thanks all, he’s been and gone, it had mostly dried out thanks to blasting the heating up and opening windows quickly, he tested the light fitting and the circuits declared it all safe.  To be honest you’re probably right that I could have managed but I definitely feel better to have everything back to normal so quickly and peace of mind so I’m considering it money well spent.  The RCD did me a huge favour because it alerted me quickly enough to react fast. 

Thanks for taking the time to respond. 

grumbler

Mickey666 said:

Morrigan_2020 said:

Electrician on the way, decided not to take any daft risks with water and electricity. 

if only the lighting circuit was affected then the RCD should not trip out and all other circuits should work again as normal.  

I wouldn't be that sure. MCB, typically, brakes only the live wire. RCD can be tripped by some connection between neutral and earth ones.