Live to earth fault following bathroom flood

Clive_Woody

My MIL had a leak from her upstairs bathroom cistern that flooded into the room below and was also dripping out of the ceiling light fitting.

The insurance folk are working on this, but she had an electrician out earlier today to inspect the damage and carry out some tests. He has told the insurers that he there was a live to earth fault affecting various circuits (that he isolated to make safe). The insurers have stated that they do not feel this fault is related to the claim and advised her not to reinstate the circuits until repairs/rewire has been completed.

I should maybe point out that the electrician somehow managed to give himself a shock by pressing the light switch in the room that was flooded….I’m no expert but surely a degree of caution is advisable when electricity and water mix.

My MIL is now not sure how to proceed as the insurers seem to be washing their hands of the electrical claim and have left a 77 year old on her own with over half the house with no power.

Is it possible/likely that this fault was present before the flood or is the water leaking all around the ceiling and out of the light fitting more likely to be the cause?

coffeehound

How long since the flooding occurred?  If the floor/ceiling is still wet then I'd have assumed water in junction boxes etc could be directly causing the short.  Especially when combined with dust and debris.  I'm no electrician nor insurance expert but would have thought the building and electrics need time to thoroughly dry out before a conclusive decision can be made.  In the best case, the problem might then go away

Clive_Woody

coffeehound said:

How long since the flooding occurred?  If the floor/ceiling is still wet then I'd have assumed water in junction boxes etc could be directly causing the short.  Especially when combined with dust and debris.  I'm no electrician nor insurance expert but would have thought the building and electrics need time to thoroughly dry out before a conclusive decision can be made.  In the best case, the problem might then go away

The flood happened about a week ago but they only provided dehumidifiers on Monday so it's definitely still drying out. The ceiling will need to come down and a number of walls will need redecorating. The leak happened in the night so water was flowing for quite some time.

bris

It's doubtful, the electrician would have checked it, if there was standing water in the fitting he would have noticed it.

The fact it was affecting various circuits points to a bigger problem.

You need to get an EICR done, the tester can then give a report and if it points to the leak then you have proof for the insurers.

coffeehound

The fact that a light switch was able to become live without blowing a fuse/breaker might indicate a pre-existing wiring fault.  At least since the ceiling needs to come down anyway, that makes it easy to check the junction boxes etc for water and debris

Ectophile

Has the electrician actually located the L-E fault?  If they haven't, I would recommend opening a complaint with the insurance company, and ask them to send out somebody to do the job properly.

fenwick458

how many other circuits are now isolated and what do they do? all other circuits have an apparent live to earth fault too?
did any circuit breakers operate when the flood happened?

Clive_Woody

fenwick458 said:

how many other circuits are now isolated and what do they do? all other circuits have an apparent live to earth fault too?
did any circuit breakers operate when the flood happened?

The electrician from the insurers isolated five circuits, only one had tripped during the flood.

Fortunately my MIL was able to contact her regular electrician who came out and checked things over. The lighting circuit for the room that was flooded is still isolated as everything is still damp but he couldn't find anything wrong with the other circuits. Apparently the first electrician told my MIL that the whole house may need to be rewired - second electrician said that is nonsense. 

Complaint has gone in to the insurers. Fun times ahead....

GDB2222

Clive_Woody said:

fenwick458 said:

how many other circuits are now isolated and what do they do? all other circuits have an apparent live to earth fault too?
did any circuit breakers operate when the flood happened?

The electrician from the insurers isolated five circuits, only one had tripped during the flood.

Fortunately my MIL was able to contact her regular electrician who came out and checked things over. The lighting circuit for the room that was flooded is still isolated as everything is still damp but he couldn't find anything wrong with the other circuits. Apparently the first electrician told my MIL that the whole house may need to be rewired - second electrician said that is nonsense. 

Complaint has gone in to the insurers. Fun times ahead....

I'm pleased to hear that you have sorted the immediate problem out. 

"The flood happened about a week ago but they only provided dehumidifiers on Monday" - Maybe MIL's insurance policy is different from mine, but I'd have hired dehumidifiers straight away.  My experience is that insurers are not generally difficult about reasonable emergency measures taken by the householder to mitigate the loss. 

If the ceiling has to come down anyway, maybe it would be a good idea just to get on with that, so it all dries out faster, rather than waiting for the insurers to 'do something'. Get a quote from your favoured builder, and ask the insurer to agree it.