House circuit breaker activated!
 

Hi,

I'm a bit bemused...

I turned off the 'ground floor sockets' on my 'fusebox' (or whatever they're
called these days) whilst fitting some new, well, sockets. I had 5 to do
and all was going well. I checked each one with a socket tester first just
to make sure it wasn't live. I got to the last one, inserted the live
wires - fine. The earth - fine. As I went to put the neutral in place I
was plunged into darkness (my gf wasn't impressed - she was up a ladder
painting the downstairs loo at the time).

Thankfully I managed to find a torch in the pitch black and reset the
circuit breaker.

Could my socket tinkering (remembering that the sockets were OFF at the
time) have contributed in any way to the blackout or must it have been
something else. How do I find out what caused it?

BTW - after the power was restored, I used the socket tester on each of the
newly fitted sockets and it reported everything as a-ok. I also used a
power tester screwdriver on the visible screwheads just in case something
had gone amiss - nothing!

TIA,

Daz

House circuit breaker activated!
 

In article ,
says...
Hi,

I'm a bit bemused...

I turned off the 'ground floor sockets' on my 'fusebox' (or whatever they're
called these days) whilst fitting some new, well, sockets. I had 5 to do
and all was going well. I checked each one with a socket tester first just
to make sure it wasn't live. I got to the last one, inserted the live
wires - fine. The earth - fine. As I went to put the neutral in place I
was plunged into darkness (my gf wasn't impressed - she was up a ladder
painting the downstairs loo at the time).

Thankfully I managed to find a torch in the pitch black and reset the
circuit breaker.

Could my socket tinkering (remembering that the sockets were OFF at the
time) have contributed in any way to the blackout or must it have been
something else. How do I find out what caused it?

BTW - after the power was restored, I used the socket tester on each of the
newly fitted sockets and it reported everything as a-ok. I also used a
power tester screwdriver on the visible screwheads just in case something
had gone amiss - nothing!

TIA,

Daz




The most likely cause is that you got a brief short between earth &
neutral (maybe one of the neutrals stroked the earthed strip on the back
of the socket plate?), which allowed a small amount of current (from the
other loads in the house, lights etc) to bypass the main RCD, which
unbalanced it, and caused just the effect that they are designed for. At
a guess you have an earth rod?

House circuit breaker activated!
 

"Gary Cavie" wrote in message
t...

The most likely cause is that you got a brief short between earth &
neutral (maybe one of the neutrals stroked the earthed strip on the back
of the socket plate?), which allowed a small amount of current (from the
other loads in the house, lights etc) to bypass the main RCD, which
unbalanced it, and caused just the effect that they are designed for. At
a guess you have an earth rod?

I don't know about an earth rod. Is that likely in a 15 year old house?

So this would happen even if the socket I was working on is unpowered?

Thankfully it didn't happen with the other 4 - that would have really
unnerved me! :o)

Daz

House circuit breaker activated!
 

Kroma wrote:
my gf wasn't impressed - she was up a ladder
painting the downstairs loo at the time.

Crikey, you must have a very big one (ooh-err)!

House circuit breaker activated!
 

"Chris Bacon" wrote in message
...
Kroma wrote:
my gf wasn't impressed - she was up a ladder painting the downstairs loo
at the time.

Crikey, you must have a very big one (ooh-err)!

;o)

House circuit breaker activated!
 

"Kroma" wrote in message
...

"Gary Cavie" wrote in message
t...

The most likely cause is that you got a brief short between earth
&
neutral (maybe one of the neutrals stroked the earthed strip on
the back
of the socket plate?), which allowed a small amount of current
(from the
other loads in the house, lights etc) to bypass the main RCD,
which
unbalanced it, and caused just the effect that they are designed
for. At
a guess you have an earth rod?

I don't know about an earth rod. Is that likely in a 15 year old
house?

So this would happen even if the socket I was working on is
unpowered?
snip

Unless it's a DP circuit breaker then yes, as the neutrals are
connected directly to the neutral busbar and are thus unstitched.

House circuit breaker activated!
 

Kroma wrote:
I don't know about an earth rod. Is that likely in a 15 year old house?

So this would happen even if the socket I was working on is unpowered?

Thankfully it didn't happen with the other 4 - that would have really
unnerved me!

You touched the neutral. Neutrals are dead common.
You were, at that time, an earth. What went out
did not equal what came back. The RCD noticed this,
and went "CLACK!". I have had it happen,and if your
head is near the switch, it sounds quite exciting.

House circuit breaker activated!
 

"Kroma" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I'm a bit bemused...

I turned off the 'ground floor sockets' on my 'fusebox' (or whatever
they're called these days) whilst fitting some new, well, sockets. I had
5 to do and all was going well. I checked each one with a socket tester
first just to make sure it wasn't live. I got to the last one, inserted
the live wires - fine. The earth - fine. As I went to put the neutral in
place I was plunged into darkness (my gf wasn't impressed - she was up a
ladder painting the downstairs loo at the time).

Thankfully I managed to find a torch in the pitch black and reset the
circuit breaker.

Could my socket tinkering (remembering that the sockets were OFF at the
time) have contributed in any way to the blackout or must it have been
something else. How do I find out what caused it?

BTW - after the power was restored, I used the socket tester on each of
the newly fitted sockets and it reported everything as a-ok. I also used
a power tester screwdriver on the visible screwheads just in case
something had gone amiss - nothing!

TIA,

Daz


It could be that if you are on a whole house RCD then some earth leakage
occurred whilst you were wiring them up. This happens even if that circuit
is off.