correct wiring

the GALL

Just a quick question
The wife turned on the emersion yesterday and the trip went this also knocked off the sockets downstairs
so im wondering what could have tripped it in the first place there doesn't seem to be any water leaking, the house is 4 year old?
and Should the emersion be on its own circut/loop? The 'sparks' who wired the house was an alarm installer/technician or so im told
Any idea please?

Mr Magnolia

I'd say it was the ELCB that tripped and took out the sockets. Your emersion may be leaking, it happens.

Andrea B.

the house is 4 year old?

I'd say it was the ELCB that tripped and took out the sockets.

Most likely your RCD tripped and most likely indicating an electrical earth leakage in your element, hence most likely needing replacement.

However, what concerns me is that you say it only knocked out sockets downstairs, which might mean it was only an MCB, and hence he has immersion on socket circuit?
Have an electrician to clarify when replacing/checking element.

the GALL

hey andrea
I take by your post that it shouldn't be on the same circut as the sockets?
would this cause the damage to the emersion
and is this against the building regs re: electrics
cheers
roy
and what are thew risks of a fire

bertie1

No it shouldn't be on the same mcb as the sockets however it will be on the same RCD ( Residual Current Device) which would lead to all the sockets in the house tripping out ( unless it is a very big house and the origional electrician split the loads across two RCDS)

You need to get the element changed as the tripping you described would indicate an an earth fault.

The mcb on a circuit is there to protect the cables from overloading but the Rcd is there to protect you from getting an electric shock.
However it is wired would not cause damage to the immersion and your wiring needs to comply with the ETCI regulations not the building regulations. Have a competent electrician check it out .

Andrea B.

hey andrea
I take by your post that it shouldn't be on the same circut as the sockets?
would this cause the damage to the emersion
and is this against the building regs re: electrics
cheers
roy
and what are thew risks of a fire

A full load immersion would use a load of approx 13amps. Your individual domestic socket circuits would have a max load of 20amps, so it wouldn't leave you much load leeway on a socket circuit.

It is not to ITCI regs as pointed out by bertie1, but to answer your question, I cannot see the danger relating to fire or shock, unless it has been spurred from a circuit, ie; original sparks put it in as an afterthought.

Yes, have it clarified. It may be just a simple issue of having been doubled up on MCB's at board.

Nonmonotonic

I had this problem. The RCD is tripped by a corroded immersion heater element. Water is getting in and shorting to ground. It took me a while to find the problem because there was a certain randomness with what appeared to be tripping the RCD. I turned all the circuit breakers off and reset the RCD. The RCD would trip for different and changing combinations of circuit breakers being on. Maybe there is barely enough shorting to cause this randomness.

Strange this should happen in a 4 year old house unless it was a second hand element.

the GALL

cheers guys
as i said the house was wired by an alarm installer...I found this out after i bought. I guess his boss signed off on the reci cert
I was wondering If it complied with regs re: come back from the builder for sub standard work
The water in the development is supposed to be hard maybe this is causing the fault re:corrosion to element
Ball park figure how much should I expect to pay for this to be put right
Thanks again