Problem with electrical wiring in newish house?

[martinber]

Hi guys,

Maybe someone can help. We have bought a house that is about 6 years old. After 6 months of living here we have issues with the wiring, on of the RCDs trips constantly for a particular power circuit even with no external load at all (appliances on it). The circuit itself does not trip but can't be used as the RCD trip right away when the circuit is on. We are a bit short of cash now that we just bought the place and I am wondering if there are issues that soon after the house was built, would this fall under implied warranty? We do not have the wiring plan. Any suggestion of plan of action here?

cheers

[donna]

Hi Martin,

Kiwis like a bit of DIY and electrical is one area that's not off limits to the handyman keen to save a bit of $$, yet when done wrong it can have catastrophic outcomes. When we bought our house we got an electrician to check all the wiring etc and he found a 'iive' wire under the house - which was easily accessible. He was obligated to report it - which he did and we gave the previous owner's details etc.

I suppose the starting point is - Is the wiring etc compliant? That is, do you have the certificate? I recommend getting the house checked out by a qualified Electrician.

cheers,

Donna

[Learning]

After we bought our house, it wasnt till after I'd killed two laptop chargers that I plugged in my circuit tester. Found 2 sockets wired up wrong.

[Perry]

Don't Presume The Worst

Electric current "leakage" is what causes RCDs to trip. RCDs come with different ratings - usually 10, 20 and 30. However, not all RCDs are created equal. We had lots of problems with one, after a new build. Eventually, I got an electrical inspector to come and check. Even before he ran the checks, he said: "those are crap RCDs. They give a lot of nuisance-tripping headaches to people." His tests confirmed his observation; the RCD was replaced with one of a different brand and the problem went away.

You may have a dud; a dud brand; or perhaps a circuit that's been fitted with an RCD that has a rating too low for what's on that circuit.

[sparxNZ]

it's not something you can fix yourself, but it sounds simple and inexpensive going on what you've described unless it's rodent damaged wiring, then it's getting expensive. call an electrician and hope its just a crook rcd.

[Wayne]

From what you describe it sounds like the RCD might be at fault. This is something for an electrician to replace I'm afraid - permitted electrical work.
Some have suggested it could be much bigger but probably isn't. Things go faulty, it happens. Something that should last years and years can fail in a short time.
Given it's 6 years old you probably don't have a comeback on the original electrician.

The electrician will be able to fault find better than anyone on here from a distance.

[Perry]

Go with Wayne's suggestion - I've often wondered if RCDs get 'tired' like old circuit breakers did.