Our main electric box is cutting after the rain today.

[ubonr1971]

I dont know if we have a moisture issue in the small room where our electric box is located but we are having issues with the main electric box in the photo. The main breaker (blue colour switch) is powering off all the time. After trying to do some tests of switching off some of the black breaker switches eg for the air con and many other things, it kept going to off position when I tried to turn it on. Finally I removed the RCBO test thing from the system as indicated in the photo. Then I pushed up the mains again. It stayed up in the On position and problem solved. 

 

So it seems that the gold coloured test RCBO thing is highly sensitive. Should I simply go and buy a new one and stick it back in there?

 

Today if that RCBO small thing is not in that hole is it a safety risk? We have customers coming into our business using our services and I worry there could be a problem. Will safety cut system work without that small RCBO thing not being in that hole?

 

thanks

 

 

Edited March 20, 2023 by ubonr1971

[Crossy]

OK with the RCBO unit removed you have no earth leakage protection, over-current protection will still work.

 

Does the breaker stay on with the selector set to 30mA?

 

I suspect that the damp has got into the electrics somewhere (not necessarily where the board is located), you need an electrician to look at it and locate where the damp is (clue, it happened after the rain). 

 

Running without earth leakage protection isn't an immediate danger, but it's definitely not advisable for a business.

 

[ubonr1971]

3 minutes ago, Crossy said:

OK with the RCBO unit removed you have no earth leakage protection, over-current protection will still work.

 

Does the breaker stay on with the selector set to 30mA?

 

I suspect that the damp has got into the electrics somewhere (not necessarily where the board is located), you need an electrician to look at it and locate where the damp is (clue, it happened after the rain). 

 

Running without earth leakage protection isn't an immediate danger, but it's definitely not advisable for a business.

 

Thanks. 

 

Hes out there now with a device outside where we dug a hole for the earth ground copper pole rod. 

 

Its a needle in the haystack to try and locate a suspect damp issue actually

[OneMoreFarang]

9 minutes ago, Crossy said:

Running without earth leakage protection isn't an immediate danger, but it's definitely not advisable for a business.

I have to admit I don't have any experience with a removable RCBO where the system still works after that is removed.

But maybe you can elaborate what you mean with above sentence.

 

As far as I understand it, now the breaker will switch off if there is a short circuit. I.e. if someone would put a wire in a power outlet connecting the L and N pins then it would switch off.

But if a person would touch the L and get a big electric shock and maybe he even dies then the current setup, without RCBO, would not switch off. Correct?

 

[Crossy]

5 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I have to admit I don't have any experience with a removable RCBO where the system still works after that is removed.

But maybe you can elaborate what you mean with above sentence.

 

As far as I understand it, now the breaker will switch off if there is a short circuit. I.e. if someone would put a wire in a power outlet connecting the L and N pins then it would switch off.

But if a person would touch the L and get a big electric shock and maybe he even dies then the current setup, without RCBO, would not switch off. Correct?

 

 

Yup, that's about it. So don't go getting hold of live wires.

 

Assuming (not always a good idea) that the system is properly earthed then there's no immediate danger, but it needs sorting ASAP.

[Crossy]

15 minutes ago, ubonr1971 said:

Thanks. 

 

Hes out there now with a device outside where we dug a hole for the earth ground copper pole rod. 

 

Its a needle in the haystack to try and locate a suspect damp issue actually

 

Yeah, and of course it will go away when it dries out, until next time ???? 

 

The usual suspects are outside lights and outlets or ants getting in any of the wall boxes. Time to get out the screwdriver and check everything.

[ubonr1971]

16 minutes ago, Crossy said:

Yeah, and of course it will go away when it dries out, until next time

So that area where the copper rod is located gets wet etc. Should we cover that and protect it from the rain? 

[Crossy]

5 minutes ago, ubonr1971 said:

So that area where the copper rod is located gets wet etc. Should we cover that and protect it from the rain? 

 

Actually, that's the bit you want to keep damp for a good earth ???? 

 

You want to be looking for damp inside wall boxes, external light fittings and the like. Start in places where the weather can get it.

[ubonr1971]

He said he is going to come back tonight and replace the copper rod in that hole. He implied it could be rusted. Its 5 yrs old since being installed. 

 

He checked all the wiring inside the main box etc

 

I will ask him to check external lights etc. 

[Crossy]

Hmmmm, I think he may be barking up the wrong tree, but I'm not there to see what testing he's done.

 

Did you try the RCBO set to 30mA?

[ubonr1971]

8 minutes ago, Crossy said:

Hmmmm, I think he may be barking up the wrong tree, but I'm not there to see what testing he's done.

 

Did you try the RCBO set to 30mA?

it was already set to 30 on that dial on that photo I attached. The black dial button is pointing to the red 30mA

[asf6]

18 minutes ago, ubonr1971 said:

He said he is going to come back tonight and replace the copper rod in that hole. He implied it could be rusted. Its 5 yrs old since being installed. 

Copper doesn't actually rust. It might corrode a bit but that isn't going to affect its conductivity, certainly not after a mere 5 years. By all means clean it if you want, but I would doubt very much that is needs replacing. 

Edited March 20, 2023 by asf6

[rwill]

If you still have the problem try turning all the breakers off with the RCBO unit in and then turn the breakers on one at a time until it trips.  You might be able to isolate which circuit is causing the problem that way.

 

I'm assuming there is another breaker box contected to this with all the individual circuits.

[sometimewoodworker]

1 hour ago, asf6 said:

Copper doesn't actually rust. It might corrode a bit but that isn't going to affect its conductivity, certainly not after a mere 5 years. By all means clean it if you want, but I would doubt very much that is needs replacing. 

It is perfectly possible that the earth rod has rusted. This is because you never get a pure copper rod, they would be both ridiculously expensive as well as too soft, they are always steel with a copper coating so once the copper coating has been breached the will be able to rust.

[digger70]

15 hours ago, asf6 said:

Copper doesn't actually rust. It might corrode a bit but that isn't going to affect its conductivity, certainly not after a mere 5 years. By all means clean it if you want, but I would doubt very much that is needs replacing. 

It's most likely one of the cheap Iron rods covered in a copper/brass  Skin/tube, I've seen them used a fair bit down here .They use them because they don't bent easy when hammered in the ground.

[Crossy]

@ubonr1971Any news??

 

[daveAustin]

RCBO/RCD can also be knacked after a number of trips. The current (no pun intended) fault might have sent it over the edge... you likely have some leakage on an outdoor circuit as crossy says. Should be the first thing your sparky would check.

[VocalNeal]

The OP could call Safe-T-Cut they have mobile services in some areas.

[ubonr1971]

4 hours ago, Crossy said:

@ubonr1971Any news??

 

Last night he disconnected the old copper pole earth ground rod and drilled a hole and punched a new copper rod down there. Then he put something ontop of that. Lit somethihng and a mini explosion occurred for a few seconds and that was all done. So Then he went and checked all spotlights. I used a hose and sprayed water on the spotlights and then he checked them to see if any water was inside etc. 

 

Actually I said I wanted to buy a new a new small RCBO box device with that yellow test button as displayed in the photo. If its that sensitive then it could have been compromised. Oh no he said dont do that. Actually this same problem happened a year ago and he tried to talk me out of buying a new one. I went ahead anyway and bought a new one. Dont know if I should go and buy a new one? Or wait until the fun and games begin again when the raining season starts.   This guy and his team did all the wiring at our other building brand new install. No issues at all and an excellent job. We trust him a lot. The fact that it doesnt cost much to buy a new RCBO device.... I dont know why he thinks I should not bother...

[asf6]

Did your electrical guy do something like a "Megger test" to test the insulation resistance of the circuits in your property?