Electrrics problem in flat

[Lazarus]

Keep getting little electric popping sounds all over the flat under the floor where the wiring goes. Each time it happens the lights flicker for a second. Its like little "puch" noises like you get when a light bulb dies but its not in the same place and may not even be to do with my flat because my gf heard it in the close too?

The places I have heard it does indeed follow a trail of the ring mains but why at all different parts of it?

Its not coming from sockets it could only be coming from the middle of the wires.

I dont know if its coincidence or not but it has happened quite a few times when the updstairs neighbour switches on her washing machine.

Recently (in case this is any clue) I had to repair the light socket in the lounge after knocking cobwebs away from the lightshade. I must have hit it and one of the wires broke in the lampholder and it was a real struggle to try to get it fixed while up a pair of ladders(tall ceiling).

If I didnt get it quite right would it cause this? I doubted it becuase the light circuit is def on its own ring but then I know nowt about electrics.

If I do lift the floorboards(which would have to be cut) what do I look for?

I live on the ground floor by the way.

Any ideas anyone?

[Owain]

"Lazarus" wrote | Keep getting little electric popping sounds all over the flat | under the floor where the wiring goes. Each time it happens | the lights flicker for a second. Its like little "puch" noises | like you get when a light bulb dies but its not in the same | place and may not even be to do with my flat because | my gf heard it in the close too?

It is possible that both your flat and the close wiring are completely and utterly shagged out and imminently about to burst into flames ...

| If I do lift the floorboards (which would have to be cut) what | do I look for?

Rather than lifting floorboards, you could start with the consumer unit and then check a few fittings.

- How old is the flat? How long have you had it, and was any electrical report done at the time of purchase/tenancy?

- Is the consumer unit modern and in good condition (do you have fuses, or MCBs that look like little switches)?

- Do you have modern light switches and sockets flushed into the wall?

- Do you have any signs of earth bonding (green and yellow single core cable attached to clamps on the water pipes) in the bathroom?

- Do any of the switches or sockets get warm in use?

If the flat is rented, your landlord has responsibility for ensuring that the electrical installation is safe. In Scotland, if the flat is registered as a House of Multiple Occupation, an electrical inspection certificate is usually required as part of the licence.

If the flat is wired in old rubber-insulated cable then it is overdue for rewiring. The rubber perishes and any movement of the cable can cause it to crack and create short circuits. You should be very cautious of this if you decide to (switch off at the mains first) loosen any of the switches and sockets and peer behind, which is the simplest way of visually checking the general wiring. You should see clean, fairly newish-looking, red and black PVC insulated cores, usually in a white or grey sheath, with green-and-yellow sleeving on the bare earth core. Any sign of braided or rubberised insulation or lack of an earth wire, indicates rewiring required. Light switches and sockets will be wired in single-core cable; stranded cores on these size cables suggest old work.

Owain

[Set Square]

How about rats gnawing through the wires - with each pop and flicker being associated with a rodent being electrocuted?

[Bargain Hunter]

I own the flat and have lived here 25 years Its wired with 2.5 standard twin & earth which is modern No earthing clamps in bathroom No rats It happens every few hours and although I`ve heard it other places its one place in particular which is about 3 ft away from the nearest outlet

It is an old meter with wired ceramic fuses and no RCD`s etc

No sockets getting hot All the sockets were replaced by me with very high quality ones about 6 years ago

LSC fittings on the lights

The movement thing might be a clue.....someone in the building is running some sort of machinery which causes a vibration all over my home.......its very low density but really annoying and going by the poweferful vibration its almost as though someone is running some sort of industrial machinery?

Do you think this vibration is causing this? Its already caused a pipe under the floor to come loose and i had a leak but that was fixed professionally and was nowhere near where this noise is coming from.

[N. Thornton]

thats a good sign. You're sure its pvc and not lead covered?

what kind of skts were there before? square/rectangular, or with curved edges? White or brown/black? Why did you replace them all?

Anyhow, youve got bad connections probably, and theyre likely to catch fire. Fix pronto.

NT

[Bill]

In message , N. Thornton writes

I'll second that, no electrical problem should be allowed to go unchecked. A couple of days back a friend of mine complained that a single 13A socket in her kitchen had not worked for a while. I found that the screw holding the neutral wires was loose, not just slightly loose but it took 2 or 3 turns to tighten it! As there was a spur fed from this it a) broke the neutral ring and b) had removed the neutral from the spur too. Not a nice situation as what ever was plugged in had a live feed to it and was therefore live but apparently powered off. What had caused this I have no idea but I have found similar situations before. She lost a house some years ago due to an electrical fire and was not amused at the latest fault, a minor problem with a microwave in the kitchen had burnt the house down. If you are sure the sounds are coming from under the floor I would very quickly lift the floor and check NOW. Good luck and take care.

Totally different topic but my dad, who is 84, recently hung a picture in the hall way, very nicely centred above the 3 gang light switch, one of the lights no longer worked! Ho Humm!!!!!!!! Problem is now sorted by the way.

[Lazarus]

Yes its def moderm t&e as I have replaced sections of it before when a cable got ruined due to water damage.

The sockets were replaced for cosmetic reasons and fitted with expenisve "gold trim" ones. I also changed them all to dbl sockets.

So what yoiu are saying is that it could be just one socket with loose wire/s and if I check them all one at a time I might find it?

I will do this !

Thanks for the help guys!

[Pecanfan]

We had the same problem in our flat, only it was the neutral meter tail which wasn't actually attached to the main RCD in the consumer unit. Only noticed it by chance - having just moved in, checked the electrics as a matter of course. There were char marks all around the terminal screw on the RCD - was quite shocked to find it was only held in by the tension of the cable itself!

In a previous house, the main earth cable for the entire property went from the consumer unit to a location behind the meter board. I always assumed it was attached to the shield of the incoming supply. Wasn't until I replaced the consumer unit that I found it was just dangling in mid air behind the meter.

Needless to say the electric board didn't pick up on either of these when they initially came out to re-fit the main fuse. In fact, it's frightening how blasé the electric board are in general about this sort of stuff. If there's a gas leak, Transco are out within minutes. If there's an electrical fault nobody seems to give a damn, IMHO.

Andy

[Peter]

In a hoilday house in dongeal we had for a while the Consumer unit had a single pole incommer switch disconnector on the live and the netural went straight to the busbar. But this connection wasn't tightened so the wire and busbar was very chared.

This was a large CU. It was a hagar din rail unit with three rows / ~14 modules wide, with lots of large ugly screw in ceramic fuses. The house was wired with 5! lighting radials (6a each), 5 socket radials (almost ramdom sizes 16 - 32a), cooker, hot water, boiler etc..

The sockets were on a rcd but some of the sockets had there netural wired to the wrong side of the rcd and of course triped when ever they were used. Before I learnt the MO of an rcd it just didn't make sense!

The NIE guy who came out to remove the off peak service at my mums home used a plug in 3 neon type tester (all three neons on, then it must be wired up correctly), to check out the instalation!

He also reckoned that MK sentry were rubbish and 'you should have bought a protous (sp?) CU' ...

hmm

[Andrew Gabriel]

They have varied in quality with redesigns. I think these parts are mostly bought in so MK can present a complete range. The current plastic cases are nowhere near is nice or solid as the previous range with the perspex cover. However their RCBO's are now much better than the ones they had ~10 years ago which needed DIN rail extenders and different bus bar connections and where clearly designed for some other consumer unit. A couple of years ago, I fitted one of these earlier CU's but with current MCB's/RCBO's, and that made for the best combination of MK CU bits.

MK's best quality stuff is the stuff they make themselves IMO, switch plates, socket outlets, etc.