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[Kat_swag]

Hi there, just wondered if anyone could shed some light on the situation. (no pun intended :) )
We currently are renting a property and we had an electrician to come over to check the electrics. (About 3 months ago) They changed the fuse box in the cellar as it was old, however since doing this every time we use the grill, all the electric cuts out (lights stay on). This can happen about 5+ times, even if only the grill being used for ten minutes. As you can guess, it is quite frustrating, as this has now been going on for about two months now. We've let the letting agent aware of the situation, and about 4 electricians on serperate occasions have came over, checked every plug individually, still to no avail. The Landlady is wanting the old electric box to be put back to stop the tripping when we use the grill, but we have been told that this shouldnt be allowed as it is too old.
Anyone got any advice would be much appriciated.

NB Another situation is that we also have two side lights in the living room which have no light switch attached to them. When the first electrician came, he said that there is no light switch to them, and they are constantly live. The only way to be able to sort them out would be to replace them with light fittings which have pull cords on them. We are still waiting for them to be sorted out as well, but just wanted to know how dangerous it is just to have two constantly live light fittings on the wall with no bulbs in them.

Thanks for any advice,
Katy and Tali

[kuzz]

The element in the grill is on the way out. The trip switch is doing exactly what it is designed to do. I won't go in to why or how this happens unless you want me to.
Solutions A) Get a new cooker B) Get a new element installed in the cooker C) Get an electrician to move the cooker circuit to the non rcd side of the board. This would mean you shouldn't really then have a cooker switch with a socket on it, it should be changed for one that is just a switch.

[ericmark]

Until June you can supply cooker from the non RCD side of a consumer units. All the older cookers use mineral insulated elements and these can't be sealed due to the heat. The mineral insulation will absorb water and as a result has a tendency to leak electricity when first switched on until the dampness is driven out again. As a result it is normal to supply them from the non earth protected side. But where there is a 13 amp socket on the cooker switch some electricians insist on connecting it to the protected side of the consumer unit. If the socket is in a position where it is likely to be used outside then this is possibly correct. It's a gray area. But if there is no socket then connecting to non protected side would be allowed. If the grill is not part of the cooker circuit then maybe more of a problem.

As to second problem with lights I can't find anything to say not allowed may be someone else reading can find something? but as you say not ideal. You can get push push switches on light fitting and I would think originally these were fitted but oversize bulbs can easy damage them and I would expect they have been changed. The ones with switches on are used a lot on table lamps I will guess you have used them? These would allow you to retain the wall fitting and just change the bulb holder although it would need an electrician of course.

[sparx]

Hi, I presume from what you say the consumer unit has an RCD Earth trip for the power side of the board & this is what trips?
if so then clearly it is doing its job and cutting power due to excessive earth leakage. it sounds like the grill in past its 'sell-by' date!
It should be easy for a leckie to do an insulation check on the grill, if it belongs to the owner then she should have had ALL portable/transportable items PAT Tested before letting the place, we have our rental place done by independant firm before any new tenant moves in to comply with insurence co's requirements.
regards SPARX

[Kat_swag]

Thanks for the replies guys !

ericmark - do you know where we can find 'official' documents about the legislation starting in June? We something that might make the estate agents do something !

[sparx]

Hi again, no new legislation in June just new version of wiring regs which actually started 1st Jan. & must be fully in use by end of June, any work being done now can be to either standard but not mixed and test sheets must be for correct version, not much help tho' as not retrospective so any old wiring does not have to be brought up to latest standard,
regards SPARX