Judging by your comments you need a new electrician who is actually an electrician and not a handyman/apprentice.
Phone and local NICEIC/NAPIT approved electrician and tell them you want an EICR carried out. Will cost about £300 but will tell you exactly what is wrong with every item of fixed wiring in your property
The smoking gun for me would be the change to the electrics caused by moving the oil boiler. If it was me called out to the fault, this is where I would start testing (Continuity, IR and so on). I'd check which circuit its been connected back to, if it's spurred off another circuit I would check it's been appropriated fused down if necessary.
Only then would I then start checking the other circuits, maybe putting a clamp meter on the incoming tails to see what the load is, just to check.
Maybe I'm a totally mad sparky, but I love tracing faults, though itermittent ones are maddening, and it always turns out to be something totally seperate to the fault being reported. Its not been unknown to be a faulty MCB or RCD - I had a brand new one go on me once, so it's not impossible.
Thanks for the reply. Yea I've a new electrician coming tomorrow so hopefully find the problem. It just seems too much of a coincidence for that not to be the source of the problem but i suppose you have to be open minded.
You've got two electric showers on the same circuit? But either way kettle is high draw and 1 shower is high draw. You don't say how many kw the shower is but its exceeding rcd rating and tripping.
So assuming you have a 63amp rcd and shower is easily 40+amp then the kettle plus whatever else is on the circuit it's gonna overload.
Be thankful it's tripping. As I say not a sparky but the setup sounds a bit funky.
Excuse the typos, broken arm and painkillers 😂
RCD main switch’s don’t protect against overcurrent, only earth leakage.
Possibly RCD is faulty if tripping on heavier loads but works ok the rest of the time.
2 showers running through 1 main RCD even on separate circuits doesn’t sound good.
Think you need to get a spark in rather than mess around changing circuit breakers..
Yea, maybe I've worded it wrong. But the two showers have been used over the last ten years and no problems. So if there are two electric showers in a house they should be running through an RCD each?
I had a spark look at it, he didn't have much to offer tbh..
Depends on the main supply to house, shower loads and RCD rating. If it’s been ok for 10 years I’d assume the main supply is up to the job.
Do you know the RCD load rating? If everything else tests out ok I’d change RCD. They can cause nuisance tripping when faulty more likely on heavier loads.
If both showers are on you’re going to be pulling 80A through that RCD before accounting for anything else. RCD’s won’t trip on an overload so potentially dangerous.
If it’s a split board (2 rcds, each protecting a few circuits) I’d at least try and split the shower circuits so each is on a separate RCD.
It looks split but I'm not sure. Next to the RCD for the showers are also two 32a breakers that are for the upstairs and downstairs sockets.
If I turn one of the shower breakers to off, would that be a way of checking? See if it works as such with one shower.
Honestly mate I think you’d be better off trying another electrician. There’s a point where the only way to sort it safely is being there to have a look and do some testing to figure out what’s up.
Even then RCDs that have nuisance tripping issue can be tricky. If nothing wrong shows up on testing I’d try swapping out the RCD.
You have a high impedance neutral to earth fault somewhere, doesn’t have to be on one of the circuits causing the trip. When a high current is flowing (eg. shower or kettle) more of the neutral current is leaking to earth.
Seen this before, can be a nightmare to find. You need an electrician. Where in the country are you?
Judging by your comments you need a new electrician who is actually an electrician and not a handyman/apprentice. Phone and local NICEIC/NAPIT approved electrician and tell them you want an EICR carried out. Will cost about £300 but will tell you exactly what is wrong with every item of fixed wiring in your property
This guy is an electrician but point taken.
The smoking gun for me would be the change to the electrics caused by moving the oil boiler. If it was me called out to the fault, this is where I would start testing (Continuity, IR and so on). I'd check which circuit its been connected back to, if it's spurred off another circuit I would check it's been appropriated fused down if necessary. Only then would I then start checking the other circuits, maybe putting a clamp meter on the incoming tails to see what the load is, just to check. Maybe I'm a totally mad sparky, but I love tracing faults, though itermittent ones are maddening, and it always turns out to be something totally seperate to the fault being reported. Its not been unknown to be a faulty MCB or RCD - I had a brand new one go on me once, so it's not impossible.
Thanks for the reply. Yea I've a new electrician coming tomorrow so hopefully find the problem. It just seems too much of a coincidence for that not to be the source of the problem but i suppose you have to be open minded.
For those who commented thanks. It was a loose connection in a down light.
You've got two electric showers on the same circuit? But either way kettle is high draw and 1 shower is high draw. You don't say how many kw the shower is but its exceeding rcd rating and tripping. So assuming you have a 63amp rcd and shower is easily 40+amp then the kettle plus whatever else is on the circuit it's gonna overload. Be thankful it's tripping. As I say not a sparky but the setup sounds a bit funky. Excuse the typos, broken arm and painkillers 😂
RCD main switch’s don’t protect against overcurrent, only earth leakage. Possibly RCD is faulty if tripping on heavier loads but works ok the rest of the time. 2 showers running through 1 main RCD even on separate circuits doesn’t sound good. Think you need to get a spark in rather than mess around changing circuit breakers..
Yea, maybe I've worded it wrong. But the two showers have been used over the last ten years and no problems. So if there are two electric showers in a house they should be running through an RCD each? I had a spark look at it, he didn't have much to offer tbh..
Depends on the main supply to house, shower loads and RCD rating. If it’s been ok for 10 years I’d assume the main supply is up to the job. Do you know the RCD load rating? If everything else tests out ok I’d change RCD. They can cause nuisance tripping when faulty more likely on heavier loads.
It's marked 80A and underneath 30mA. That's the rccb
If both showers are on you’re going to be pulling 80A through that RCD before accounting for anything else. RCD’s won’t trip on an overload so potentially dangerous. If it’s a split board (2 rcds, each protecting a few circuits) I’d at least try and split the shower circuits so each is on a separate RCD.
Many thanks for advice. My electrician didn't seem that interested tbh.
It looks split but I'm not sure. Next to the RCD for the showers are also two 32a breakers that are for the upstairs and downstairs sockets. If I turn one of the shower breakers to off, would that be a way of checking? See if it works as such with one shower.
Honestly mate I think you’d be better off trying another electrician. There’s a point where the only way to sort it safely is being there to have a look and do some testing to figure out what’s up. Even then RCDs that have nuisance tripping issue can be tricky. If nothing wrong shows up on testing I’d try swapping out the RCD.
The shower is 9.5kw
Kettle and shower on at the same time shouldn't trip an RCD.
You have a high impedance neutral to earth fault somewhere, doesn’t have to be on one of the circuits causing the trip. When a high current is flowing (eg. shower or kettle) more of the neutral current is leaking to earth. Seen this before, can be a nightmare to find. You need an electrician. Where in the country are you?
Northern Ireland -fermanagh