Q For Electrician / Builder

[puternut]

Good evening

My problem elates to a roof leak and its effect on electric wiring in the loft space.

During the past few weeks I have had two seperate leaks in the roof tiles on a pitched roof in the gulley where the roof turns through 90 degrees. Then the 5A fuse 'blew'. I looked in the loo and the bulb from the pendant as water was dripping off it, reset fuse and all OK,

Builder was called and fixed it a week or so ago but then it suddenly blew the whole house electrics WC and I needed to reset the the main fuse but the 5A was still in the set position? I reset it and all worked fine.

Builder came and found a further problem in the tiling which he put right and as far as I can tell there has been no further water seeping through - however even with the lightswich off if I put a bulb in the pendant it lights up, we cannot switch it off!!!

That was 4 days ago and the pendant is still permanantly live.

Firstly do you think the damp is still affecting it? I thought 48 hours 'drying' time was enough. Could the light switch itself have fused thus leaving it in the on position?

I will need to get someone in if you feel ther could still be a problem in the loft as due to disability I cannot climb up there myself.

Sorry this has been a book but any ideas appreciated.

[Canary42]

Is it a ceiling-based pull switch - in my experience these do sometimes jam in the on or off position ?

[puternut]

No standard single gang wall-fitted plug with small conduit going straight up to the ceiling

[Canary42]

Sorry, can't help any more I'm afraid. Hope someone more knowledgeable comes along soon, although I suspect inspection may be necessary to give reliable diagnosis.

[puternut]

Thanks canary

methyl - I am not aware of a 'Live and Neutral Reversed' problem. If it means the wires have been physically reversed then I can say 99.99% sure then no. If it doesn't mean that than I apologise for my ignorance.

[bhg481]

It could be water pooled in the pendant fitting. Turn-off the power to that circuit, remove the pendant and check that it's dry.
You don't have to turn the power off but if you don't you might end up too dead to care about it any more.

[BRIGHT SPARK]

Putty.....you say that you..reset the main fuse..it cant be reset ..it has to be replaced.From this I deduce that it may be a rcd main switch that tripped.I would say that you still have water within the toilet light fitting.Switch off at the fuseboard and investigate.

[Old_Geezer]

It sounds a separate issue to your leak problem to me.

Have you tried replacing the wall/ceiling switch ? It could be jammed on.

Or, since it was the light fitting that got drenched, has that been replaced ?

It ought not be too difficult for an electrician to chase the issue.

[puternut]

bhg - The pendant has had the cover removed when we saw the water dripping. However this now appears dry.

Bright spark - the 'main fuse' I mean is the one in the fusebox near the meter. There are a number of resettable fuses (lights - down sockets - up sockets etc) And a main switch for all - thats the one I mean.

old_geezer - my query is that it seemed odd that the switch jammed at exactly this point in time.

Looks like a sparks is needed.

[bhg481]

As a last ditch hope, have you looked at the switch itself? It's always possible that water has run down the conduit and into the switch. The switch is easy for an amateur to replace.

[BRIGHT SPARK]

Is the main switch also an rcd?...if it tripped then it must be...as a main switch only would have to be manually switched.

[TonyV]

Main incoming fuse before you meter belongs to electricity supplier and normally has lead seal on - if this has blown you have a major issue - is this the one you replaced

[puternut]

The main fuse i refer to is NOT the electricy board one mentioned by Tony V,

Some older systems people have fuses which, if they blow, you simply push a button in to reset it. Even older places have wired fuses. My 2 year old mains fuseboard has a number of flip switches on it with different ampere ratings for circuits like lighting - upstairs sockets - cooker - downstairs sockets. If you need to isolate a single circuit you simply flip it to the off position. There is also a main master switch which simply turns off ALL the individual circuits in one go.

So on the first occasion it was simply the lighting circuit flipswitch which tripped (no lights in all the house) but the second time it was this main master switch which flipped out hence no power at all, Reset and all was well EXCEPT the WC light

[TonyV]

Just check you have feed to fitting with a multimeter first

[TonyV]

And switch and go from there -a loose connection is a possibility if wiring buzs out ok

[TonyV]

Good advice methyl - because op seemed to know what to do - I gave some advice but you only live once and electrical fires start so easily then you have to ask is everything bonded to earth or is kitchen sink going to go live?

[puternut]

Thanks for all the advice - looks like I'll have to get a sparks in who is willing to go into roof space to see what- if anything is going on up there.

Unsubscribing now

[TonyV]

Why do you need to unsubscribe? Some of us might like to know the outcome

[puternut]

Sparks has reported that the problem was NOT in the ceiling pendant fitting OR the light switch - I knew it wasn't the switch as I replaced it 2 days ago.

A junction box in the loft space had become too wet and had arced (sp?) / shorted out so was sending live feed 24/7.

He only came prepared to fit a new pendant and as it was now 4:30 on a Friday has wired up a temp feed to see us over the weekend and will return, hopefully Monday, to do a better job with the junction box and connection wires.

To top it all his total estimate was less than 50% of what we were expecting!

Happy Mr & Mrs Nut I'd say