Browse Forums DIY, Home Maintenance & Repair 1 Feb 14, 2009 1:32 pm Last night when it was raining quite heavily my lighting shorted. There were no lights on at the time and all powerpoints remained on. It's working fine today but I'm worried that with all the rain it might spark and set alight. Could this happen? My house is 1940's and I don't think it's ever been re-wired. I know I have leaks in the roof as there is a leak in my ceiling when it rains heavily. We are set to knock down in the next few months but in the mean time I don't want anything bad to happen.
What should I do? Re: Do I need new wiring??? 3Feb 14, 2009 7:30 pm I don't see how you could get a spark from a short caused by water intrusion - I agree with Casa...
But take care if you need to change globes - switch off your power at the meter box. Ed "ECOECO" At 'EcoEco', we design windows, we design the best windows, we do it for you, so that when you’re happy we are happy. Tel. 1800 326 326 Re: Do I need new wiring??? 4Feb 14, 2009 7:49 pm If you're really worried just get an electrician out to have a look. maybe there is a fault that is dangerous, in which case perhaps it can be fixed or maybe even a circuit disabled.Bbetter than being electrocuted since I'm betting you won't have a safety switch installed either. Do the hard jobs first. The easy jobs will take care of themselves. - Dale Carnegie Re: Do I need new wiring??? 5Feb 14, 2009 9:08 pm Cabinfever If you're really worried just get an electrician out to have a look. maybe there is a fault that is dangerous, in which case perhaps it can be fixed or maybe even a circuit disabled.Bbetter than being electrocuted since I'm betting you won't have a safety switch installed either. Safety switch won't work with lighting, as it's only on power. Ed "ECOECO" At 'EcoEco', we design windows, we design the best windows, we do it for you, so that when you’re happy we are happy. Tel. 1800 326 326 Re: Do I need new wiring??? 6Feb 15, 2009 3:16 pm Hi buildingadreamhome,
Lighting circuit tripping so close to knocking your place down...what a pain. If it where me I would be reluctant to just ignore this problem without a little further investigation. To trip the lights and not the power is quite ok as they are completely different circuits. From what you have described water does seem to be the likely culprit and strictly speaking could realistically cause a dangerous situation. Firstly I assume by the vintage of your place you will have rewirable fuses in the meter box?? make sure you are not putting too bigger fuse wire in 4 or 6 amp wire is more than enough for a few lights and fans. Don't be tempted to increase fuse wire gauge just to prevent further triping or fuse blow. If water is getting into one or more of your fittings then a track between active and neutral can build up until the path becomes so good that an arc is generated. The severity and longevity of this arc is a bit of a lottery but rest assured it is feasable. I would be up in that ceiling with a tourch getting a good appreciation of what is going on up there and exactly how much water is getting in and what it is finding its way into. Circuits that trip like this really should not be ignored.....it is not the end of the world so don't stress too much but if you are a reasonably handy bloke you can do some investigation/assessment yourself before resorting to calling in an electrician. FYI...... RCD's (residual current devices or commonly referred to as earth leakage circuit breakers) although a fantastic safety device only detect stray current to earth not over current between active and neutral, this is the job of the circuit breaker of fuse. If a person has no connection to earth and they get across an active and neutral wire then the earth leakage unit will completely ignore this situation. This also applies to water getting into your fittings, if you do have an earth leakage unit installed that is protecting lighting and power (which they definitely can do it all depends on the circuits it was installed to monitor) then water ingress that is not creating a path to earth will be ignored completely by the RCD. Re: Do I need new wiring??? 7Feb 17, 2009 5:26 pm Don't mess around with this one.
An electrician can probably locate the problem quite quickly and bypass the damaged section to keep you safe until you knock it down. I was a sparky in a previous life (25 years ago) and know that you really don't need to take the risk. If it was wired in the 40's then the wiring wil be rubber and it will have perished and cracked. Small amounts of moisture can create a weake point that could create the short or worse a partial short and you may get a hot spot. Gottamow was dead right about the RCD not caring a damn unless there is a leakage to earth and then it is only on the power points and not the lighting. Buy yourself some battery powered smoke alarms so that when it goes up in smoke, you will get some warning and can get out of the house before you and your family end up as crispies. cheers Col Nation For information on caring for wool and other carpet and upholstery go to www.woolsafe.com.au Re: Do I need new wiring??? 8Feb 18, 2009 7:16 am ed @ EcoClassic Safety switch won't work with lighting, as it's only on power. Ed Safety Switches do work with lighting... The only ever had to be installed on power circuits but now everyone installs them on both power and lighting... Electrical Engineer... Don't hold that against me... And keen owner builder... Mainly the building part!! Re: Do I need new wiring??? 9Mar 12, 2009 9:23 pm How to REattach wiring thru new siding on outside of house? When they put up the new siding on the outside of the house they did not reattach the wiring to the side of the house. How do we reattach the wiring?
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