November 19, 20232 yr So last night our electricity cut. All started with me turning on a light (we also noticed light flickering a few months ago in our lounge)....lights first were flickering big time... then appliances were going on and off rapidly. Today an electrician that came said, cable probably was arching a little and over years it probably degraded and caused this and insists its from the mains and not the lights. He replaced the double pole mains switch, cut back the wire that was black.. and now i have electricity.. just found it odd... never ever seen that happen to any place ever ive lived in. So my question is, it all stemed from the light - its the only thing I have noticed. So double checking - if this would be accurate conclusion to make and not have to worry about it reoccurance in the future.
November 19, 20232 yr 47 minutes ago, aggressiveGrey said: Today an electrician that came said, cable probably was arching a little and over years it probably degraded and caused this This is due to a loose contact on the MCB. If the wire is not securely tightened in the terminals it will arc and heat up, and over time start to lose contact. Your lights (LED's?) were just an indicator of the arcing. Fortunately there was no fire.
November 19, 20232 yr No way to really avoid this except make sure all the Contact points are tight & there is enough copper making contact with the inside of the terminals. This can also happen when one misplaces a wire behind the terminal tightening point & then the wire lays loose & the exact same outcome your have experienced will take place. I would call this wear & tear... Usually every box I work on I tighten all the breakers because this can cause unnecessary damage like you have now.
November 19, 20232 yr 1 hour ago, Steve87 said: No way to really avoid this except make sure all the Contact points are tight & there is enough copper making contact with the inside of the terminals. This can also happen when one misplaces a wire behind the terminal tightening point & then the wire lays loose & the exact same outcome your have experienced will take place. I would call this wear & tear... Usually every box I work on I tighten all the breakers because this can cause unnecessary damage like you have now. Retightening is a normal maintenance item on large installations. Even bolts holding copper busbars do work loose over time. You just have to wiggle a PV cable a bit even after tightening it and one will see how easy the connection works itself loose. We used to have this as a maintenance item every year during shutdown. Also I would do it when replacing say a contactor, coil or contacts. Doing it on the whole cubicle one is working on does pay off over time. The picture above shows the most common reason fires start due to a electrical fault. Far less than the wrong cable size. Edited November 19, 20232 yr by Scorp007 Added reason for fires.
November 19, 20232 yr Wires are under a constant cycle of heating and cooling, expansion and contraction. Every time a switch is used or appliances are plugged in, and the natural result of all this usage is that wire connections can loosen over time. In powerstations,substations,each and every db board in a factory or( and commercial) db boards should have thermal imaging done one a year as precautionary means to safeguard against loose connections. I have never seen it done in domestic environments maybe a good idea to get it done every 2 years.
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.