Help from the electricians please

That’s probably the magic piece of the jigsaw and your issue!

 

I think as it worked after he changed the fuse he just carried on

 

Don't have to be lit for them to trip, as long there's power to the light....

 

Suppose it’s easier to write the note than fix it!

 

There isn’t power to the lights, the spurs are all disconnected and the wires separated.

 

Ah, not that then. No street lights knocked down nearby is there?

Leak in the garage?

Boilers just love to set off RCDs?

 

No nothing like that.
The boiler is working ok (touch wood rapidly) It’s on a totally different circuit.
Although after reading some of the disasters, I guess I can’t be sure.

 

One last thing if you have another rcd the same in the board you could try swapping it over just to check it’s not the rcd.
Then It looks like you have done everything you can without having a mega to start testing the wires.

 

Gradually narrowing down the fault.

So far I’ve got all the upstairs sockets back on bar one. If the lives are connected on it the RCD trips.

Downstairs utility room; the two spur units that were just being used as junction boxes (not fused) are connected. Then I found this and I haven’t a clue what’s going on:

 

After a bit of thought, could the photo above show where the conservatory sockets have been spliced into the existing ring main?

 

never easy to guess...
but at a glance ..

the red and black will [probably] be the original wiring ..pre 2002..ish

new colour cables
the cables going out the back of the box,
look like the ring has been extended,

and a spur off on the right,

 

I think that’s it exactly, you’re a genius working that out from just a photo!

I been working systematically with everything disconnected then checking which cable is live, connecting it, checking if it trips, then moving on one socket at a time.

It seems the fault is in the conservatory, where the lights are also spurred off the ring.

I’ve never known a house with so many spurs and the downstairs utility being on the upstairs ring hasn’t helped at all!

 

A lighting circuit coming off a ring doesn’t sound too healthy...

 

I remember installing it ..

 

Thank you so much everyone for your help.

I've isolated the conservatory and everything else is now connected and working as it should, so we can get the freezer back on without the extension lead and rewash the stuff that was locked in the washer.

Would it be best if I replaced the two fused spurs (that weren't actually going through the fuse) with a blank cover plate and used some push fit connectors instead?

 

It was done by Pennine when they built the conservatory, which as they've been back three times for leaks and other faults, may not have been their finest installation.

And the floor is is different height to the rest of the house!

 

Hopefully it’s got a lower-rated fuse in it somewhere.

 

Yes, there’s yet another unswitched spur in there.

 

Sounds about right conservatory fitters are below kitchen fitters who are below plumbers for electrics but they are still above farmers

I had the same in the brother in laws house traced it down to they had run the cables in the cavity and water was tracking down the cables into a buried junction box.

 

farmers must be bad....