Lospacoshombre

Hi
Can anyone point me on the right direction with this one, I have had an intermittent fault on one of the three phases going to my house. The symptom is flickering of lights and the phase going completely off.

I have tightened all the connections All through the installation. I have finally found where the fault is, it is on the lower connection to the fuse in the metal box outside it is the suppliers side of the fuse, it is the side I cannot isolate to tighten up. In the UK this would be a job for the electricity supplier. Is it the same here?

Regards
Alan

tony

Yes I would contact the electrical company Alan ,as you can not isolate it !!!

best to be safe than sorry

Cheers Tony

Fredbargate

I had a similar problem some years ago.

The electricity company took down the overhead lines and put them underground in the street.

They ran new cables from their fuses in the street to isolating fuses in my garden just before the meter.

The cable joints they had made before the meter burned out one day, so I rang them, mid afternoon.

They finally turned up just as it was going dark.

Took one look, went into the street, removed their fuses handed them to me with a goodnight your problem

I was always under the impression that anything before a meter was the suppliers responsibility

snikpoh

Personally, I would call in a good electrician (but then a friend of mine is a Spanish electrician so it's easy for me ) and get them to do it.

Fredbargate

Do you know one that can fit wall sockets that do not come out of the wall when you try to remove a plug ?

amideislas

That's true in other countries. I've always had to pay when Endesa's lines feeding my meter fail. The last time it was €640. Supposedly that was only the charge for the cable. But the same cable is only €90 from an electrical supplier.

Fred James

I had a similar problem when two of the three phases started playing up. It was bad connections down from the pylon before it came to the meter, which were being affected by strong winds..

It was fixed very quickly with no charge.

MikeJ

I was trained - many years ago - in how to work with a live distribution board. It's not allowed now - H&S of course. What you need is a thick rubber mat to stand on, thick rubber gloves, thick rubber boots and a long handled insulated screwdriver. Always keep one hand in your pocket.

It also helps if it's a dry day and you have a mate standing by with the ambulance number pre-dialled (not that it'll help much if you touch the 3 phase but they will know the best local undertakers).

Fredbargate

I whish you had told me that some years ago Mike prior to me blacking out a sizeable chunk of Gibraltar.

Lospacoshombre

Thank you all, as Fred said, I expected this to be the suppliers issue, as it would be in the UK.

I have removed the fuse, so there is no power going through it, and moved the phase to another connection in my consumer unit.

I will photograph the issue, and explain via Google translate and head to my Endesa office ( I will be there hours) and explain the problem, hopefully they will tell me if I need to get a spanish sparky. As this is a very dangerous connection I would expect it to be done by the electrical company.

Regards
Al

lutonlad

Sorry in advance for hijacking this thread with a different electrical question...

Our house electrics panel has a switch/breaker called 'Autom.Differencial' with a white push button 'T'.

We have been having problems with our oven. It trips the above breaker after about 30 seconds of being turned on (that is the breaker itself, not the push button).

Further investigation with an ohm meter shows that there is a leakage to earth on the oven (actually both elements, which is strange).

I was wondering if someone could explain what the Autom.Differencial breaker actually is. Would this be the one that trips if there is earth leakage?

Also, can I assume that there should never be any reading between L/N to earth on the oven?

Thanks for any info.

Fredbargate

Yes

Residual-current device

Residual-current device - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

old.sparkles

I think it's fairly common for ovens to have a low leakage current on ovens and hobs / hotplates and not something I would normally wire through an RCD but if it's been working fine until recently, it may just be the age of the heating element causing enough leakage to now trip the breaker.

lutonlad

Thanks for your replies.

Bit more advice if poss. As the oven is the only thing that is causing the RCD to trip (no prob with the hob), do you think that I should go ahead and fit a new oven (it's quite old)? Or should I investigate further.

Sorry if it sounds like 'How long's a piece of string'

MikeJ

The button you refer to is most likely the test button for the RCD.

If the oven is tripping then is almost certainly the element has gone - as it heats up and expands then it fails which is why there is a 30 sec delay. Depending on your model it is usually a very simple job to change an element.
Is there a grill in the oven? Or is it one where the grill element doubles as the top element? If it's a fan oven (quite rare in Spain) the you will need to take out the back panel - the elements usually just clip in and are plug-ins.
Make sure you turn off at the mains before starting (don't just rely on the RCD)
To check if it's a possible DIY job you should be able to download a manual if you go to the manufacturer's site.

Rarely, but it is possible that the RCD itself is faulty - you would think that the test button is supposed to help you check that but its main purpose is to check that it operates correctly not that it doesn't operate unnecessarily.