eTripping.au

A fried slug took out our power

Emerald, Victoria
HQ HQ HQ

Safety switch tripped at home, taking out all of our power points, including fridge.

Fried slug!

Fortunately, we were able to find an electrician (Chris from Lexity Plumbing & Electrical Melbourne) to come out to solve the mystery.

Final diagnosis:

  1. The existing “Lanson” safety switch model has known problems. See first photo.
  2. Replaced the old safety switch and circuit switches with two “Voltex” switches with built-in safety tripping. See third photo.
  3. Even with the new switches, it kept tripping.
  4. Laborious inspection of the power points on the ground floor discovered a bedroom power point, still warm, with a slug (or something) fried across the terminals. See photo.

$1000 and more than half a day gone 😞.

Not our preferred “tripping”.

Better than a fire, though, hey.

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86 comments

  1. Tony Smith via Facebook ↗
    See you’ve gone for the cheapest of the cheap breakers

    Hager for the win - you do get what you pay for
    142

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    1. Tesla Tripping eTripping.au
      Tony Smith They replaced the Lanson breakers with Voltex. How does that stack up? It certainly wasn’t cheap.
      2

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      1. Ashley Brazell via Facebook ↗
        Tesla Tripping yeah, cheap stuff. That’s the point. Better than DETA I guess.
        531

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      2. Tony Smith via Facebook ↗
        Tesla Tripping I only ever use Hager in my business

        Building a new house - Hager
        9

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      3. Blake Clarke via Facebook ↗
        Tesla Tripping nothing wrong with the voltex gear , use it heaps , and better warranty than others, also its not any significant price difference to others either lol
        4

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      4. David Nye via Facebook ↗
        Hager are not “bulletproof” either.
        I don’t think the problem here was ANYTHING to do with cheap breakers. They did the job they’re designed to do.
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      5. Steve Jay Smith via Facebook ↗
        Tesla Tripping It wasn't cheap because he probably put a decent markup on voltex but voltex are entry-level cheap units

        Reply Report

      6. Jon Burtoh via Facebook ↗
        Tony Smith hager are great w the switched neutral . Makes IR testing easy !

        Reply Report

    2. Eugene Gersh via Facebook ↗
      Tony Smith hager has problems too. at least with Voltex, they will actually pay you to go out and warranty the job
      1

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    3. Connor Creary via Facebook ↗
      Tony Smith they're not even cheap, same price as hager.
      1

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    4. Mark R Darlow via Facebook ↗
      Tony Smith voltex are the same price as I pay for hager, I have had faulty hager breakers more than voltex
      2

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    5. Shane Anthes via Facebook ↗
      Tony Smith nothing wrong with Voltex rcbo’s Never had one fail.
      1

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  2. Frankly Mydear via Facebook ↗
    Safety switches keep on tripping? Tesla Tripping, maybe you are setting a bad example.
    11

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  3. Paul Johnston via Facebook ↗
    'Short' trip
    1

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  4. Karl Jensen via Facebook ↗
    Traditional HWS? Swapping it for a Heatpump would save as much as the Powerwall....
    Could back it up too.
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    1. Tesla Tripping eTripping.au
      Karl Jensen It’s a heat pump. Recently installed.
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      1. Karl Jensen via Facebook ↗
        Tesla Tripping should have gone on the backup side... :(
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      2. Tesla Tripping eTripping.au
        Karl Jensen Agreed. I have already asked the heat pump installer to remedy that.

        Reply Report

    2. Hamza Juana via Facebook ↗
      Karl Jensen heat pumps are shit. hotties will always be better

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      1. Karl Jensen via Facebook ↗
        Hamza Juana three types in the market
        2.0kW brands like Haier/Midea/Stiebel
        2.7kW brands like Aquatech, aquaplus, Neopower, aether, Veissman, emerald, apricus,dux
        4.0kW iStore, EVO, Sanden, reclaim

        I agree low power ones are shit
        I agree medium power ones with huge tanks are also shit for large demands as they aren't up to the job and life is measured in running hours not years.

        I don't agree high power ones are shit at all, they last 50% longer than the medium shit ones and 100% longer than the low powered shit ones.
        They have timers built in to aim running times for warmer parts of the day.

        I work for iStore - Air to Energy
        We have 50,000+ Heatpumps installed from Byron to Broome and Darwin to Hobart over 12 years.

        More than 10% of Aussie homes now have one so better penetration than EVs vs ICE.

        Gap between a Heatpump and electric hottie drives an EV 17,000 KMS a year

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      2. Steve Jay Smith via Facebook ↗
        Karl Jensen yeah but I don't want to wait 10 years for a hot water system to warm up on a heat pump on cold days if they do not have any electric element backup just like the heat pump dryers take 10 hours to dry your clothes they can shove those dryers where the sun does not shine

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      3. Karl Jensen via Facebook ↗
        Steve Jay Smith as I said shit Heatpumps take a long time.

        High powered ones don't.

        Need 1000W compressor heating power per person in the house and the reheat time is fine.

        Not rocket science at all.

        Can't heat and cool the church hall with a 2.5kW bargain basement split system so why not simply specify heat pump with enough grunt to meet the demands.

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  5. Stephen Sizer via Facebook ↗
    Surely if a breaker is tripping, you find out why it's tripping before assuming it's defective? A simple Megger test would have found the shorting slug. It's important in such cases to determine if it was an earthage leak or over-current, rather than just replacing the breaker and hoping for the best. Not great service I'm afraid
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    1. John Longworth via Facebook ↗
      I agree, no diagnosis. At least iID the faulty circuit ( just by turning breakers off )and narrow it down from there.
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    2. Matthew Lloyd via Facebook ↗
      That RCD needed to go either way... Board was non compliant, at least main switch is now contrasted with all blue breaker Dolly's..
      2

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      1. Peter Brett via Facebook ↗
        Matthew Lloyd I agree 100%. We've had some of the RCD/ELCBOs of more recent times fail, one narrowly avoided a sw/bd fire. Turns out they were the subject of a recall a few moths after they were installed.
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    3. Rob Fagnani via Facebook ↗
      Stephen Sizer the rcd tripped which was protecting 3 circuits.
      Therefore it was a earth leakage fault and not over current.

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    4. Benjamin Salfischberger via Facebook ↗
      Stephen Sizer who would of thought a slug would be the culprit
      1

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    5. Mark R Darlow via Facebook ↗
      Stephen Sizer 100 percent agree, surly could be found within 1 to 3 hrs
      1

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    6. Keith R Mitchell via Facebook ↗
      Stephen Sizer well we all know not to Chris from lexity plumbing..

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  6. Scott Cassidy via Facebook ↗
    Welcome to fault finding.
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  7. Iggy Blok via Facebook ↗
    I see your a man of quality….. fkn voltex 🤮🤮
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    1. Adam Tomlin via Facebook ↗
      Iggy Blok how much have you been exposed to voltex gear? They are excellent, you earn points, they have no questions asked PAID warranty, and do a lot of RnD with sparkies to make stuff that makes sense when you use it like their 413’s
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      1. Iggy Blok via Facebook ↗
        Adam Tomlin dont touch it. Judging by the pricing its cheaper for a reason.

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      2. Adam Tomlin via Facebook ↗
        Iggy Blok most things are very close to middys pricing, if you bulk buy you can save. They pay you to swap a faulty downlight/RCBo whatever it is with huge warranty periods on products. You get paid, customer is super happy with your service as you’ve warranted your product. Plus voltex rewards for free shit bbq’s, knives, tools whatever.
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  8. Ben Turner via Facebook ↗
    Why replace before testing the circuit. Slack
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    1. Jason Zammit via Facebook ↗
      Way too many sparkys don’t even use an IR tester these days. I know of a few.
      Mandatory testing before re-energising. What’s that? 🤦🏻‍♂️
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  9. Mark West via Facebook ↗
    must've been a salty slug
    1

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    1. David Nye via Facebook ↗
      Certainly a fried slug!
      1

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  10. Stephen Sizer via Facebook ↗
    Why did he replace the original 20A breakers with 16A? Now you might get nuisance tripping on those circuits if you have e.g 2 appliances running at the same time
    1

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    1. Mike George via Facebook ↗
      Stephen Sizer 16A Is the correct size if 2.5mm partially surrounded by insulation which most homes are now
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      1. Stephen Sizer via Facebook ↗
        Mike George that's fair
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    2. Andrea Battaglini via Facebook ↗
      Stephen Sizer because AS3008 says that he has to.
      2

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    3. Rudy Formigoni via Facebook ↗
      Stephen Sizer Won't be nuisance tripping fitting a smaller breaker, it will be overload. Nuisance tripping is the term associated with safety switches, ie, tripping randomly.

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    4. Kano Jigoro via Facebook ↗
      Stephen Sizer because he knows AS3008 unlike some ...

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  11. Stephen Sizer via Facebook ↗
    You should also get the other breakers replaced so they're protected by an RCD. Add a minimum, the remaining 2 power circuits
    11

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  12. Philip Mugavin via Facebook ↗
    Should have rcd on each circuit
    1

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  13. Aaron Pickett via Facebook ↗
    Aren't circuits backed up by solar now required to be protected by a Type A RCBO?
    1

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  14. Chris Cooper via Facebook ↗
    Fuck old mate need to hand his licence in if he can’t find a simple earth leakage fault.
    I hope you didn’t pay them $1000
    1

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  15. Matthew Smith via Facebook ↗
    Is he going to come back and label the new RCBO’s correctly?
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    1. Craig Campbell via Facebook ↗
      Matthew Smith it’s making me twitch

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  16. Terry Harman via Facebook ↗
    Yep megger test then isolate faulty circuit then go track it down
    3

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  17. Rob Fagnani via Facebook ↗
    Extremely time consuming to locate a fault like that.
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    1. Dan Mac via Facebook ↗
      Rob Fagnani wouldn't that depends on how many points on the circuit? Even with many points splitting and testing you would normally find the culprit in under five steps of the process.

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      1. Rob Fagnani via Facebook ↗
        Dan Mac yes. All depends on where the junctions are too. That gpo has 4 cables in it.
        So just from that gpo there’s a minimum of another 3 gpo off it.
        It could be a 5 minute job or a 5 hour job.

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  18. Jamie Hochkins via Facebook ↗
    Where’s the new labelling of the circuits as they have changed position??

    That’s part of the switchboard works.

    Disappointing they didn’t complete the job

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  19. William Nicholson via Facebook ↗
    Spicy

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  20. Steve Jay Smith via Facebook ↗
    You're only allowed a maximum of three breakers on the RCD anyway and he's got six... get rid of the RCD all together and the breakers and put RCBOs in instead so they're all individual
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    1. Adam Brushwood via Facebook ↗
      Steve Jay Smith you didn't look at the picture very well did you!? That's exactly what's been done
      1

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      1. Steve Jay Smith via Facebook ↗
        Adam Brushwood Only looked at the top picture

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      2. Adam Brushwood via Facebook ↗
        Steve Jay Smith there were only two circuit breakers on the one RCD... I can't see where 6 come from.

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      3. Steve Jay Smith via Facebook ↗
        Adam Brushwood before the voltexes went in

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    2. Simon Flack via Facebook ↗
      Steve Jay Smith i think you should go Specsavers!
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    3. Drew Anthony Brand via Facebook ↗
      Steve Jay Smith there was only 2 on that RCD mate....
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  21. Peter Lillye via Facebook ↗
    slug didnt do it !!!!!!!

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  22. Tim Lee via Facebook ↗
    Stick to plumbing Chris.

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  23. Chris Newy via Facebook ↗
    Emre Erciyas 🤔🤔

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    1. Emre Erciyas via Facebook ↗
      Chris Newy meggers are overrated mate just slap rcbo on charge the client through the roof and hope for the best

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  24. Robert Baldock via Facebook ↗
    You got ripped off

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  25. Warren Middleton via Facebook ↗
    I had the same issue around 15 years ago.
    We renovated the family home and of course, being a qualified electrician and contractor I wasn’t going to let any old sparky wire my house.
    Anyway, within literally 6weeks of moving back in, the front power circuit kept randomly tripping. No issues with appliances or fixed equipment. I just couldn’t understand what the cause was. I knew where all the cables were and terminations were top class 😁.
    Anyway, finally decided to start fault finding.
    Split the circuit into two legs, meggered each leg, continued to break the circuit down. Finally found the offender. One of the new GPOs was internally shorted. I was pretty pissed to be honest. Fault finding can be frustrating at best.
    As I was working at my desk, GPO laying facedown, I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I couldn’t believe it. A live slug was exiting one of the screw holes….. this guy had been shocked with 500Volts DC about 50 times.
    Once it was out, I gave the GPO a wipe over and tested again. You guessed it. Completely clear.
    To this day, I still tell to my clients when I’m fault finding. Moral of the story, never assume the fault will be something obvious.
    Cheers and happy fault finding. 💪👍
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    1. Scott Beamand via Facebook ↗
      Where do you get 500v DC in a gpo?

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      1. John Campbell via Facebook ↗
        Scott Beamand With an insulation tester 🤦‍♂️

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      2. Warren Middleton via Facebook ↗
        Scott Beamand from my tester of course..😩😁

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      3. Scott Beamand via Facebook ↗
        Warren Middleton there are no stupid questions, just stupid people. Yes a Megger is 500v DC 😂

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  26. Darren Jochinke via Facebook ↗
    Sparky must have left his testers home.
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  27. Lindsay Lucas via Facebook ↗
    A fault from active to neutral won’t trip an RCD due to residual current, because there isn’t any. It is essentially just another “load” in parallel. No current is “leaking”to earth.
    It may trip an MCB or an RCBO if the overload that it is causing is high enough for either the thermal or magnetic element to pick up.

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  28. Drew Anthony Brand via Facebook ↗
    So they got you to pay extra because they can't fault find?... Didn't even fix the board labels.

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  29. John Gregory via Facebook ↗
    I wouldn't be too concerned about the Voltex breakers, but I would be a little vexed that the Sparky couldn't diagnose a faulty unit from a fault in the installation - they should have tested the circuit first - a simple test would have shown them there was a fault somewhere and to go look at that first. Also not sure why they cut the wiring off and remade - while not perfect, I would have just unscrewed the existing GPO, ran my pliers over the wires and refitted. They don't look burnt or anything. Phase to Neutral fault gave the slug a hard time that's for sure.
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  30. Travers Hipkiss via Facebook ↗
    That’s not a Type A.

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  31. Allan Lancaster via Facebook ↗
    Two rcbos and a power point for 1k? You got robbed

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  32. Keith R Mitchell via Facebook ↗
    Subsidiary of Metropolitan…

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  33. Jarron Milford via Facebook ↗
    Lanson never had a problem, I would be more worried about Voltex

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  34. Dawar Ajez via Facebook ↗
    Sparky should of done a insulation resistance test first and would of found a deadshort within the first hour on ethier upstairs or downstairs power outlets. Points would of been off and found the slug within hour 2. 1k is a bit steep but id be close to that regardless how long it took.
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  35. John Holzberger via Facebook ↗
    Voltex crap.
    Should always find the fault before upgrading the protection device.

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  36. John Ballard via Facebook ↗
    Did one like that after hours call, with a meter I found circuit then disconnect circuit in the centr found it was down side lifted next power pointfound a slug less about a hour came home with $200 cash. Job done.

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  37. Craig Campbell via Facebook ↗
    So, he only installed 2x RCBO and charged you $1k? Fuarr

    Reply Report

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