DB Board Troubles

[micah@carsbus.co.za]

Hi Guys

I am a dame with NO electrical experience, except of coarse not to put my finger in the plug. I am worried & just need some advise, try not to kill yourself laughing... Have been living in the house for 10 years, not much problems with the electrical side of things. About 2 months ago a really bad fishy smell started to haunt us in room with DB board. It came and went, we were always searching but could not find anything wrong. Yesterday it got very bad and realized it was the DB Board. Opened the cover to expose wiring and discovered burnt wires (photo attached). Called an electrician that said it was caused by a hot spot. He cut off burnt wires and changed 3 circuit brakers switches and was gone in a flash.

Now my rookie Q's
*Why did our main switch never trip, considering the terrible state of the circuit brakers (Photo attached)
*Is that main switch even working, should I have it changed
*Why does my DB Board not have 2 Big switches (main & earth) - is it necessary / advised
*He only change 3 of the brakers, the others are old and also now a different brand. Should I rater have them all changed
*Not trusting the DB Board anymore, not sure what lead to this, looks a bit messy, can anyone spot anything that needs attention (New photo after repairs)

We were told to keep cover off for 3 days to monitor before putting it back

Thank you

[Firepool]

quick reply
Nothing wrong with different brand breakers as they all din rail.Din rail is cheaper than samite breakers which are more robust.
I need more time to look but looks like the correction is ok as along as everything that is on earthlekage is on E/l and it is working.
Sure there was not a water leak?

[ians]

Leave the DB off for 3 days ... OK

Looking at the before pic ... it looks like a common problem ... look at how far the screw is out ... it looks like the wire wasnt even secured by the terminal. I see this often ... this is why it is a good idea to carry a mirror in your tool kits ... to check the wire and copper busbar is secured by the breaker clamp.

Those breakers look like the new SANS type standard ... I am sure they have an SANS stamp of approval

[AndyD]

Hi Guys

I am a dame with NO electrical experience, except of coarse not to put my finger in the plug. I am worried & just need some advise, try not to kill yourself laughing... Have been living in the house for 10 years, not much problems with the electrical side of things. About 2 months ago a really bad fishy smell started to haunt us in room with DB board. It came and went, we were always searching but could not find anything wrong. Yesterday it got very bad and realized it was the DB Board. Opened the cover to expose wiring and discovered burnt wires (photo attached). Called an electrician that said it was caused by a hot spot. He cut off burnt wires and changed 3 circuit brakers switches and was gone in a flash.

Now my rookie Q's
*Why did our main switch never trip, considering the terrible state of the circuit brakers (Photo attached) The main switch would only trip if the burn damage was bad enough that a short circuit or contact with the chassis of the DB occured
*Is that main switch even working, should I have it changed Difficult to say from the photo but looking at symbol printed on the earth leakage it doesn't look like it gives over current protection in which case there should be a separate main circuit breaker installed.
*Why does my DB Board not have 2 Big switches (main & earth) - is it necessary / advised If the earth leakage is the type that doesn't have overload protection built into it then yes, there should be another breaker installed.
*He only change 3 of the brakers, the others are old and also now a different brand. Should I rater have them all changed Up to you. Almost definately not electrically necessary to replace circuit breakers just because of their age.
*Not trusting the DB Board anymore, not sure what lead to this, looks a bit messy, can anyone spot anything that needs attention (New photo after repairs) See notes below.

We were told to keep cover off for 3 days to monitor before putting it back Assuming the electrician did the required tests before leaving it shouldn't be necessary. Furthermore I'd say it's highly ill advised to leave the customer having to refit their DB cover.

Thank you

One or two things stand out for me;

• Yeah, it's a bit messy but that's not really an electrical safety issue. It would however only take about 30 minutes for an electrician to tidy it up and make it look pretty.
• Looking at the initial burn damage I would personally have replaced the copper busbar across the top of the circuit breakers.
• At least one of the link wires across the top of the circuit breakers looks like it's undersized.
• At least one of the circuit breakers have the info worn off and should be replaced.
• I don't see any 10Amp or 15Amp circuit breakers for the light circuit(s) which is curious and possibly non-compliant.

To summerise I don't think there's anything immediately hazardous but if it were my house and my DB I'd definately invest in getting an electrician in for an hour at some stage to make a few improvements.

[Dave A]

Looks like there was some hot spot trouble elsewhere too.



The bridge pieces have been replaced by the look of things though.

[Thys LOW Elektries]

Do I imagine myself or is there no mains before the earth leakage? The lever on the earth leakage looks green, maybe it does no have a trip on overload function.
If the mains is elsewhere maybe somebody can reset it every time it tripped, not good?

Stay safe

[GCE]

*Why did our main switch never trip, considering the terrible state of the circuit breakers (Photo attached)

The main switch is an earth leakage isolator type - It will not trip on overload only if it "leaks" to earth. It also did not overload if anything the load reduced. If it was a trip type it more than likely would not have tripped until it "shorted" to the frame of the DB or against a black/neutral wire

*Is that main switch even working, should I have it changed

The main switch has a test button - push the button to see if it trips , if it trips it is almost 100% that it will trip on an earth leakage fault , if not then have it replaced.

*Why does my DB Board not have 2 Big switches (main & earth) - is it necessary / advised

They have used an earth leakage as the main switch , which is legal and complies .That said it can create nuisance tripping. An earth leakage only needs to feed the plug and geyser circuit.

*He only change 3 of the brakers, the others are old and also now a different brand. Should I rater have them all changed

It is difficult to answer and be 100% correct unless you test the breaker with a load higher than the rating of the circuit breaker and see if it trips. Breakers should not cost more than +/-R130.00 each, so it would be a financials decision you need to take.

*Not trusting the DB Board anymore, not sure what lead to this, looks a bit messy, can anyone spot anything that needs attention (New photo after repairs)

As Andy stated , a bit messy and I would rather put in copper busbar bridges than wire, otherwise passable

We were told to keep cover off for 3 days to monitor before putting it back

I would have kicked my guys in the nuts if they left a cover off a DB and asked the owner to put back after 3 days

With the state of the burnt connections I would have expected that lights and plugs would have had intermittent " flickering" or power problems within the house before the repair.