Electrocuted by roof.

Forums › Home Workshop DIY › Electrocuted by roof.

1 | 2

andrewNZ

2487 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1461
Inactive user

#2465809 20-Apr-2020 08:10

As has been said multiple times, call an electrician.

This is a major fault. It can kill you.

larknz

1979 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 382

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#2465814 20-Apr-2020 08:24

You have measured 236v. It is not leakage.

Tracer

343 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 151

#2465869 20-Apr-2020 09:50

Call an electrician ASAP, and don't go up there again until they have resolved the issue.

Nitpick: Electrocuted = deceased. You're lucky it was an electric shock rather than electrocution.

snnet

1413 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 556

#2465901 20-Apr-2020 10:35

lol ok I reckon he might get the point now guys...

Scott3

4177 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2990

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2465921 20-Apr-2020 10:59

Thanks everybody for your input.

Have an electrician coming to diagnose the issue mid afternoon today. Will see how they do with the intermittent fault.

Scott3

4177 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2990

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2466635 20-Apr-2020 21:10

Sorry about the use of the term "Electrocuted" in the title (electrocute = Injure or kill someone by electric shock). I just got shocked, not injured or killed :)

Apparently you are best to go and have an ECG done soon after a decent shock to check all is well with your heart, something I was not aware of.

Anyway, Electrician came today, summary is that there was a short in the wire between my stairwell light and it's switch that was livening the entire roof when that light was switched on. The roof has been bonded to earth, to avoid risk of further shocks (meaning the breaker blows when that light is switched on) and the electrician will come back after the lockdown with a team of two, to try and swap out the wire (no accessible roof space, so not easy).

Long story:

I switched on everything I could think may have been on when I was shocked, before the sparky arrived, checked the roof, and 236v was back again. Great news obviously much easier to trace an fault that is active at the time.
Sparky worked out which circuit was affected by switching breakers, affected breaker had multiple circuits fed from it, so sparky checked wired checked each individually.
Sparky checked various light fixtures & found a loose junction box above bathroom downlight, Thought it may have came into contact with the metallic air extraction ducting. He mad it safe, and checked the roof again and the voltage was gone.
I wasn't super confident that this was the issue, so asked about having the roof earthed. It was easy to do, so the sparky agreed. Made me feel safer.
Sparky packed up and did a last walk, and flicked a few switches on the affected circuit, one of which tripped the breaker
Removed the light fitting, and diagnosed a short to earth from one of the wires leading to the stairwell light.
Decided to fix the issue with two electricians after the lock-down, due to challenging access to affected wire.

Turns out the stuff with wetness, was a red hearing, and the fault occurring came down to if the affected light circuit was on or not. I was a bit surprised that the house was is electrically insulating enough not to trip a 10A breaker when the entire (I assume) roof was live, in the rain...

Apple TV

Stream your favourite shows now on Apple TV (affiliate link).

frankv

5705 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 3666

Lifetime subscriber

#2466670 20-Apr-2020 22:15

Rainwater does not conduct very well.

For my Xmas lights I had multi boxes outside, and conceived of the brilliant (and free) idea to put them inside PET soft drink bottles for waterproofing. Slit lengthwise to put the multi box inside, wires out the neck. I placed these carefully so the slit was downwards. However, one of these somehow rolled itself 180 degrees, and in the next storm filled with water. The timer turned the circuit on, and.... nothing happened. Those lights didn't turn on, so I investigated. Once I found the filled bottle, I went inside and turned the circuit off before touching anything. The multi box was completely submerged, and the water was warm.

Zeon

3926 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 759

Trusted

#2466703 20-Apr-2020 22:38

Maybe you should think about installing RCDs if he is going to come back. I know they are expensive but perhaps give you piece of mind? Every circuit in my house has one except the ovens/stoves and hot water cylinder.

Speedtest 2019-10-14

JessieB

37 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 7

#2466793 21-Apr-2020 08:31

I am curious what the reaction of the electrician was. Was he surprised? It does seem that you are lucky you did not die or have your house catch fire. Maybe you should buy a lotto ticket.

qwertee

736 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 259

Lifetime subscriber

#2466799 21-Apr-2020 08:43

@Scott3

Thanks for your update and your concise bullet points . Makes it easy to read than endless paragraphs of information.

cheers

sbiddle

30853 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 9996

Retired Mod

Trusted

Biddle Corp

Lifetime subscriber

#2466811 21-Apr-2020 08:51

It's great that you at least had a basic understanding of electrical wiring and could perform some basic testing. I wonder if every sparky when faced with the same situation would have been as competent when it came to finding and resolving the issue with less information?

Mighty Ape

Shop now at Mighty Ape (affiliate link).

snnet

1413 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 556

#2466904 21-Apr-2020 10:43

sbiddle:

It's great that you at least had a basic understanding of electrical wiring and could perform some basic testing. I wonder if every sparky when faced with the same situation would have been as competent when it came to finding and resolving the issue with less information?

Every? nope.

snnet

1413 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 556

#2466906 21-Apr-2020 10:45

JessieB: I am curious what the reaction of the electrician was. Was he surprised? It does seem that you are lucky you did not die or have your house catch fire. Maybe you should buy a lotto ticket.

Had plenty of 230V shocks myself as an electrician, plenty where RCDs didnt trip, obviously not enough imbalance between phase and neutral when this happens. It's not necessarily voltage that kills you, it's more the current. If the roof acted like a large element there's no doubt it could have been very different.

lxsw20

3691 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2178

Subscriber

#2466913 21-Apr-2020 10:56

sbiddle:

It's great that you at least had a basic understanding of electrical wiring and could perform some basic testing. I wonder if every sparky when faced with the same situation would have been as competent when it came to finding and resolving the issue with less information?

More than once I've come across people that think guessing is a good replacement for fault finding.

networkn

Networkn
32873 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 15475

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2466915 21-Apr-2020 11:02

snnet:

Your roof should never come live no matter what you've wetted down

Call an electrician

Electric shocks can have lasting scary medical implications. You should seek advice from your GP as to whether a precautionary ECG might be in order.

Whoops. I didn't see you already posted about that earlier. it's important enough to be there twice.. :)

1 | 2