Over the course of the incident, I have picked-up some basic electrical troubleshooting knowledge which I will share here. Before explaining the problem, there are two components that you need to know in the circuit box. The Residual-Current Circuit Breaker (RCCB) and the Miniature Circuit Breaker (MCB). Here's a picture of how it looks like:
My problem is the random tripping of the RCCB. In a normal short-circuit, the MCB should trip - cutting the power to an area in the house. If that happens, it is fairly easy to locate the problem. The symptoms which I experienced are random RCCB trips under these conditions:
- Appliances are turned on for a period of time i.e. > 1 hour or less.
- All appliances were unplugged from socket i.e. Refrigerator, Microwave, XBOX etc.
- All lights were switched off and there were no blown light-bulbs.
- No electrical appliances were turned on (*or so I thought).
The normal trouble-shooting steps which an electrician will advise you to do is to see if any of the MCB has tripped. If any of the MCB has tripped, that would mean there is a short-circuit in that particular area which could be caused by damaged wiring or a faulty appliance.You can perform this by first turning off the RCCB and all MCBs. This will cut the power to your entire house. Turn ON the RCCB and then slowly turn ON the MCBs one-by-one. The MCB that causes the RCCB to trip when you turn it on will indicate the area of the house circuit which is affected.
Once that area is identified, you can just turn off that MCB that causes the trip (literally cutting power to that area) and turn on the rest of the MCBs. Power to your house should be restored while you get a certified electrician to check for you.
In my case, the problem was more severe. When a power trip occurs, I can't turn on the RCCB even though I have shutdown all the MCBs. Meaning, even the entire house has no power, the RCCB cannot be turned on. I had to wait like maybe 15-30 minutes before I can turn it on again. Then the RCCB will trip again.
In this situation, lay people like us will start to think who can we call? There are 3-parties in my case:
- TNB - Cable room to meter
- Building Management - Meter to the house
- Electrician - Inside the house
I called all 3 of them just to make sure all possibilities were covered. The first electrician which I engaged suspected that it could be a faulty RCCB. He replaced it but the problem still occurs. The building management sent over an electrician and he took out my RCCB and rewired it. That caused my RCCB to explode with loud sound and burnt marks (contributing to the CNY celebration spirit I guessed).
I called TNB and they were pretty efficient but they only take care of the part up to the meter. Usually, there is no problem since if there is any, it won't just affect 1 house. Take note that TNB's customer care-line (15454) is from 7:00 am to 11:00 pm. You can also chat with them online. My initial chat with them was cut off half way because of.... (you can guessed).
I was advised by these small scale electricians to contact 'large-scale' electricians, preferably those who have 'the equipment'. I tried to engage the electrician who helped laid the cables for my house but he was on vacation and by the time he was back, his 'sifus' were still on vacation. He proceeded to perform some very dangerous (but creative) trouble-shooting which I don't even want to mention.
Doing some research online, I found that the only way to locate the problem is to find an electrician who has an equipment called 'Megohmmeter'. Basically, this is a very expensive device that will be able to detect which of the circuit is leaking current. At this point, the smaller-scale electricians will mention horror stories about the need to dismount ALL the lights, fans, electrical appliances etc. causing havoc to the house - pretty scary (but will be needed if the damaged area is wide).
So I went to engage an electrician who is doing large-scale renovations and asked specifically for him to perform a 'mega-test'. I have to stress that if you reach this stage, you have to specifically tell them that you don't want anymore bullshit basic testing and just go for the megohm test.
The problem was diagnosed and solved within 3 hours. With the megohmmeter, the electrician professionally identified that the problem came from a small area in my kitchen. They did all the troubleshooting from the circuit box itself and no major dismounting of appliances or lights were needed.
It was later discovered that during the installation of my cooker hood, the installers had cramped the wires into a narrow tight spot and now after a few years, the wire insulation has broke causing the neutral wire to be exposed. The live wire insulation was also starting to show symptoms of tear. In the case if the live wire touches the neutral wire, I will have a short-circuit and the MCB will trip. That would be much easier to locate the problem.
My cooker-hood is also seemed to be 'always on'. The electrician suggested to have a wall switch to control it instead of just relying on the appliance switch. So, I asked him to do the necessary modifications to the wiring. The whole problem was fixed by repairing the wire insulation and slightly re-positioning my hood to not crush the wires again.
Lessons learned in this incident:
- Electricity is very important in life. When there is no electricity, your life shutdowns slowly. Your mobile phone is your best friend but take note not to deplete it's battery before you can get help.
- Always get certified electricians with the right equipment to save your hassle.
- Don't trust electricians sent by the building management.
- TNB only takes care up to the meter.
- Post your problems on facebook. You never know if one of your friends could recommend the right people to help you.
- Time to get a gas-stove, otherwise cannot boil water and cook cintan mee.
Other possibilities that you should know that may also cause symptoms like this (collected from friend's opinion and not verified):
- Water-seepage. If you have leaks on roof, ceiling or walls, you better have them checked. Make sure when you do your renovation, you get the electrician to add a pipe to hold your wires (which I did).
- Rodents or termites that may have chewed on your wires.
- Some people may be stealing your electricity.
DISCLAIMER: I'm just sharing my experience here. You may encounter situations where this story may not be applicable to you. In most cases, these experiences can help enlightened you a little in case you are curious what those electricians are doing when they are working on your circuit box. No matter what, please get a certified electrician to do it for you. The last thing you want is to have the RCCB explode on your face.
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