Electrical fault: What is it and how dangerous is it?


 Short circuit

A short circuit is an electrical fault that involves a very low electrical resistance between the line and the neutral. Under normal circumstances, electrical loads such as electrical appliances and lamps that have a reasonable resistance are connected between the line and the neutral. Low electrical currents flow through these appliances and their resistors and the electrical system works. 

When a short circuit occurs, the amount of electrical current flowing can be very high and can cause immediate damage to the cables in the circuit. For this reason, electrical systems are designed to quickly cut off the power supply when a short circuit occurs. This is one of the reasons why the design and construction of the electrical system is so important and must be carried out correctly to ensure that disconnection times can be met in accordance with wiring regulations. 

Earth Fault

This is a problem where the line or neutral develops a path to earth with high or low resistance. The result may cause an MCB to trip if the fault is from line to earth and has a low resistance. An MCB will not trip for a Neutral to Earth fault, since the Neutral is generally not monitored by an MCB device. 

The other result that can be witnessed is the tripping of an RCD type device due to the disappearance of electrical current to earth. An RCD device intervenes when there is a leakage of current from the voltage or neutral to earth, as it is assumed that an electric shock is occurring to those using the electrical installation. 

Broken conductor

An electrical conductor in an electrical installation is usually a copper wire that carries electric current from one side of a circuit to the other. It can be a line conductor, a neutral conductor, a circuit protection conductor or a switched line conductor. 

Broken conductors are common in electrical systems and are not always detected by the users of the electrical system; they are often only discovered when an electrician performs a periodic electrical inspection or during troubleshooting of an unrelated electrical fault. The photo below shows a wall light that required an earth connection, but was never connected. This is potentially dangerous, but would have gone unnoticed until a fault occurred that energized the metal part of the luminaire! 

Call the Emergency Electrician in Sheffield. We are 24 hours available.

Location: Sheffield, UK

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