question 4 electricians

[funbobby]

whilst buggering around on my leaky dishwasher in my stupidity manged to give myself a shock( still plugged in) and trip the fuse box, my question is how does the fuse box know ive been a daft bugger and what actually happens to the flow?

[theaxe]

I think they effectively measure the flow of electrons around the circuit. If more go in that come out then it suggests a short and it trips.

[WorAl]

you shorted the circuit causing the amps to rise above the level needed for your trip switch so its blown, same as what happens to a fuse.

ETA: if you mean the flow of electricity, then that ceases to be untill the trip switch is flicked back

Edited by WorAl on Thursday 30th July 13:04

[Lord Pikey]

To much current draw. It goes to ground to quickly tripping the breaker.

I think....

[caiss4]

The circuit breakers are rated, typically 30A for your dishwasher on a ring main. Should the current exceed this then the breaker will trip. Depending on what you did to get a shock the maximum current could have been exceeded and so it tripped out.

Alternatively and more likely you would have caused the earth leakage breaker to trip. This looks at the current flowing on the live wire and that on the neutral. If there's an imbalance, typically less than 100mA, it will assume the 'lost' current has gone to earth and trip out. In your case the 'lost' current would have gone to earth through you and hence the shock.

[Ganglandboss]

Was it an MCB (Miniature Circuit Breaker)or an RCD (Residual Current Device) that tripped? MCBs work on overload; RCDs work by inducing a current created by an imbalance in the phase and neutral conductors into a tripping solenoid.

[funbobby]

not sure if mcb or rcd wasnt at my house, quite literally to shocked to ask! just curious to the workings of house electrics.