HERE ’ S LOOKING AT YOU !

I recently had a call from a new customer who had no power and couldn ' t reset the safety switch .

I tried the usual process of getting them to unplug all the appliances , but they still could not reset it . I also got them to turn all the circuit breakers off and see if they could reset the safety switch , but still nothing .

I arrived on site and found the safety switch protecting two lights and two power circuits .

After performing insulation testing on the circuits , one of the power circuits was down to 0.5 MΩ neutral to earth .

After tracing some cabling

out under the house and further testing I narrowed it down to five power points .

After removing the last power point , I was in for a surprise .

In the power point cut out I could see a tiny pair of eyes and nose staring back at me ! It was a possum . After pulling the cable out to inspect it ( which scared the possum off ) I could see the problem , the possum had chewed the neutral and earth cabling back to bare wiring .

The active cable however , was not damaged at all .

There was enough length to reterminate the cabling and

install an insulating shroud on the back of the power point .

Then I re-tested the circuit and the fault was gone . I could re-energise the circuit .

I installed individual RCBO protection to the two power circuits in case it happens again they would still have partial power – though I suspect the 500VDC insulation testing on the cable shocked the possum into finding a new place to hide !

Thanks to Dan Lee from Classic Electrical in Toowoomba , Qld , for this great story … you never know who ’ s watching you !