Yesterday the RCD (residual current device) kept tripping at Casa Del Jordan.

RCD’s are a requirement for all new Western Australian houses as they can help reduce the chances of electrocution. On this occasion, no one was getting shocked, it just kept flicking off and leaving us in the dark.

It started early on in the day but as day progressed it happened more and more often. We tried tracking down what was causing it by switching everything off – to no avail.

No matter what order we brought things back on line – it would trip again at some point.

I eventually managed to get everything except the TVs going – at which point I consulted the Net.

So here’s what I learned.

The Power Switch on a power point only disables the active wire – not the neutral or earth. This means to test properly – you must physically unplug devices from the wall.

Knowing this we were then able to track down the problem to a touch lamp.

Once unplugged – all problems disappeared.

I’ve mainly blogged this in case anyone every has the same issue – hopefully Google will index the page and get you the answer quicker than it did for me.