This is a grumble, of minimal technical content, so feel free to skip it.
MIL lives in a static caravan type thing, with a TT supply, earth rod beneath and RCDs inside and out. So far so good. She is not that hot on technical stuff, and the external RCD is in a shared meter box about 10m from the caravan , to reach it involves a squeeze through a hole in a hedge and skip over a low chain link fence. I did buy her a key, but it is not exactly readily accessible,
Having bought a wonder cure earth mat to fit below the bed to aid the aches and pains of age ( I roll my eyes but say nothing) the instructions told her to ‘check the socket is earthed before use’
So she ticks the box online and buys the tester that is offered to go with it at an exorbitant fee. Its one of those with 3 lights, and a feature new to me, a ‘test RCD’ button.
So she plugs in the tester, and the right pattern of lights come on, but being easily confused she is not sure if that is all she has to do, so presses the "RCD test" button just in case. Cue lights out, mild panic and beeping from the answer phone.
So I get a call from her mobile (in itself remarkable - its normally flat and use of the land line is more common) and drive out on a rescue mission at about 10PM.
On the plus side, in nearly 10 years of living there, it seems that is the first time the RCD in the meter box has been tested except when I did it when she moved in.
The hard part was explaining what the test button does actually test, and reassuring her that a ‘pass’ is when the power goes off. And not to do it again when it is dark and I am far away.
I now await the complaint that the earth mat under the bed is in some way broken.
Mike
