Emergency response
The RCD trips and will not reset
The RCD switch flips down and refuses to stay up — every reset attempt trips it instantly. Part of the villa is without power. A persistent leak to earth is present on one of the circuits it protects, and it needs isolating rather than forcing.
Electrical
Burning smells, arcing and warm faceplates are treated as emergencies and take priority over everything else.
Call nowRequest an urgent electrical visit on WhatsApp01LIKELY CAUSES
What usually sits behind this symptom, and what tells one cause from another.
Faulty appliance leaking to earth
RCD resets once a particular appliance is unplugged.
Water in an outdoor fitting or socket
Fault isolated to an outdoor circuit; moisture found.
Damaged cable or accessory inside the villa
Insulation test locates a low-reading circuit with nothing plugged in.
02BEFORE ANYONE VISITS
What you can safely check.
- Unplug every appliance on the affected circuits, then try one reset.
- If it resets, plug appliances back one at a time to find the culprit.
- If it will not reset with everything unplugged, leave it and call.
- Never bypass or tape an RCD — it protects against electric shock.
03WHAT WE MEASURE
We disconnect circuits from the RCD one at a time to find which carries the fault, then insulation-test that circuit and split it at accessories until the leak is located.
04IN A VILLA
Villa RCDs often protect a mix of internal and outdoor circuits, so a wet garden fitting can black out rooms inside. More circuits and more outdoor equipment mean more places for a persistent leak to hide.
05THE FIX
Which repair, and when.
Without the RCD, a leaking circuit can give a dangerous shock. The protection must be restored, not bypassed.
Repair or replace the faulty appliance
An appliance is leaking to earth.
Repair the faulty circuit or accessory
The leak is in fixed wiring or fittings.
Rearrange protection
Outdoor and indoor circuits share an RCD unhelpfully.
06Typical villa electrical callout
AED 180 – 1,200 depending on scope
Socket, fitting and single-circuit faults sit low in the band. Fault tracing across multiple outdoor circuits and board work sit higher. Work requiring utility notification is scoped separately and discussed before it starts.
07QUESTIONS
- Can I reset it with the circuit off?
- If you can identify and switch off the faulty circuit's breaker, the RCD may reset for the others. Leave the faulty circuit off.
- Is the RCD itself broken?
- Occasionally, but far more often it is correctly detecting a real fault.