Shropshire_Lad Posted June 2, 2011 Report Share Posted June 2, 2011 Over the last couple of weeks the main trip on our consumer unit has been tripping. I thought it was a faulty switch to the immersion heater, replaced that and still no better, it is getting more regular though tripping once or twice a day now. Its happened twice in the middle of the night, immersion switched off. It will trip in the daytime when no lights are on. Talking to the Electrician at work he thinks it could be an appliance thats tripping it, says it will get more frequent if it is. Have tried pluging and unpluging things to see if anything obvious is the cause but it won't trip evertime with anything, hit and miss. The immersion will trip it more often than anything though. Any ideas how to find whats causing it? could it be a faulty consumer unit as it is over 25years old. atvb Paul. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imissalot Posted June 2, 2011 Report Share Posted June 2, 2011 Over the last couple of weeks the main trip on our consumer unit has been tripping. I thought it was a faulty switch to the immersion heater, replaced that and still no better, it is getting more regular though tripping once or twice a day now. Its happened twice in the middle of the night, immersion switched off. It will trip in the daytime when no lights are on. Talking to the Electrician at work he thinks it could be an appliance thats tripping it, says it will get more frequent if it is. Have tried pluging and unpluging things to see if anything obvious is the cause but it won't trip evertime with anything, hit and miss. The immersion will trip it more often than anything though. Any ideas how to find whats causing it? could it be a faulty consumer unit as it is over 25years old. atvb Paul. cant tell ya over the Internet impossible but start buy un plugging ever thing , lose connections, also Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mk1 Man Posted June 2, 2011 Report Share Posted June 2, 2011 It could be anything tbh. The most common items that cause an RCD to trip are appliances that use electricity & water. i.e. kettles (especially the cordless type as the base sometimes gets full of water), irons, washing machine, tumble dryer, dishwasher, Immersion heater. usually because after time, the seals fail and moisture gets into the electrical parts. It doesn't have to be a live to earth fault either, An RCD will detect Neutral earth faults too. so if you only have a switch on the live side of a circuit, such as lights, the RCD will still detect the Neutral earth fault & Trip. Not all socket outlets are double pole either so just switching an appliance off at the socket would not be sufficient to isolate it from the supply, you need to unplug it aswell. The switch to the immersion heater Should be double pole (i.e. breaks and makes the contact to both live & neutral conductors simultaneously) and be on its own circuit with nothing else connected to it, so switching it off should, in theory isolate it, but that still leaves the circuit supplying it connected & live unless you switch of the circuit breaker too or pull the fuse out. Try to make a note of the time & what appliances or lights are running when the RCD trips. (not easy when your asleep i know) Hopefully, after a process of elimination (unplugging things one at a time etc.) you'll find what's causing it. However, it may be the wiring to a circuit that's causing it, If that's the case you'll need an electrician to thoroughly test the wiring to find the fault. Even having too many cables in an accessory box, can, over time, cause a compression fault causing an RCD to trip. (sometimes caused by spurring off a socket to feed others and leaving the cables too long so they don't fit in the box properly and get crushed when the front is screwed back on) or indeed as has been said, loose connections. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark@mbb Posted June 2, 2011 Report Share Posted June 2, 2011 The compressor on the fridge could be causing it to trip when it kicks in but you will have to unplug each appliance in turn and leave it over night leaving the fridge plugged in Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coolhead Posted June 2, 2011 Report Share Posted June 2, 2011 Turn all the breakers off. Bring them back one at a time. This will isolate an electrical fault if there is one. It will be inconvenient and time consuming. If it doesn't work it could be a mechanical fault from old age. I had this once and it was the spur to the garage. It took ages to find the fault, a damp 4-way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamW Posted June 2, 2011 Report Share Posted June 2, 2011 A £1 on the mobile phone charger... coil pack gone or going! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slug Posted June 2, 2011 Report Share Posted June 2, 2011 (edited) Couple points. 25 Years old, not likely to be an RCD, more likely an old ELCB. "Main Trip"..Means what ?..You have a Earth leakage breaker that kills the whole house ? Either a) It's a TT system, or B) installed ( Quite likely to a previously acceptable standard not taking account of discrimination ). Fuses and circuit breakers only break the line conductor, commonly known as 'Live', in fact all conductors are live that carry current in normal use , anyway, a sparky will need to start splitting circuits and pulling Neutrals, unplug it all, immersions are sometimes a Radial from a ring main, 'start ups from fridges' DONT trip Earth leakage devices , unless they induce an earth fault, RCD's are not Amp load sensitive..Thats the job of the CB. Edited June 2, 2011 by Slug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coolhead Posted June 2, 2011 Report Share Posted June 2, 2011 A £1 on the mobile phone charger... coil pack gone or going! I'll take your pound thanks. Phone chargers are class 2 appliances. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shropshire_Lad Posted June 2, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 2, 2011 Thanks for taking the time and trouble to reply guy's the consumer box is a GEC? Vynckier with six switches, lights, lights upstairs, sockets, cooker, immersion heater and shower. It says on the main switch residual current device. Tried a few things earlier, everytime I put the immersion heater on it tripped the main swith, putting all electric off. I turned the cooker off at the board and the immersion heater went on and off many times without tripping Also noticed the light in the cooker socket is no longer bright but very dim, hardley showing yet the cooker works ok. atvb Paul. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reddan Posted June 2, 2011 Report Share Posted June 2, 2011 (edited) The compressor on the fridge could be causing it to trip when it kicks in but you will have to unplug each appliance in turn and leave it over night leaving the fridge plugged in Mark Got my vote if it is tripping at random times. Edit: just read your last post sounds a little more complicated than just a dicky fridge. Dan Edited June 2, 2011 by reddan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggest Posted June 2, 2011 Report Share Posted June 2, 2011 If your consumer unit is 25 years old, I would assume most of your wiring is that old as well. Wiring of this sort of age starts to get very brittle and can begin to deteriorate. This could be causing the tripping. This is not a good situation as frequent trips can mean a build up in heat which could then lead to a fire. If I remember correctly it is recommended that houses are electrically tested and inspected every 10 years, assuming you have not had one since the consumer unit has been installed I would seriously recommend you get an electrician in to test your wiring. Last thing you want is a fire, plus some house insurance policies wont pay out if the fire is caused by faulty wiring and you don't have a current inspection and test certificate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike525steel Posted June 2, 2011 Report Share Posted June 2, 2011 (edited) The compressor on the fridge could be causing it to trip when it kicks in but you will have to unplug each appliance in turn and leave it over night leaving the fridge plugged in Mark ive seen this one before many times Edited June 2, 2011 by Mike525steel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike525steel Posted June 2, 2011 Report Share Posted June 2, 2011 try changing the breaker it is unlikely but when all else has failed i have found Rcbo's to be faulty (more common on three phase breakers than domestic stuff but it can be the case Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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