French House 3-phase RCD tripping

[Alex Haldane]

Hi All,

Long time lurker, first time poster.

We staying at a family friend's house in france and they are having frequent trips of their electrical system where they turn multiple breakers/the main switch off and on until it comes back on.

Over the last week I've managed to narrow down a possible cause/fix.

I think it is due to a fauly rcd in the consumer unit. When the power tripps it turns off everything in the house and it does not come back on until you cycle the three phase main rcd in the consumer unit.

Strangly this rcd hasnt actually tripped to the off position, you flick it to the off position, wait a second or two and when you put it back to the on position all the power comes back. The fact the rcd hasnt actually moved to the off position but cycling fixes the problem seems very suspicious of a faulty rcd to me.

The power seems to trip when the the hot water tank immersion (less than 2 years old tank) and the dishwasher (brand new) is on amongst fans and other things.

The RCD in question is an ABB F204ac 30mA leakage 40A 3-phase rcd.

We would really appreciate any advice/help!

Thanks,
Alex

 

[Deleted member 26818]

All RCDs and RCBOs work in this manner.
The switch trips to around half way and has to be switched off fully before it will allow re-energisation.

 

[westward10]

Not all but some do.

 

[Alex Haldane]

All RCDs and RCBOs work in this manner.
The switch trips to around half way and has to be switched off fully before it will allow re-energisation.

Thanks for the reply, what I meant was that the toggle switch doesnt even move from the normal fully on position when the power trips.

 

[westward10]

What colour shows in the little window above the toggle when it has tripped.

 

[Alex Haldane]

What colour shows in the little window above the toggle when it has tripped.

Currently showing red in the little window, will report back when it next trips

 

[dmxtothemax]

We really only understand English electricity here,
French electricity is different I'm sure !
Sacre Bleu !

 

[marconi]

What earthing system is in place? Are the immersion and dishwasher on the same phase? Could you provide some pictures and confirm bonding to water and gas pipes?

 

[FatAlan]

We really only understand English electricity here,
French electricity is different I'm sure !
Sacre Bleu !

Unfortunately I think a lot of the electricity in the U.K. is French

 

[The Ghost]

How many Kw are they contracted for?

 

[Alex Haldane]

Currently showing red in the little window, will report back when it next trips

So when it next tripped the little window stayed red. Pulled the toggle down to the off position, waited a few seconds, switched it back to on and the power came back.

See photo during the trip:

 

[Alex Haldane]

What earthing system is in place? Are the immersion and dishwasher on the same phase? Could you provide some pictures and confirm bonding to water and gas pipes?

The earth looks like it disappears off down a void in a wall, I presume to some sort of earth rod but not sure.

The imersion looks to be on phase 3, not sure about the kitchen sockets.

 

[Alex Haldane]

How many Kw are they contracted for?

The owners of the house claim problems started after edf changed the meter outside. And they think they dropped their supply power to 6kw from 9kw, and they are trying to get edf to increase their power.

However the disjoncteur is inside the house, never trips and says 25A per phase, which is 17.2kw by my sums

 

[westward10]

What colour does the window go when you press the test button and does the toggle only drop halfway.

 

[marconi]

It looks like the immersion heater (chauffe-eau) and dishwasher (lave vaisselle) are on the same phase because they share the same busbar of the middle row of miniature circuit breakers and their's are side by side. The information about the change of meter and onsetof the trip problem afterwards suggests to me a loose connection for Phase 3 and/or the neutral at the new meter which EDF will have to investigate. I think that is the first thing to have checked out and also the connections inside the disjoncteur.

If all checks out correct then you'll need an electrician to check the connections inside the 3 consumer units, do some insulation resistance testing of the house wiring and immersion heater element, confirm the continuity of the circuit protective conductor to the immersion heater and washing machine and clamp the main earth conductor to measure the earth leakage current (- and compare to 30mA).

Do any of the lumieres supplied by the middle row of mcbs ever flicker? Has the dishwasher leaked water or its plug and socket ever been wetted?