teneke
DIY
- Reaction score
- 7
Hi all, I really hope this is the correct place in the forum.
tldr; Oven and boiler take turns to trip the breaker, but I don't think it's either of them so any help would be greatly appreciated.
Basically the main breaker keeps tripping in the house I'm renting. We've been living here for ~half an year but it only started happening in December. At first it was the oven. It'd trip the main breaker and by switching all the separate breakers in the box one by one I figured out it was the Oven that was tripping the system. It'd keep tripping it for the evening (meaning if i try to flick the oven breaker back on, it'd immediately trip the main breaker) and then in the morning it'd work again perfectly fine. For 6-7-8 days then it'd happen again.
The agency's electrical contractor came in first time, flipped the switch (about 12h later) and it worked fine so he gave me this story of how there's something in these ovens that just goes and you have to chuck the whole oven away it just happens and is inevitable and there's nothing you can do about it. Didn't really buy it but it's not my trade so who knows it's perfectly possible it's true. (Forgot to mention this is a new built, the house is 4-5y old)
About a week later it happened again, I called the agency and they arranged for a brand new oven. Guy came over installed it and it worked fine for another week or two. Then it tripped again. This time it was the boiler (gas combi boiler for shower and heating) (figured out by the trial and error method again). But the boiler trip was different. When the oven would immediately trip the breaker if I tried switching only the 'Oven' breaker switch in the main box On, the boiler would start up for about 30-60s and THEN trip. It sometimes even not trip if the heating was off and the tap was off, but as soon as I turn any of them on, it'd go.
Then eventually next day at some point I'd flip the breaker and it would stay on for few days.
Few days later breaker trips again, this time the brand new oven. Same as above wait it out and in the morning it'd work fine. And lastly, few days ago, and also just now, the boiler again.
This time, just now, I went downstairs, switched off everything that was linked to that half of the breaker box, all the downstairs sockets, the fridge, the washer, all the appliances EXCEPT the boiler and the oven.
And it still tripped about a minute later ....
So now I don't know what to do. The agency isn't excited to invest 250£ into testing the whole house given they might not find anything and I'm stuck in a limbo with a hot water heater in the winter that sooner or later will stop turning back on few hours later ...
I can't see nor smell anything out of the ordinary near the boiler or oven's switches in the kitchen or the breaker box. There' doesn't seem to be any water near these appliances. I even popped the boiler open (two screws from the bottom) looks perfectly pristine on the inside, nothing burnt or bent or leaking, or condensed.
Apart from just now at 22:30, all the other trips would usually happen around 17:30 - 18:00 in the evening. Can't say there's anything extra plugged in, anywhere in the house other than our usual electricals.
It almost feels like there's some current built up like a capacitator and it needs to cool down for few hours before it allows me to turn the boiler/oven back on.
Thank you if you're reading this!
tldr; Oven and boiler take turns to trip the breaker, but I don't think it's either of them so any help would be greatly appreciated.
Basically the main breaker keeps tripping in the house I'm renting. We've been living here for ~half an year but it only started happening in December. At first it was the oven. It'd trip the main breaker and by switching all the separate breakers in the box one by one I figured out it was the Oven that was tripping the system. It'd keep tripping it for the evening (meaning if i try to flick the oven breaker back on, it'd immediately trip the main breaker) and then in the morning it'd work again perfectly fine. For 6-7-8 days then it'd happen again.
The agency's electrical contractor came in first time, flipped the switch (about 12h later) and it worked fine so he gave me this story of how there's something in these ovens that just goes and you have to chuck the whole oven away it just happens and is inevitable and there's nothing you can do about it. Didn't really buy it but it's not my trade so who knows it's perfectly possible it's true. (Forgot to mention this is a new built, the house is 4-5y old)
About a week later it happened again, I called the agency and they arranged for a brand new oven. Guy came over installed it and it worked fine for another week or two. Then it tripped again. This time it was the boiler (gas combi boiler for shower and heating) (figured out by the trial and error method again). But the boiler trip was different. When the oven would immediately trip the breaker if I tried switching only the 'Oven' breaker switch in the main box On, the boiler would start up for about 30-60s and THEN trip. It sometimes even not trip if the heating was off and the tap was off, but as soon as I turn any of them on, it'd go.
Then eventually next day at some point I'd flip the breaker and it would stay on for few days.
Few days later breaker trips again, this time the brand new oven. Same as above wait it out and in the morning it'd work fine. And lastly, few days ago, and also just now, the boiler again.
This time, just now, I went downstairs, switched off everything that was linked to that half of the breaker box, all the downstairs sockets, the fridge, the washer, all the appliances EXCEPT the boiler and the oven.
And it still tripped about a minute later ....
So now I don't know what to do. The agency isn't excited to invest 250£ into testing the whole house given they might not find anything and I'm stuck in a limbo with a hot water heater in the winter that sooner or later will stop turning back on few hours later ...
I can't see nor smell anything out of the ordinary near the boiler or oven's switches in the kitchen or the breaker box. There' doesn't seem to be any water near these appliances. I even popped the boiler open (two screws from the bottom) looks perfectly pristine on the inside, nothing burnt or bent or leaking, or condensed.
Apart from just now at 22:30, all the other trips would usually happen around 17:30 - 18:00 in the evening. Can't say there's anything extra plugged in, anywhere in the house other than our usual electricals.
It almost feels like there's some current built up like a capacitator and it needs to cool down for few hours before it allows me to turn the boiler/oven back on.
Thank you if you're reading this!