RCD Tripping, Nothing in Sockets, no load... what now?

[telectrix]

impossible to say without thorough test. these faults are sometimes straightforward- 1 particular circuit tripping it's own RCD< but occasionally there can be weird results that don't seem to have a logical explanation. especially if the fault is N-E.

 

[Tidy]

N- E is that neutral to earth? lol

 

[telectrix]

correct.

 

[Tidy]

Cool, thankyou!

Ok going to move my office round now, lol - nail biting moment will see if anything trips whilst im plugging/unplugging stuff

 

[Tidy]

Ok,

Unplugged everything... fine... plugged stuff back in, main RCD flicked off. Turned back on no problem.... then plugged in a usb charger.... flicked off again...


Not sure if its relevant, or just the design of the extension cable... but i have a surge protector cable... which has a green light to show surge protection is "on".

The green light is flickering on the extension?

 

[telectrix]

could be someting as simple as a bad connection on that circuit. does sound as if there is more than 1 fault , though.

 

[Edd]

Not sure if its relevant, or just the design of the extension cable... but i have a surge protector cable... which has a green light to show surge protection is "on".

The green light is flickering on the extension?

surge protection extention leads are notorious things for N-E faults, I think they have a surge capacitor that leaks to earth. ive had loads causing nucance tripping. And it only needs to be pluged in the wall and not even switched on or in use to cause a tripping problem

 

[Tidy]

@Edd that's quite interesting... i think i'm in the mind frame that the extenion leads worked fine at the old address and have tried 3 or 4 different ones with the same results (be it some do not have the lights showing surge protection). So if it is them i would be surprised, but definitely worth a mention to the sparky coming bright and early monday

 

[Mark_Burgess]

When you say everything unplugged, are you including fridge and freezer?

 

[staylor34]

Sounds like you may have the circuit neutrals crossed in the consumer unit if it's a split load board.

 

[kdsworld]

Had a similar problem 6 months ago with random tripping RCD. All new house wiring, so checked the usual suspect (crossed-neutrals on the split CU) and found nothing. Systematically unplugged appliances and was about to throw some away thinking it had to be one of them when I decided to change the RCD itself. 15 minutes labour and £20 later, problem solved and no tripping since. That beats the hundreds of pounds I wasted thinking it could never be a faulty RCD and the hundreds of pounds I would have wasted buying new appliances when there was nothing wrong with the old ones. Rather than paying your sparky for hours of testing why not get him to change your RCD and see what happens?

 

[telectrix]

can;t wait to find out what the fault/s is.

 

[Edd]

decided to change the RCD itself. 15 minutes labour and £20 later, problem solved and no tripping since. That beats the hundreds of pounds

did you test the new rcd? i know its new, but i do hope its fully funcional and trips within the proper time limits set by the regs.. RCDs do go wrong yep but 99 times out of 100 its not the RCD so saying change it and save money will work ,,, well only once in 100 and then them odds are conservative.. I wonder how many people are gona come back saying ,,,,, Ive changed my RCD and it still trips..

 

[Tidy]

Hi, yes fridge and freezer un plugged. All tripped again whilst eating pancakes lol. No load at all. Unplugged from a socket that had flickering surge protector light and no problems since. Shall see what happens tomorrow..... I must say its really annoying. But I'd like to thank everybody for their continued help.

 

[kdsworld]

Edd, I am not saying change it and it will work, I am saying change it and see if it works. Statistics sometimes blind even the most competent people to reality. The cost of an RCD is typically less than the cost of 1 hours labour and whilst it may make good financial sense to the sparky to carry on testing indefinitely it usually doesn't for the client. Anything which can reduce the amount of labour required is worthwhile trying. Safety is nevertheless paramount, but economics comes in a close second.

 

[Tidy]

Mornin!

Thought id give an update!

With things unplugged from that dodgy socket the RCD seemed to be fine... until sunday when the shower flicked on the main RCD tripped

So after we'd thought we'd cracked it - still the trips were happening

Electrician came bright and early yesterday morning, we gave him an update and pointed him in the direction of the dodgy socket...

He first ran insulation tests on our sockets circuit and all came back fine... no leakage, no faults... normal. Then he plugged a lamp into the dodgy socket, turned the power off and tried to turn the power back on...the sockets switch kept tripping.... plugged the lamp into another socket (in the same room) and things turned on fine with no problem.

So he took the socket off and changed the socket itself (my request). The socket also had 2 earth wires that had been twisted.... he untwisted them and put some green/yellow tubing over the top (cant remember the name lol). Connected all back up and tried again.....it did seem a little better

Then he left us to see how we got on... (he was coming back later in the day to replace an alarm battery)... no more than 5 minutes had gone and it tripped again...main RCD switch.

When he came back, he decided to "try" a new RCD switch just to see if the RCD had tripped that many times it was a bit "worn" - and even though it did pass the tests for trip speed, it might be over sensitive, or just somewhat faulty under a bit of load...

That was 1pm yesterday.... and no problems since!

So fingers crossed it might have been the RCD switch itself?

 

[SPARTYKUS]

Edd, I am not saying change it and it will work, I am saying change it and see if it works. Statistics sometimes blind even the most competent people to reality. The cost of an RCD is typically less than the cost of 1 hours labour and whilst it may make good financial sense to the sparky to carry on testing indefinitely it usually doesn't for the client. Anything which can reduce the amount of labour required is worthwhile trying. Safety is nevertheless paramount, but economics comes in a close second.

I'd be charging a minimum fee (1.5 hours) anyway to change the RCD. Drive there. Get tools out. put tools away. drive away.

Are you saying you'd change the RCD for no labour charge?!

 

[telectrix]

think what he meant was that by replacing the |RCD ( about 20mins) would save a lot of time testing if it was the RCD at fault.

 

[spark 68]

This type of situation is where an Earth leakage clamp meter starts to pay for itself.

 

[kdsworld]

I'd be charging a minimum fee (1.5 hours) anyway to change the RCD. Drive there. Get tools out. put tools away. drive away.

Are you saying you'd change the RCD for no labour charge?!

You are missing the point but telectrix got it!

The cost of replacing a low cost item like an RCD is minimal relative to the cost of labour involved in testing a fault such as this, which could amount to hours of work, particularly as in this case the source of the problem was not immediately evident.