Fault on RCD Trip

[kenwood33]

I have a head scratching fault on my RCD Trip.

When ever my neighbour two doors along uses his lawn mower/strimmer my RCD trips in the kitchen, this has been happening regularly for 4 years now. I have had another electrician test my board and states that this can't happen, but it does regularly. Any ideas at all?I am at a loss really so any help would be appreciated. :_|

 

[a1]

A warm Welcome to the forum Kenwood.

It is not uncommon that a fault from a neighbour's could show up on your system and trip your RCD.

Do you know what earthing system you have?

Is it possible that You could take some pics of your supply cable that comes into your home, along with some pics of your Cut out fuse etc, and put them on here, Please?

 

[kenwood33]

Yes will do shortly for you to see, thanks

 

[kenwood33]

Here are the photos of my RCD and cable entering the house. I hope that they all got on to this reply.

 

[Badger]

its pme or tncs by the looks of it,

 

[a1]

Beat me to it Badge.

Badge, you have heard of a Fault free house, having their RCD tripped by picking a fault up from a neighbour, Surely?

 

[Lee321]

pme almost certainly

have you had the rcd changed?

 

[kenwood33]

I have never had the RCD changed as the original electricians who done my house 4 years ago when it was built,put in this board as well as the sockets etc. They came back today and refused point blank to change the RCD and have stated that it is not possible for someone two doors along to trip my RCD!! with their lawnmower/strimmer. Basically the original electricians have just walked away and left me to it with my problem still there.

 

[Lee321]

in theory it is impossible

but its not to say freak things don't happen.

the rcd is possibly an electronic device and its not happy about something/faulty

 

[Chr!s]

Tricky one

Could be transient voltages

 

[kenwood33]

Thank you all for your help, it is a matter of eliminating of what device is causing the problem and that in itself is going to be a hard thing as we have a house gull of them these days!

 

[Theorysparky]

Ok i put my hands up i dont know why this is happening but...

what about RF interference caused by the strimmer ??????

you could borrow the strimmer and plug it in to one of your sockets ???

 

[septiclecky]

Change the RCD and it still happens what do you go cut the plugs off his lawn mower and strimmer?

 

[AAAMUSEMENTS]

Volex stuff is not highly thought of on here, or generally within the industry as far as I can tell.

Still shouldn't do this though!

 

[kenwood33]

Thanks to everyone for their help, I figure I will have to get this sorted somehow otherwise it will be allowed to continue. Not a good one is it?

 

[sparkytim]

Hi

RCDs are a right pain for this sort of thing

What is the 16 Amp protected circuit on your Consumer Unit feeding?

Is it Garage?

If so how close is the Garage to your Neighbors garden?

What is the earthing set up at the Garage?

 

[Megaohm7]

I have a head scratching fault on my RCD Trip. When ever my neighbour two doors along uses his lawn mower/strimmer my RCD trips in the kitchen, this has been happening regularly for 4 years now. I have had another electrician test my board and states that this can't happen, but it does regularly. Any ideas at all?I am at a loss really so any help would be appreciated. :_|

Hello Kenwood33 and welcome to the forum.

You do have a strange problem there and one which I've never come across.

Has your neighbour got a problem with their mower It's a bit of a long shot but I'm thinking earth leakage as you could have an earth spike in place on your property/ outbuildings or your pme is picking it up through the general mass of earth .pme and earth spikes serve as protection for your installation so rapid disconnection of supply will take place in the event of a fault . I would advise you get your board checked out anyway to ensure that all is well at your end . Pleased keep the forum posted and I hope you find an answer to this matter

 

[a1]

If you are looking for an electrician to come around to have a look for you.

May I suggest you have a look in our Electrician Directory.

 

[green-hornet]

It is a strange one as others have said, you were told some duff info from the original electricians RCD units can and do fail sometimes.

I would have at least done a ramp test, and maybe put the tester on it and told the mower man to cut some grass. First solution would be to try with a different RCD fitted, then investigate from there.

 

[AndyD1]

Fault/leakage current from one installation finding its way back to earth via the earthing arrangements of another installation was a know to cause problems with the old voltage operated ELCBs, but shouldn't affect modern RCDs. I think (from a distant memory!) that the cause could sometimes be traced to shared metallic water or gas pipes introducing a difference in potential on the consumers installation.

Does your neighbour also have a RCD fitted and if so does that trip too when the appliance is used?