Power to outdoor sockets cutting out over night no fuse trip?

[RL19]

Hi All

I have a chiller for my cold plunge plugged in to an outdoor socket. I keep coming out on the morning to find the chiller on but not pumping. I have run it from another outdoor socket on a different circuit and it works fine so my theory is there is nothing wrong with the chiller but the power to this circuit is cutting out and coming back on overnight. If that happens the chiller pump will not automatically restart and I am worried about water freezing in it. It is only on this circuit and no fuse tripped. Any ideas how to fault find ? Thanks

 

[Andy™]

probably a loose wire

 

[binky]

So it appears to be ' live' but isn't doing anything?

 

[RL19]

So it appears to be ' live' but isn't doing anything?

Yes there is power to the chiller ie the LCD display is on but the pump has stopped. If I press go on the pump it starts up again fine. It is exactly what happens if you turn the power off at the socket (without first powering the unit off) and then back on again at the socket

 

[ProDave]

Are you sure it is not just too cold for it to operate? Some fridges or freezers stop working if you put them in a shed and it gets too cold.

If the LCD display is on power is still getting to it, so it is not a fault with the outside socket.

 

[binky]

Yes there is power to the chiller ie the LCD display is on but the pump has stopped. If I press go on the pump it starts up again fine. It is exactly what happens if you turn the power off at the socket (without first powering the unit off) and then back on again at the socket

So the pump is working, just not automatically like you would expect it to normally. In which case I would suspect an issue with the pump rather than the circuit supplying it, but could still be a loose connection in the socket. Check the plug pins for signs of overheating aswell.

 

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

Is this happening every day or just random patterns e.g. once or twice a fortnight?
Tracking down suspect intermittent loss of power, fluctuation(s) of voltage etc.. is easy if you want to pay a lot for some pukka mains supply monitor kit...

But a basic 24hr mechanical time-clock left plugged in to the "suspect" socket could be used as a simple test to check if the power is going off for any significant length of time....?

e.g. if the power was dropping out for a couple of minutes every day, the 24hr time clock would be nearly half an hour late after two-weeks... https://www.screwfix.com/p/masterplug-tms24-mechanical-plug-in-plug-through-timer/25518 Obviously if your power is only dropping out for just a second or two a basic mechanical time clock would not be sensitive enough?

Or if you could find a digital mains powered clock that has no battery back-up...
(The sort of timeclock used in most electric ovens that just reset to 0:00 or 12:00 following a mains failure) that would give a better indication that you did lose power..

I did build a small loss of power alarm for a customer years ago to identify if the supply had tripped to their large freezer in an external remote garage. A 12v supply transformer, latching relay a siren and a few other bits from Maplins, "while they were still around", was a cost effective solution...

Or some off the shelf sirens can be bought...
https://www.ultrasecuredirect.com/m...ains-power-failure-alarm-3-008-1520-p278.html
But you may not want a siren sounding off at three o'clock in the morning because the power has dropped out for a few seconds?
even though it would prove that the power has gone off!

Not sure if any of that helps...
But I think you need something left connected to the suspect socket to monitor the supply continuity?

However, as others have said it is probably not a supply issue more an appliance / environmental conditions issue?

 

[Geoff1946]

If you have the sort of junk store workshop I've had, then an old direct-on-line starter makes a good power failure warning device. Most have auxiliary contacts which make in the off position.

 

[RL19]

Is this happening every day or just random patterns e.g. once or twice a fortnight?
Tracking down suspect intermittent loss of power, fluctuation(s) of voltage etc.. is easy if you want to pay a lot for some pukka mains supply monitor kit...

But a basic 24hr mechanical time-clock left plugged in to the "suspect" socket could be used as a simple test to check if the power is going off for any significant length of time....?

e.g. if the power was dropping out for a couple of minutes every day, the 24hr time clock would be nearly half an hour late after two-weeks... https://www.screwfix.com/p/masterplug-tms24-mechanical-plug-in-plug-through-timer/25518 Obviously if your power is only dropping out for just a second or two a basic mechanical time clock would not be sensitive enough?

Or if you could find a digital mains powered clock that has no battery back-up...
(The sort of timeclock used in most electric ovens that just reset to 0:00 or 12:00 following a mains failure) that would give a better indication that you did lose power..

I did build a small loss of power alarm for a customer years ago to identify if the supply had tripped to their large freezer in an external remote garage. A 12v supply transformer, latching relay a siren and a few other bits from Maplins, "while they were still around", was a cost effective solution...

Or some off the shelf sirens can be bought...
https://www.ultrasecuredirect.com/m...ains-power-failure-alarm-3-008-1520-p278.html
But you may not want a siren sounding off at three o'clock in the morning because the power has dropped out for a few seconds?
even though it would prove that the power has gone off!

Not sure if any of that helps...
But I think you need something left connected to the suspect socket to monitor the supply continuity?

However, as others have said it is probably not a supply issue more an appliance / environmental conditions issue?

Thanks good idea on the mechanical timer although as you say needs to be off for a while as most seem to have 15m increments