RCCB Tripping

[Steven Le]

Okay, I've unplugged all the appliances that aren't being used! 

One thing I'm not sure if I mentioned as this tripping problem seems to go away for awhile on it's on if I leave it alone for a week and then suddenly come back. 

For example, it started tripping around September/October and then stopped after maybe a week or so, ,can't exactly remember to be honest. Then I didn't have any tripping during the whole of November and then up till a few days ago it started again. 

It's also a problem that has happened previously in 2015 as well, on and off every couple of months but has gotten to the point where it's driving me insane!

I've just noticed that it's trip every hour for the last 4 hours: 

27/12/2016 - 19:42 
27/12/2016 - 20:40 
27/12/2016 - 21:51 
27/12/2016 - 22:51 

lastly, I haven't had any work done recently.

 

[Blue Duck]

Any signs of rodents? 

Sounds more like a cumulative earth leakage problem or a tetchy RCD but without being there I am just stabbing the darkness.

 

[Steven Le]

We've had rodents in the past but not in connection with the faults, not that I've noticed anyway. 

My thought was to get some advice from you guys so I can try everything on my behalf so when the engineer comes I can explain what I've tried! 

One more thing, some of my socket switches are stuck on as in if I try turn them off they switch back on - these are in the kitchen. 

Sorry if that's relevant! Clearly I don't know too much about these things! 

 

[poni]

its a sort of good thing that its happening more often, it will make it easier to find and to know if you have found it

 don't need to turn off he socket better to unplug the appliance

 

[Steven Le]

Alright guys, after some more testing I think I have a much better idea of what's going on. Maybe you can help me clarify a bit more! 

Basically I've been tracking the rcd tripping events and it seems like it's become a pattern of tripping literally once every hour give or take a few minutes. 

I started unplugging more and more things so to see if I can figure out what's going on and today I think I've made a potential breakthrough. Basically I've been switching off and unplugging appliances trying to see if the RCD still trips with certain things unplugged. Today at 2:55 PM I unplugged my fridge with all other appliances still on and from then until now it hasn't tripped at all. Apparently the other people living in my house tried the same thing yesterday from roughly 7:00PM till 11:00PM and it didn't trip during that time frame as well so the fridge might be a likely culprit. 

My question is, is there anyway I or my engineer that comes around can know for sure that it's the fridge causing the problem before I buy a new one? 

Thanks!

 

[Andy™]

IR test will usually confirm if there is a fault with the fridge or not, however it is possible for it to say no fault because the motor is not switched on so tester doesnt see it

 

[Steven Le]

Okay that make sense. I have noticed previously that my fridge makes weird noises randomly, sometimes pretty loud. I'm assuming that it's the motor being a bit crazy and it seems more likely that it is the fridge but I guess I can ask my engineer when he/she comes around for more info!

 

[ProDave]

If the fridge has been off for a while, and the thermostat turned to it's coldest setting, then the motor should be in circuit and may be seen by an IR test.

I would repeat your experiment a few more times, perhaps leave it off overnight?  Is it jst a fridge, or fridge / freezer? If it's just a fridge, leaving it off for a longer period is not an issue with nothing to defrost.
 

 

[Steven Le]

It's a fridge/freezer so leaving it off overnight may be a problem. I'll repeat the experiment a few more times to see if the same thing keeps happening. 

 

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

My question is, is there anyway I or my engineer that comes around can know for sure that it's the fridge causing the problem before I buy a new one? 

Thanks!

Plug the fridge into a different circuit supplied from a different RCD that has not tripped before.

Guinness

 

[Lurch]

If the fridge has been off for a while, and the thermostat turned to it's coldest setting, then the motor should be in circuit and may be seen by an IR test.

Bear in mind there will be start/run windings and a relay too so this would only sort of test part of it.

 

[Marvo]

Both windings of the compressor normally have one leg permenemtly connected to neutral so any compressor IR faults normally show up with the standard appliance insulation tests. With a domestic fridge it's more likely to be the evaporator defrost element than the compressor if there's an IR fault, especially a long-term intermittant one, once compressor windings start to break down the end is normally pretty soon after.