Please help fuse board tripping !!!

[mrikirkby]

I have a vokera linea combi boiler that keeps tripping the fuse board, it is on the kitchen socket circuit with a 3amp isolating switch and have narrowed it down to this as with everything unplugged in the kitchen its fine until i switch the boiler on at the isolating switch and it trips the main trip on the fuse board . It is not blowing the 3 amp fuse though ?

Any ideas where to look ??

 

[electronicsuk]

I have a vokera linea combi boiler that keeps tripping the fuse board, it is on the kitchen socket circuit with a 3amp isolating switch and have narrowed it down to this as with everything unplugged in the kitchen its fine until i switch the boiler on at the isolating switch and it trips the main trip on the fuse board . It is not blowing the 3 amp fuse though ?

Any ideas where to look ??

Is it tripping an MCB, or is it an RCD/RCBO? Hint; if the offending trip has a test button on it, it's an RCD or perhaps an RCBO. This would suggest an earth fault, and on appliances like a boiler, could be due to water being somewhere it shouldn't be.

 

[mrikirkby]

To be honest iam not sure, it trips the whole lot ie the large trip not the individual trips that are labelled. Sorry for being vague but its round my mother in laws and I am not there now so cant check for you ?

 

[electronicsuk]

To be honest iam not sure, it trips the whole lot ie the large trip not the individual trips that are labelled. Sorry for being vague but its round my mother in laws and I am not there now so cant check for you ?

I'd be 99% sure from your description that the 'trip' is indeed an RCD. That implies a fault from Live to Earth or perhaps Neutral to Earth. Again, it could be due to a leak onto electrical parts inside the boiler, and you probably need a service engineer to look at the boiler.

The above assumes that the fixed wiring has not been played with any time recently that has resulted in the fault.

 

[mrikirkby]

No the wiring hasn't been played with only by me to check the junction boxes in the ceiling, I have also had the cover of the boiler to check for leaks or molten wires and cant find anything so it looks like i am going to have to call an engineer out...!

 

[electronicsuk]

No the wiring hasn't been played with only by me to check the junction boxes in the ceiling, I have also had the cover of the boiler to check for leaks or molten wires and cant find anything so it looks like i am going to have to call an engineer out...!

If you feel confident in doing so, you can always safely isolate power to the boiler, then remove the supply wiring from the boiler terminals and put it into a strip of terminal block. Reinstate the supply, and then see if you have any problems with tripping. This will rule out all the fixed wiring and prove for sure whether or not the problem is with the boiler.

 

[mrikirkby]

Thanks will try that, I also thought of maybe disconnecting the boiler side and fitting a plug and then plugging in to a mains socket on a different circuit and see if that trips it ? If it does then its got to be a boiler fault, but i am not sure if this is a safe thing to do or not ?

Mother in law is in Spain at the moment so need to get it sorted as we are still get frost's !!

 

[electronicsuk]

Thanks will try that, I also thought of maybe disconnecting the boiler side and fitting a plug and then plugging in to a mains socket on a different circuit and see if that trips it ? If it does then its got to be a boiler fault, but i am not sure if this is a safe thing to do or not ?

Sounds fine to me, as long as the plugtop is suitably fused. You would also need to know that your alternative supply circuit is RCD protected, as on older installations, you may find that only the ground floor outlets are on the RCD. Putting the boiler onto a unprotected circuit wouldn't really prove anything!

 

[mrikirkby]

Yep good point, Thanks very much for you help i will try and have a go tomorrow and see what I can come up with......hopefully a solution !

Thanks again for help

 

[Taylortwocities]

You need to check any place where water and electricity meet. It can trip if there is a leak.

Prime suspect #1 will be the pump followed by any valves. Do turn the electricity off before you go poking your finger in anywhere!

 

[1john]

the fans can cause problems too, but rule of thumb i beleive is to check the pump first. if you havn't got test equipment it is prob best to have an engineer around.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I'd be 99% sure from your description that the 'trip' is indeed an RCD.

I'm 100% sure - what else could it be?

 

[stem]

I also thought of maybe disconnecting the boiler side and fitting a plug and then plugging in to a mains socket on a different circuit and see if that trips it ?

How will that help?

it trips the whole lot

If it is the RCD tripping all of the circuits nothing will change.

 

[electronicsuk]

I'd be 99% sure from your description that the 'trip' is indeed an RCD.

I'm 100% sure - what else could it be?

I don't know - but I wouldn't like to say I'm 100% certain about something that I can't see. Who's to say it's not an ELCB?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

OK - I'll give you that one.