Ring main problem

[Mfuller]

Hey Guys,

I'm after any thoughts you might have on a problem I'm experiencing with my downstairs ring main. The entire run is about 15 meters (give or take a few) on 2.5 T&E with a 32amp RCBO in my consumer unit. All connections look fine. Although there are about 6 double sockets on this ring, there is only two items plugged into it.. a lamp and the comby boiler.

Now, the problem I am having.. my conservatory get's pretty cold at night and our Parrots and Dogs are starting to feel the chill. So, I've got an oil heater and plugged it in. All works well for about 5 minutes, then the RCBO trips. I originally thought it may be a fault with the heater so returned it and got a replacement. Same thing.

The annoying thing is, I rewired the house to make the wiring safer (it actually had rubber cable is places) but it seems that I've just made it worse.

Now I don't pretend to know everthing about domestic installations, but enough to be dangerous I just can't seem to figure out what's going wrong. Until I plug in the heater, everthing works fine... as does the heater for about 5 minutes.

Confused and would appreciate any pointers/ideas.

Thanks
Marc

 

[coltmanneil]

Could it be the Breaker,i ve changed a few of these in my time.

regards

Neil

 

[ban-all-sheds]

What happens if you plug the heater in upstairs?

 

[joe-90]

Conservatories are very prone to damp electrics. What happens is that the socket gets hygroscopic salts on the tracks and RCDs being very touchy don't need much leakage to trip. If you replace the socket and make the parts waterproof by spraying them with an acylic varnish, I think your problems will go away.


joe

 

[Mfuller]

I'll try the heater upstairs tonight, and replace the socket ! At the weekend, I'll try a different RCBO.

Thanks for the suggestions guys, I'll report back.

Thanks

Marc

 

[Softus]

Conservatories are very prone to damp electrics. What happens is that the socket gets hygroscopic salts on the tracks and RCDs being very touchy don't need much leakage to trip. If you replace the socket and make the parts waterproof by spraying them with an acylic varnish, I think your problems will go away.


joe

Hey joe - will acylic [sic.] varnish make you go away?

 

[Mfuller]

OK, I tried the heater upstairs and the same happened. This is on original wiring but also ona 32amp RCBO.

Maybe these RCBO's are a little too sensitive ??

Anyone got any ideas ?

 

[Qedelec]

Insulation test the circuit affected.
IT equipment is prone to earth leakage currents especially those spike eliminators.
Can you measure the leakage, do you have/can borrow a ramp tester?

 

[Mfuller]

Insulation test the circuit affected.
IT equipment is prone to earth leakage currents especially those spike eliminators.
Can you measure the leakage, do you have/can borrow a ramp tester?

Sadly the only equipment I have is a normal multimeter. I wouldn't know how to use a ramp tester even if I had one

It's not IT equipment btw.. it's a oil heater.

 

[Qedelec]

You'll be needing the services of a competent electrician then.

Or you could buy the necessary equipment, go to college for a few years and save yourself the cost of a tradesman.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

IT equipment is prone to earth leakage currents especially those spike eliminators.

I know this isn't IT equipment, but I'm wondering about something..

All works well for about 5 minutes, then the RCBO trips.

I wonder if there's an interference suppressor causing problems when the thermostat on the heater kicks in?

Marc - try this:

Plug it in, with the dial set to high.

After, say, 4 minutes, wind the control back to minimum, to trigger the thermostat. See if that trips the RCBO.

 

[Lectrician]

Saw a report somewhere about some thermostatically controlled heaters tripping DC sence type RCD's. And RCBO is usually a DC sense type.

We had problems with an MEM CU, they all have DC sense type RCD's. The client ripped out the CU, and fitted a ****e wicks one. Problem did vanish though. Umm........