Zanussi fan oven is tripping the RCD after 10 or 15 minutes.

[Dyc05]

Hi, I tried changing the fan oven element but that has not fixed the problem, any advice on further action? Some other posts I’ve seen suggest it could be the fan motor itself that’s causing it to trip.

 

[sircerebus666]

Could well be , there's not a huge amount of components in an oven to fail

First thing to do is stop throwing money at it until you know what's wrong

Second thing is to disconnect the fan , make sure the wiring isnt going to touch the oven casing and turn the oven on and see what happens.

If it's not the fan then you will have to fault find with a multimeter as you have an earth fault somewhere

Does the grill setting on your oven turn the fan on?

 

[Dyc05]

Hi, thanks for this, will try disconnecting the fan first of all - the fan only operates when main oven is on as the separate grill above doesn’t have one.
Cheers.

 

[sircerebus666]

I take it , it doesn't trip the RCD in grill mode only?

 

[Dyc05]

No it doesn’t, the top oven/grill and ceramic hobs work perfectly without tripping the RCD.

 

[sircerebus666]

Narrows it down quite a bit then!

I would go with your guess that the fan is at fault , could be the thermostat but I would check the fan first

 

[Dyc05]

Will do, I’m planning to tackle it tomorrow morning so will keep you posted, thanks again.

 

[bernardgreen]

will try disconnecting the fan first of all - the fan only operates when main oven is on

Keep a close eye on the element as in many fan ovens the heat from the element is distributed by the air flow. Without that air flow the element can overheat damage itself and/or the metal work next tot the element.

 

[Dyc05]

Thanks, was planning to run it for only 10 minutes or so at 150/160 degrees without the fan on to see if it trips - it has been tripping the RCD fairly quickly after turning on.

 

[Dyc05]

Update: I’ve disconnected the fan and then ran the oven at a low temp ( approx 100 degrees ) for 20 mins with no tripping issues and then increased the temp briefly to 150 and then 200 degrees with no problems either - it does come up to the higher temperatures quickly though as the thermostat is right above it, only took about 4 mins to reach that but I didn’t want to run at that temp for too long in case I damaged the element.
I’m guessing now that the fan is causing the tripping issues?
Have also discovered that the top oven does indeed have a fan on it too but that operated normally when I was doing this test without any issues.

 

[sircerebus666]

Certainly looks like it , to confirm reconnect and run the same test and see if it trips

Looks like a new fan is on the cards

 

[Dyc05]

Thanks, will reconnect fan as you suggest and then see what happens - if it is just a new fan needed then that’ll be great as it would be a great shame to get rid of what is still a good cooker.

 

[Dyc05]

Update: reconnected the fan then it tripped again after 10 minutes at the lower temperature of 100 degrees.
Thanks to all for the advice, will now order new fan and try that...