House electrics keep tripping

paulride · 27 Jan 2010

Im no electrician but I have had a guy wire up an 8kw rated electric powered central heating boiler and it is apparently wired on a seperate circuit, so why does it keep tripping the whole house?
It does not trip the MCB rated at 32 by the way that it is apparently wired to.
I live in Spain.

Diyisfun · 27 Jan 2010

Does it trip every time?
Might be a poor connection

Im not an electrian

paulride · 27 Jan 2010

Just keeps tripping

electronicsuk · 27 Jan 2010

paulride said:
Just keeps tripping

What keeps tripping? An RCD? Does it trip every time the boiler fires? If so, it's likely that the spark has taken the neutral into the wrong neutral bar. However, as you've not given us a lot to chew on and I know nothing about Spanish regulations (are there any?!

) then there's not a lot more I can tell you.

Taylortwocities · 27 Jan 2010

What is the device that trips then?
What is written on it?

If it is an RCD there is probably an earth fault somewhere. Either the heater or the wiring.

Need to be there really, where in Spain is this?
Can you fly me there?
Do you have a pool?
Can I stay for a couple of weeks?

paulride · 27 Jan 2010

there is a trip switch i guess you call it called an MCB rated at 32. This is meant to be for the boiler and does not trip but the house does.
The sparky told me the electric boiler was wired to a seperate circuit so I dont understand why the house is tripping and not the trip switch he put in for the boiler.

st07 · 27 Jan 2010

If the whole house is 'tripping' and not the boiler MCB then it'll probably be the RCB tripping due to an earth fault, as already suggested.

Chri5 · 27 Jan 2010

Not sure- but a guess !!

Does your fuse box have a unit with a 'test' before the MCB, and is it that that is tripping ?

If so, it's an RCD unit and they are designed to trip on a L-> E fault.

When does the trip happen ?

Random
On boiler cut off (thermostat turning off system, on timer off time).

Because your in Spain it would have been better to post in Electrics (outside UK).

What make of electric boiler is it ?

If you have a separate programmer / control unit on it- is that wired via the boiler power feed, or is it tapped off either it's own circuit or off a socket circuit ?
Reason I ask is that if the control was wiring to a different circuit and that didn't 'share' the same RCD control as the boiler circuit it is possible that the RCD could see the imbalance and that might cause the trip.

TicklyT · 27 Jan 2010

Chri5 said:
.....If so, it's an RCD unit and they are designed to trip on a L-> E fault.....

RCDs also respod to N>E falults.

Another possibility is the boiler accentuates a N>E fault elsewhere in the house that has gone unnoticed until the neutral potential gets drawn further away from earth potential by the increase in load when the boiler is running

Taylortwocities · 27 Jan 2010

Yes we need more info and a site visit.

I'm not too far from the airport here..

RF Lighting · 27 Jan 2010

Isn't the main incommer a 32A DP MCB over there?

ban-all-sheds · 28 Jan 2010

Taylortwocities said:
Yes we need more info and a site visit.

I'm not too far from the airport here..

You'll never get all your tools and testers on the plane.

You'll have to drive down.

Paul will pick up all your travelling, hotel, meal etc expenses, so do the decent thing, and only stay in 3-star hotels and limit yourself to 1 bottle of wine with dinner.

peak2peak · 24 Mar 2010

Definitely the neutral cable into the wrong neutral bar. Happened to me recently. Check out live and nuetral connections and ensure they are sided appropriately.

mointainwalker · 24 Mar 2010

You may find that you have a power supply that is limited to , say 9 kW ( or less ) and when the total load exceeds that then the whole lot trips.

This is the way it works in France and previous posts on here make me think Spain is similar.

You can probably check the 'load' question by looking at your leccy bill.

If that is the case and you don't want to up the supply ( higher standing charge) there is a device that can be fitted which recognises this problem and shuts off other devices until you've had your shower

This is called a "delesteur ' in French made by Legrand and therefore costing mucho dinero, but obviously you still need a suppply that can give you 8 kW minimum.

House electrics keep tripping

Similar threads