Cooker fault

[TheBoy]

Hi folks, I've been guided towards your goodselfs in relation to a problem I have with my cooker. First of all I will need to point out that I know ery little about electrics so I apologise If I don't make much sense.

Anyway, the fuse box in my flat has two rows of switches realting to various parts of the flat (lights, sockets etc much as you would expect I guess). Each row of switches has a corresponding isolator type thing.

Whenever I switch the oven on, the isolator which relates to the row of switches that the cooker is on will invariably trip. This will also sometimes happen when using the hob.

Basically my problem is that I can't really afford to get someone out to take a look for them simply to say "nah, yer cookers knackered", or conversly, buy a new cooker only to find out the problem lies elsewhere.

Any ideas about what the problem might be -or rather, how I could identify it myself- would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Adam_151]

Can we have a picture of this distrubution board? these 'isolators', do they have a test button?

 

[TheBoy]

http://img310.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img000011yq.jpg

The link should take you to a pic of the board.

Had a look at the switches and the tow that I thought were Isolators are in fact Earth-Leakage circuit breakers. It is the top one of these which trips rather than the fuse for the cooker.

Yes, they do have test buttons.

 

[Pensdown]

Hi folks, I've been guided towards your goodselfs in relation to a problem I have with my cooker. First of all I will need to point out that I know ery little about electrics so I apologise If I don't make much sense.

Based on that statement I dont think you will be able to fix the problem.

The ELCB is tripping because there is an earth leakage fault somewhere in your cooker/hob. It could be caused by any number things, all of which will require you to dismantle the cooker to investigate further. You may also need some test equipment.

 

[TheBoy]

Hi folks, I've been guided towards your goodselfs in relation to a problem I have with my cooker. First of all I will need to point out that I know ery little about electrics so I apologise If I don't make much sense.

Based on that statement I dont think you will be able to fix the problem.

The ELCB is tripping because there is an earth leakage fault somewhere in your cooker/hob. It could be caused by any number things, all of which will require you to dismantle the cooker to investigate further. You may also need some test equipment.

Thanks for the response.

I should maybe clarify that I'm not planning on fixing the problem per se, I'm just trying to find where the problem lies (or at least get an idea). Due to a tight budget, I don't want to replace the cooker only to find that the fault was elsewhere. Conversely I can't afford to call a sparky out simply to be told I need a new cooker, if you see what I mean.

Is it safe to say that in your opinion you reckon it's more likely to be that the cooker is the problem?

 

[Pensdown]

If the cooker only trips the circuits when it's in use, yes, I would say it sounds like the cooker is tripping the ELCB

As I said before, it could be any number of things like a fat build up around the element terminals, heater element failing, cable insulation breakdown, etc etc. It is unlikely that the cooker will need replacing as most of the parts can be replaced separately, assuming it's not old and you can get the parts.

You could try to narrow down the fault by turning on the hot plates on 1 at a time, then the grill, then the oven but even this can be hit & miss.

How old is the cooker?

 

[TheBoy]

If the cooker only trips the circuits when it's in use, yes, I would say it sounds like the cooker is tripping the ELCB

As I said before, it could be any number of things like a fat build up around the element terminals, heater element failing, cable insulation breakdown, etc etc. It is unlikely that the cooker will need replacing as most of the parts can be replaced separately, assuming it's not old and you can get the parts.

You could try to narrow down the fault by turning on the hot plates on 1 at a time, then the grill, then the oven but even this can be hit & miss.

How old is the cooker?

Cooker came with the flat. Couldn't find any manuals, warranties etc when I moved in but I'm guess it must be fairly old. Cheers for the advice.

WIll probably see about getting a new cooker in tbh.