Electrics in kitchen cut out if I use more than 3 appliances

[boilerfrustration]

In the last week, I have been able to use only a maxium of three appliances in the kitchen. If anymore are switched on, the electrics in only the kitchen cut out at the fuse box. The rest of the apartment is not affected although if I plug the vacuum or the electric fire in anywhere in the property, the electrics in the kitchen again cut out. The fuse box was installed by a professional electrician back in 2013. The element that trips in the fuse box is referenced 'Crabtree, RCCB, 63A 30mA, 363/030. If I switch the element back on all the electrics in the kitchen work again provided I limit usage to three appliances and of course avoid plugging in the vacuum and electric fire. Any ideas what might be the propblem?

 

[bernardgreen]

When you plug in the vacuum and the kitchen sockets cut out does the vacuum cleaner also cut out ?

Is there more than one RCCB, 63A 30mA in the fuse box ( or more than one item with 30mA marked on it and with a test button ) ?

The symptons suggest a Neutral to Earth fault somewhere in the apartment.

It might be in an appliance such as a fridge or freezer or a fault in the wiring.

You can test the fridge freezer by unplugging it and then test by turning on those appliances which have previously caused the electrics to cut out. Then put the fridge / freezer plug back in and test again. If not the fridge / feezer than do the same test on other items that are normally left plugged in. Turn OFF is not enough, they must be unplugged.

If you cannot find an appliance that is faulty then the fault is alsmost certainly in the wiring. ( could be just a damp socket ) and to find this would require an electrician to carry out insulation tests on the wiring. Importanly he ( or she ) must test the insultaion between Neutral and Earth. Some in-experienced electricians may not test the Neutral and thus do not find the fault

 

[boilerfrustration]

The vacuum and the electric fire do not cut out when they are plugged in to a socket which is not in the kitchen.

There is another RCCB with a text button but it is marked 80A 30Ma 386/s030. There are no other RCCBs.

 

[bernardgreen]

OK the RCCB for the kitchen is tripping OFF and the trip is dependant on how much load there is ( how many appliances ). That is 99% certain to be a Neutral to Earth fault on the kitchen circuit if those are the only sockets that lose power.

Check the fridge and / or freezer. if they are frost free ( self defrosting ) the water from the defrost process can get into the electrics and create Neutral to Earth faults.

The elements in electric ovens also can have Neutral to Earth faults.

 

[boilerfrustration]

So far, I have been able to move and unplug the oven and fridge freezer. But the electrics in the kitchen still cut out. I've also eliminated the kettle and toaster as the cause. All that is left is the w/d, d/w, and microwave.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Two of which mix electricity & water, one of which has power supplies and other electronics with filters that could go bad.

 

[bubachuba]

So far, I have been able to move and unplug the oven and fridge freezer. But the electrics in the kitchen still cut out. I've also eliminated the kettle and toaster as the cause. All that is left is the w/d, d/w, and microwave.

hi. does it still trip with both un-plugged? you may have a few devices on the rcd side of the board which are leaking a small amount and the oven / fridge freezer are the tipping point taking the rcd out. as said, the only way is to unplug all appliances (easier said than done) and plug them back in one by one. an electrician will be able to test appliances and earth leakage with test gear which may save you a bit of time and lost frozen food possibly.

 

[boilerfrustration]

I've been unplugging one appliance at a time and not all at once. I'll try the latter.

 

[bubachuba]

I've been unplugging one appliance at a time and not all at once. I'll try the latter.

ok, post back when you have any results.

 

[ericmark]

I've been unplugging one appliance at a time and not all at once. I'll try the latter.

That is the wrong way around. What you need to do is plug in one appliance at a time. If I relate a typical scenario.

A raison has come out of a bun being toasted and has landed on the element near the neutral point. The toaster is off but still plugged in. As the kettle is used the voltage between neutral and earth increase and so does the current as a result. The more load the larger voltage difference and the larger the current flow. Then it reaches the 30 mA limit and power trips. All caused by raison in toaster which was not even used.

It could be any appliance with this leak neutral to earth and most don't switch neutral so left plugged in this will cause the problem as load increases. So you unplug all you can. Fridge/freezer is a problem specially if auto defrost but other than that there is nothing to stop you unplugging and isolating items not being used. I know you will lose clock time on oven but until fault is found switch off at isolator or unplug. Just having oven switched off is not good enough.

 

[bubachuba]

I've been unplugging one appliance at a time and not all at once. I'll try the latter.

That is the wrong way around. What you need to do is plug in one appliance at a time. If I relate a typical scenario.

Well spotted Eric! I sometimes read one thing, and think another if you know what i mean?!

 

[boilerfrustration]

I haven't yet been able to unplug all items together. It's a huge amount of work moving the white goods which are all integrated. I will get a chance later today. I should mention that all the appliances are plugged in to wall sockets which in turn lead to a grid of isolation switches all of which I have turned off. Unfortunately the kitchen electrics still trip.

 

[boilerfrustration]

The hob and the boiler are the only items unaffected because they are on separate circuits. The microwave is the only item I can't actually unplug as it is hardwired straight to the isolation switch. Will unplug all appliances later today and plug in one at a time.

 

[bubachuba]

I feel your pain! The grid switches may be single or double pole, so you could try turning off all the grid switches, see if it settles and then turn on one at a time.
Unfortunately, if they are single pole, turning them off will not help pin point earth leakage causing your RCD to go because that only interrupts the line. Double pole isolates line and neutral. RCD's detect the imbalance between the two which is why the best advise is to unplug appliances (albeit easier said than done).

 

[crystal ball]

This sounds similar to a call out I had a few years ago, main RCD was tripping when fridge or TV was plugged in, after a lot of unplugging and plugging I had run out of ideas, as a last resort I had a look inside the shower and found a burnt back neutral, replaced it with some new cable and the problem disappeared