Help with rcd please

[ian130366]

Hi all,

Just recently the rcd has been tripping in the night, and I cant work out what would be causing this, it has done it about 6 times in the past month, all at night when were all asleep, all the usual stuff, i.e. pc, tv, music, etc is off, central heating is still off so not that.

Am baffled by this one.

Any ideas?

thanks

 

[Veglen]

Can you tell us what circuits are covered by the RDC? i.e Sockets up/down, lights etc. Is the freezer on one of these circuits?

V

 

[ian130366]

HI, the rcd covers all the house circuits except the garage/utility sockets and lights,

Thanks.

 

[Veglen]

I take it we are talking about a 30mA RCD, what appliances / accessories are plugged in to the sockets when it trips? Is anything on standby!

It’s not unknown for freezers to cause nuisance tripping if they are getting old. Is a freezer on one of the circuits? Having said that, the RCD could also be over sensitive!

You will probably have to employ an electrician or a competent person with the correct test equipment to test the RCD and check earth leakage on the circuits.

Not much help I know but as you say there is nothing obvious and therefore expensive test equipment will be required.

You could try to use one of the unprotected utility sockets to supply the freezer for a while to see if that sorts it. But that would depend on practicality of course and it wouldn’t rule out a too sensitive RCD!

V

 

[ian130366]

Thanks for that, freezer is fairly new, but will try powering from garage for a while, but i cant work out why it doesnt trip during the day??

Confused!!

Thanks for the help.

 

[ColJack]

is it tripping on particularly cold or damp nights?

it could be that the boiler is kicking in to prevent frost ( but surely it's not gotten that cold yet? )

do you have any night time storage heaters?
electric blanket and someone with a dodgy bladder?


but my best guess given the symptoms described would be a damaged cable getting damp in it..

 

[JohnD]

mice?

water leak?