iron keeps tripping RCD

[very_pointy_ears]

Hi,

Are irons notoriously bad for causing RCDs to trip? My wife's old iron used to do it in her previous house and her new one does it in ours.

Are there any makes of iron which seem to do this less? Surely there must be some issue with the appliance if it causes leakage to earth - if live and neutral were perfectly insulated from earth then surely there'd be no leakage?

This is turning into a bit of a PITA!

 

[RF Lighting]

.............

Time I'm afraid

Yes they are notorious for it.

 

[xerxes]

Is this a steam iron that's causing you a problem? If so, how is it being filled?

 

[securespark]

.............

I did the same thing with my boys when they tripped the RCD...

 

[very_pointy_ears]

LOL @ securespark

xerxes - yes, it's a steam iron. This time, she'd just rinsed it out after de-scaling it. However, beforehand it's tripped the RCD after 20 minutes of successful ironing.

Why do these things leak to earth anyway? Surely that implies that the insulation is not up to scratch?

I've put in a separate fridge/freezer ring on its own RCBO. I've suggested that she plugs an extension lead into that for now so that if it trips it doesn't take out everything else (which is very annoying when the Sky+ box is in the middle of recording something). Obviously the RCBO needs resetting before the food goes soggy!

I was wondering whether there were any particular makes of steam iron that are less prone to RCD nuisance tripping? I realise this isn't an ironing forum, but ...

 

[SeanT]

Get a steam generator type if splashing out on a decent one. Alternatively we have a completely cordless one that keeps everything nice and separate - but they aren't very common any more.

 

[very_pointy_ears]

Steam generator iron - something like this?

http://www.woolworths.co.uk/web/jsp/product/index.jsp?pid=50717478

How does that work differently to a regular iron?

Do you sell cordless irons?

 

[SeanT]

Generates the steam in a container separate from the bit you wave about and generally blow trips with - I don't sell or recommend cordless irons, got mine off ebay for 20 quid!

 

[JohnD]

irons suffer from a few things

flex constantly being flexed, insulation cracks near where it exits the iron

water spilled when filling

heating element getting leaky with age

cracking when they are dropped

it is very common.

 

[Steve]

And who descales irons? I have never done this. And never will. Use a water softener. OOI, it could be descaling it and getting it wet, corroding certain parts, thats causing it to trip.

 

[very_pointy_ears]

Generates the steam in a container separate from the bit you wave about and generally blow trips with - I don't sell or recommend cordless irons, got mine off ebay for 20 quid!

Cheers for the info

It sounds from what you and others have said that a steam generating iron is a safer bet. Obviously there are no guarantees in life but in general are they far more RCD friendly? What is a sensible price to pay to get a decent one (ie below what price is considered cheap and nasty)?

The silly thing is that our existing iron isn't all that old - only a few years - and it was about 40 quid so wasn't a cheap and horrible thing.

 

[DESL]

My Grandma had a superb cordless iron.

You put it on the open fire or gas ring until it was hot enough - she used to spit on it and if it hissed it was at the right temperature.

 

[very_pointy_ears]

Thanks for your replies everyone. I'm off to get a steam generator iron.

Last night I tested our existing iron with my multimeter. I measured a resistance of 8K between the iron's base plate and the live terminal on the 3 pin plug. Hardly surprising it trips the RCD the instant it's plugged in!