Every few weeks I come home from work to find that the clock on the electric oven has re-set to zero and a plug-in RCD used for the washing machine has tripped (machine not in use at the time). Yesterday the same thing happened but also the phone was showing 'Power Cut - re-set time?' All these appliances are on the same circuit not protected by an RCD at the CU. The RCD protecting the electric shower did not trip (sub-main on Henleys). We have no problems for weeks and then this happens randomly, usually during the day. There were no power cuts (I checked with UK Power) so any ideas would be welcome. We will call an electrician if this happens again as it's time to upgrade the CU anyway.
Is this a spike or a surge?
- Thread starter Vicario
- Start date
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Loose connection somewhere. I would start by looking at the busbar of the consumer unit.
Some times a transient interruption of power supply occurs but is considered to be too short to be considered as a power cut ( or "loss of service" ) so goes un-recorded on the data base that "customer service" agents are able to access.
A network breaker may open on an overload and then auto close about a second later. This may go un-noticed other than by an engineer who happens to look at the log for the breaker ( if indeed it has a logger ) It is not rated as a power cut.
A network breaker may open on an overload and then auto close about a second later. This may go un-noticed other than by an engineer who happens to look at the log for the breaker ( if indeed it has a logger ) It is not rated as a power cut.
Thanks for the information. Referring to the second reply, why would one RCD trip (washing machine) but not the one for the shower? Neither were in use. Would the fact that the shower is on a sub-main be relevant? All the trips/messages were on the plug circuits, one upstairs and one down.
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Some RCDs are designed to trip to OFF when there is a power cut. They have a TEST and a RESET button. This is a safety feature in that an appliance or heater cannot re-start un-noticed when power is restored.
RCDs that have only a TEST button should not trip to OFF when there is a power cut.
RCDs that have only a TEST button should not trip to OFF when there is a power cut.
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