Main electrics switch keeps tripping...

[Beats]

Hi guys

The electrician is coming round tomorrow at 11am.

I spoke to the landlady and she was telling me that *he* said that it was a process of elimination, figuring out what trips it - or also it could be an issue with having too much stuff plugged in.

However as i've mentioned, it's happened at night when nothing was on.

It HAS happened when turning stuff on or plugging stuff in, though, but it's usually when everything is 'constant'.

I think they're going to try to accuse me of having too much equipment as it's easier to blame it on that than deal with the problem... i've had this equipment elsewhere and had no issues.

Ricicle - The equipment is plugged into surge protectors, which have a switch on them. I turn this switch off, so everything is completely 'dead', no standby lights etc... i do this whenever i'm not using the equipment to save money on stuff being on standby...

The only things that would be on at night would be the fridge, the boiler (technically on but not kicking in), maybe a couple of plugs like the oven, a hifi on standby, etc.

If it only happened when my equipment was on i'd be worried... but it's happened while i've been out!

 

[bernardgreen]

The equipment is plugged into surge protectors, which have a switch on them. I turn this switch off, so everything is completely 'dead',!

If then switch is only single pole ( only switches the Live then the equipment is not strictly speaking dead as the neutral will still be connected.

If the surge protectors have filters with capacitors between neutral and earth then a "bounce" ( transient voltage ) on the neutral will create currents through those capacitors. Also items of equipment plugged into to sockets with single pole switches will have the neutral still connected to their input filters.

Although only transient the currents might be enough to trip an RCD

To test this unplug the equipment instead of jsut switching off.

 

[Beats]

Thanks, i didn't know that. I'm not sure what type of protectors they are.

Everything is plugged into two protectors. One is Belkin and one is just one i bought from House of Frasier a while back...

But would a load of gear that's plugged in but only switched off at the surge protector really cause the main trip switch to trip?

What about turning stuff off at the wall socket switch? Would that help?

I have some large acoustic panels in front of the actual wall sockets, which is why i don't just unplug the surge protectors or use the wall switch.

Thanks for all your valuable info, guys.

 

[bernardgreen]

Thanks, i didn't know that.

Not many people do.

But would a load of gear that's plugged in but only switched off at the surge protector really cause the main trip switch to trip?

I think I already gave the answer to that

What about turning stuff off at the wall socket switch? Would that help?

Only if the switches are double pole. Unplugging will ensure the neutral is disconnected.

I have some large acoustic panels in front of the actual wall sockets, which is why i don't just unplug the surge protectors or use the wall switch.

If you don't make an effort to locate the problem you won't find it