OLD RCCB

[Wildey]

Any advice would be most welcome, I have a Crabtree 80A RCCB 30mA trip. It's the original unit in my house that was built in 1988.
There has always been an element of nuisance trips mixed in with the genuine stuff (stuff I could account for). Recently it has started to trip more frequently, and when it trips it takes the whole unit out not an individual circuit. This has happened a number of times in the middle of the night when (I'm guessing) there's not much going on except fridges and freezers.
It's not happening regularly enough to isolate them by turning them off overnight.
It is a pain as I frequently leave the house for weeks at a time and I am losing confidence in the power being maintained. Can anyone please offer any advice?
Many Thanks.

 

[winston1]

You have a fault. Whether it is the RCCB or something else it is not possible to speculate. RCCBs can be tested with specialised equipment. Other than that it is trial and error. A start would be RCCB replacement and see what happens. If it still trips look elsewhere.

 

[Wildey]

Thanks for the reply, given that the RCCB is 30 years old I'm guessing they have moved on a bit. Any recommendations?

 

[aptsys]

Thanks for the reply, given that the RCCB is 30 years old I'm guessing they have moved on a bit. Any recommendations?

Best recommendation would be to empoy the services of an electrician to test the RCD and replace if necessary. The electrician can also do some basic tests to determine if there is any fault with the fixed wiring, although if intermittent may not be obvious.

 

[Taylortwocities]

You have a fault. Whether it is the RCCB or something else it is not possible to speculate. RCCBs can be tested with specialised equipment. Other than that it is trial and error. A start would be RCCB replacement and see what happens. If it still trips look elsewhere.

I absolutely disagree. This is the "try and change this and see if it fixes things" scenario.

The RCCB is probably working OK.
The first thing is to have it tested. If it fails the test, then it needs changing.
The second thing is to test the circuits. It is more likely to be a fault on one of the circuits than anything else. A decent electrician with a brain and calibrated test equipment can determine the cause of the problem.

Anybody who just says, try changing the grimlet (or whatever) and see if it fixes it is not an electrician.

 

[winston1]

I absolutely disagree. This is the "try and change this and see if it fixes things" scenario.

Fair enough. I was thinking of the DIYer with no test equipment.

 

[sparkwright]

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