Samsung RS7567BHCSP tripping circuit breaker every 15 minutes.

[Alan1976]

Hi all,

After some process of elimination I've managed to narrow down a persistent circuit trip to our 6-7 year old Samsung RS7567BHCSP American fridge freezer.

Couple of points.

It doesn't trip the individual plug socket breaker, it trips the main 80A one instead, which is a little concerning to me (the state of the electric in this rent house isn't the best)

Secondly it trips almost exactly 15 minutes after turning it on, I hear a clicking sound like something attempting to activate after 15 minutes, then 2 seconds later off goes the power.

Any one have any idea what its likely to be, and the cost of the repair? Weighing up whether to get it repaired or replaced. Its a nice unit, so not ready to give up on it yet, but if its going to be costly, I don't know.

 

[TexasPenguin]

Having lived in America and thus having experience of "American Fridge Freezers" I'd say that the ice maker is notorious for this kind of shenanigans. Try turning that off and see if the problem goes away.

 

[ericmark]

It seems likely the defrost element at fault,

what most frost free freezers do is after a set time they activate the defrost element so not on all the time, it could be tripping due to being switched on, or it could be tripping due to some other load, as the neutral is likely always connected, so with no load neutral and earth are same voltage so no current flow, so does not trip, but as any load does not need to be freezer, could be a kettle is put on, the earth and neutral become a slightly different voltage to each other, so current will flow, and RCD will trip.

I have an insulation tester, most electricians do, and it tests with 500 volt not 9 volt as most multi-meters, so for me a quick test neutral to earth and if less than one meg ohm then faulty, no good testing line to earth as the relay which switches on the de-frost heater will not be active.

As to if worth buying an installation tester, or getting an electrician, or a refrigeration engineer not sure, I know when I wanted to get a refrigeration guy the minimum call out charge was £60, I misplaced the installation tester and got a new one for £35, but they do use 500 volt as need to know what you are doing to be safe.

 

[Alan1976]

Thanks for the replies, I do have a good electrical tester somewhere. I have NVQ level 3 in electrical engineering from when I was young, so I know my way around electrics, just never carried it on as a career choice. I decided to be a Computer Tech instead. Ill give both of your suggestions a try. Thanks guys.

 

[bernardgreen]

it trips the main 80A one instead,

Would that be the RCD which trips on a 30 mA leakage to Earth. An RCD will have a test button. 80 Amp is the maximum current the the RCD can safely carry.

 

[Alan1976]

Would that be the RCD which trips on a 30 mA leakage to Earth. An RCD will have a test button. 80 Amp is the maximum current the the RCD can safely carry.

Yes it does indeed have a test button