Tripping ELCB?

[SUNRAY]

Hmmmm....

Many years using a pick and shovel versus 60+ years of precision electronic/electrical experience...

However I've dealt dealt with hundreds, if not thousands, of RCDs and RCBOs and I think it's fair to say the number which have any issues I can count on my hands and that includes the versions with disconnected functional earths.

In fact the only one which immediately hurtles into my head was on the main incomer to a farm 3ph supply and set to something in the order of ½A and 5 seconds, the fault was the neutral was not disconnecting and a subsequent single pole RCD tripping on intermittant N-E fault went totally unnoticed. Don't read too much into this as I'll have to start trawlling through note books for details.

 

[Jurassicspark]

Why is "kilo" an abbreviation for 2.205 pounds but not for 0.621 miles - or anything else?

Well, Kilo isn't really an abbreviation for 2.205 pounds.
Kilo" is short for kilogram, not 2.205 pounds. 2.205 pounds is just what a kilogram equals in the imperial system.

So it’s a conversion, not an abbreviation.

 

[SUNRAY]

Maybe, but if they were last 'switched on' 10 years ago (and, yes, even I have seen some of them), there will have been a faiir amount of opportunity for 'stiction' to set in

Oh yes I found one completely panelled in and the owner of decades didn't know it was there until there was a problem. It was very damp and rotting.


Another job a couple of years back a VOELB with full mains across the sense coil did nothing as the spring was far too weak to pull the stiffened mechanism.

 

[JohnW2]

Oh yes I found one completely panelled in and the owner of decades didn't know it was there until there was a problem. It was very damp and rotting.

Yep, that's similar to the reasons why I know I've seen RCDs which were last 'switched on' over 10 years ago

 

[EFLImpudence]

Well, Kilo isn't really an abbreviation for 2.205 pounds.
Kilo" is short for kilogram, not 2.205 pounds.

Ah right. I now see the error of my ways; i.e. attempting humour.

On the other hand...

2.205 pounds is just what a kilogram equals in the imperial system.

 

[Ragnar_AT]

Sometimes a fridge or freezer can be enough to trip an RCD with an N-E fault. Depending on the supply it doesn‘t take a lot of current to cause enough of an imbalance.

My first experience with N-E faults was a rural TT supply with a 100 mA RCD from the late 70s and occasionally during heavy rains a soggy JB in an outbuilding would cause an N-E fault and the RCD would trip randomly. One of the loads that seemed to cause the trip was a chest freezer.

 

[ericmark]

The upright freezer has been the problem for me for years. OK the same type of element used in washing machine, tumble driers, dishwasher, kettles etc. Even with the delay before the element is powered up, one can normally work out it trips when the washing machine is used.

But the upright freezer is never turned off, and the defrost heater seems to activate at random times, so insulation tester neutral to earth is about the only way. Failing that, supply for another RCD, easy when there is a socket on the cooker supply from a different RCD, not so bad if house split side to side, but extension leads down the stairs is asking for problems.

Just re-tested back-ground leakage got a feeling the cooker seldom used in the back-kitchen, normally cook in front kitchen, but with all RCBOs not really a problem, will only lose one circuit.