Power Failure Alarm

McWotever

Hi,

I'm having trouble with the RCD? tripping in the fuse board, cutting the power to the whole house.

I did have this problem before and discovered it was the Samsung American fridge. Got an element replaced and its been working fine, until now. Arrived home after a few days only to have to throw out a few hundred euros worth of food, again.

Anyway, have another service call in for it, assuming it is the same problem.

But, my question is this. I came across the below dialler which will ring you when the power fails. I would be regularly away from the house for a night or two.

http://www.medpage-ltd.com/page62.html

Does anybody have this or a similar device? Any comments or suggestions on it? Would be handy to know when the power fails so I can get the neighbour to come in and salvage/eat my food before it goes off!

McW

meercat

my advice would to put your fridge on a separate circuit(it is now a regulation that freezers are on own rcd or directly connected by switched fused spur outlet)
it is probably a cheaper option but may not resolve your tripping issues
also if your away and you get a message you have no power at home,how will you turn it back on

Diggerdunne

It won't help him turn it back on but his neighbour cud put the food in their freezer until he gets it fixed.I was thinking a separate rcd but that won't stop it tripping. I wud think the issue is the fridge and that needs to be replaced with a different brand if this is happening a few times....

meercat

Diggerdunne wrote: »

It won't help him turn it back on but his neighbour cud put the food in their freezer until he gets it fixed.I was thinking a separate rcd but that won't stop it tripping. I wud think the issue is the fridge and that needs to be replaced with a different brand if this is happening a few times....

if its connected on a switched fused spur on its own circuit it doesnt have to be on an rcd
also it may not be the fridge/freezer thats causing the rcd to trip this time(a rcbo on this circuit would confirm this though)

Diggerdunne

I agree. But guessing as it's his fridge I think we can assume it's in his kitchen on the kitchen circuit. Would be alot of work to get it on a separate circuit.... Hopefully it's not the fridge and so might be easier to solve....

McWotever

I'm chasing the shop/technician cos it's still under warranty, but you know how difficult that can be, so that'll take time. It certainly wont help me fix the problem, but it will let me know there is a problem when it happens.

I think its a more long term precaution, i'm surprised that this cant be integrated into a house alarm? Or can it? If the power goes wouldn't a burglar alarm activate? Or is that on a different circuit?

Oh just to let you know, it intermittent, which doesn't help. The techie was saying there is a defrost element in it that activates twice a day and he THINKS that's what it is.

Diggerdunne

Normally your house alarm is not on the rcd, it normally on a fused spur off the lighting circuit. It could be possible to put it on the rcd maybe if it's fed direct from the board and then incorporate it into the house alarm when the power fails. The guys like koolkid or altor over on the security forum might know more and be able to help u with that....

meercat

Diggerdunne wrote: »

I agree. But guessing as it's his fridge I think we can assume it's in his kitchen on the kitchen circuit. Would be alot of work to get it on a separate circuit.... Hopefully it's not the fridge and so might be easier to solve....

i would imagine you would install separate circuit cheaper and quicker than £110
http://www.medpage-ltd.com/page62.html
it would also help resolve the problem rather than alert when the power goes off

Diggerdunne

Depends on how easy it would be to lift the floor boards upstairs, if the wall needs to be chased etc... Add all that up and the inconvenience then €110 could be a cheap price to pay but I guess that's all up to the Op and what they value. Also like he said he's thinkin long term so he could possibly get an alarm gsm unit and incorporate it into his house alarm so it's offsetting the cost....

McWotever

Thanks for the discussion lads.

I'm kinda with diggerdunne here. If the electricity goes, it goes, and does so for a reason. Its when you're unaware is where the problem lies.

Just looked on my sky box there and I set something to record on Wednesday and it failed due to power cut, so my sparks has been off since since then. I only returned home today, Saturday. But if I had of been alerted Wednesday I would of returned or made other arrangements.

I'm actually surprised that there is not a lot of products out there that are designed to combat this problem. I think I'll draw up a plan for Dragons Den!

Oh, I was looking at the cheaper £42 product below that!

M cebee

alarm is not the solution- you should try to identify the problem or reduce the risk of tripping