Immersion heater tripping RCD on switch board

DvB

We had the element in out hot water cylinder replaced last year (approx. 15 months ago) & had no issues whatsoever, however, in the last few days whenever we have tried turning the immersion on the RCD switch trips on the electrical switch board. We have identified through a process of elimination that this is only happening when the immersion is turned on and its not some other appliance, is it likely that the element could have become faulty so soon and would be causing this problem? FTR we are in a hard water area but the original element in the HWC lasted 5 or 6 years so I was wondering if this could cause the problem so soon after having it replaced or was the plumber we spoke to trying to pull a fast one?

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Robbie.G

DvB wrote: »

We had the element in out hot water cylinder replaced last year (approx. 15 months ago) & had no issues whatsoever, however, in the last few days whenever we have tried turning the immersion on the RCD switch trips on the electrical switch board. We have identified through a process of elimination that this is only happening when the immersion is turned on and its not some other appliance, is it likely that the element could have become faulty so soon and would be causing this problem? FTR we are in a hard water area but the original element in the HWC lasted 5 or 6 years so I was wondering if this could cause the problem so soon after having it replaced or was the plumber we spoke to trying to pull a fast one?

Any advice greatly appreciated.

More than likely the element is gone.
Did you try it on both elements sink & bath as there are 2 elements in Immersions

DvB

Robbie.G wrote: »

More than likely the element is gone.
Did you try it on both elements sink & bath as there are 2 elements in Immersions

Its actually run through a wall mounted 'keypad' (for want of a better description) which has a timer & booster function, & IIRC there doesn't seem to have a separate setting for bath/sink like on a traditional HWC immersion in our house.

When we try to activate the water heater by turning the 'boost' switch on (which usually starts heating up the water straight way) the RCD trips straight away and there's no power to the cylinder (or any of the sockets throughout the apartment) if we switch the RCD back on all is fine with other appliances until we try to work the water heater (immersion) when it simply trips again & we're back to square one.

Borderfox

It's the element, same thing happened to ours. If it's tripping out on boost only then it's the top element otherwise is the bottom. Easier to replace to top element too, less water to drain

DvB

Borderfox wrote: »

It's the element, same thing happened to ours. If it's tripping out on boost only then it's the top element otherwise is the bottom. Easier to replace to top element too, less water to drain

hmmm, must check to see if it trips when on the timer function, atm we've only tried it on boost. We had both elements changed but if we only need the top one done this time it would be a small mercy.

Thanks.