Fridge problems

sjfoley

Hi everybody , got home Sunday evening after a lovely day out at Banna strand, Plugged into the mains in my garage as usual . and noticed the lights go out in the garage strait away. After a bit of head scratching and a process of elimination I figured it was the fridge was the culprit, Its working fine on gas ,and also on alternator with engine running, but switch over to 220v and the power is tripped out in the garage , and strangely not the circut breaker in the van itself . Any Ideas guys ?? Any tips or suggestions would be much appreciated. Simon
PS, It's one of those automatic change-over fridge/freezer.

crabbypaddy

sjfoley wrote: »

Hi everybody , got home Sunday evening after a lovely day out at Banna strand, Plugged into the mains in my garage as usual . and noticed the lights go out in the garage strait away. After a bit of head scratching and a process of elimination I figured it was the fridge was the culprit, Its working fine on gas ,and also on alternator with engine running, but switch over to 220v and the power is tripped out in the garage , and strangely not the circut breaker in the van itself . Any Ideas guys ?? Any tips or suggestions would be much appreciated. Simon
PS, It's one of those automatic change-over fridge/freezer.

RCD or MCB tripping?

sjfoley

crabbypaddy wrote: »

RCD or MCB tripping?

The regular smaller trip switches in the board in my garage. I think they are MCB.

Phase neutral fault probably.
Try another cable.

sjfoley

crabbypaddy wrote: »

RCD or MCB tripping?

Sorry Crabbeypaddy, I was wrong in my last reply, Its the RCCB switch that's tripping. Does that tell you anything specific, ?

crabbypaddy

sjfoley wrote: »

Sorry Crabbeypaddy, I was wrong in my last reply, Its the RCCB switch that's tripping. Does that tell you anything specific, ?

If its the rcd it could be damp wiring, dead critters, or a real short, could be the element has gone to heaven and is leaking to earth via the fridge chassis

Disconnect the van from the mains.
Then check the resistance between live and earth and neutral and earth at the fridge.

sjfoley

crabbypaddy wrote: »

If its the rcd it could be damp wiring, dead critters, or a real short, could be the element has gone to heaven and is leaking to earth via the fridge chassis

Disconnect the van from the mains.
Then check the resistance between live and earth and neutral and earth at the fridge.

Thanks for that, I'd better get a qualified person to do that , and I'll let you know the outcome at a later date. Again many thanks for your replys.

sjfoley

sjfoley wrote: »

Does that tell you anything specific

Which conductor the fault path is travelling.

RCCB tripping is a phase-earth fault, neutral-earth fault or nuisance trip.
MCB is phase-neutral.

One's for protecting people the other for protecting cables.

First impressions is inspect your hook-up lead for tyre/lawn mower marks etc.

If it trips with nothing plugged in inside the van the problem is the van or the lead.

If it's not the van or the lead then plug in appliances one by one and turn them on until the RCD trips. There's yer problem.

sjfoley

Sir Liamalot wrote: »

Which conductor the fault path is travelling.

RCCB tripping is a phase-earth fault, neutral-earth fault or nuisance trip.
MCB is phase-neutral.

One's for protecting people the other for protecting cables.

First impressions is inspect your hook-up lead for tyre/lawn mower marks etc.

If it trips with nothing plugged in inside the van the problem is the van or the lead.

If it's not the van or the lead then plug in appliances one by one and turn them on until the RCD trips. There's yer problem.

Thanks for that Sir Liamalot , Yes I have figured out that the fridge is the culprit, everything else in the van is fine it's only when i switch the fridge to 220v that it knocks off the RCD.

Ah I wasn't sure what you meant by switch over and a neutral earth fault can only manifest after you switch on a load (switching the live also switches the neutral across the load).

You have wayward mains electrons travelling the earth cable and cases of your connected metal appliances and maybe even chassis depending on how the camper is earthed.
If its a neutral earth fault I wouldn't rule the installation (camper) out yet. Try the fridge direct to an extension lead to confirm it's the fridge not the van.

Possibly the reason your onboard trip isn't working is it's a MCB not a RCD or a less sensitive RCD or not operational.

sjfoley

Thanks very much for all that, very informative I'll let you know how I get on. Cheers.

sjfoley

Hi everybody, just to update you. I ran the fridge on gas for 48 hours , and for some strange reason it seems to have righted it's self. and now it's working fine. I wonder if it might have been dampness ??. Many thanks for all your reply's.

crabbypaddy

If it was anything like last Sunday at banna strand it could well be damp. Horizontal hail stone and salt spray!

You can get covers for the vents for when the fridge is not in use.