Test house appliances

JeanRasczak

So I have a large house, maxed out the supply without going to three phase but still having issues

Have random trips all the time in house. Electricians have looked at it, spent thousands at this stage and the best they can say is Im overloading the system but even if I have nearly nothing plug in I can get trips

I am wondering is any device available to connect into the network in the house to see if any of the devices plugged in could be causing an issue?

ted1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058428027/test-house-appliances

what exactly is tripping ?

Main breaker or a specific MCB , RCB?

what are your big energy users ? Have you load balancing? Priority switch?

how old is the wiring ?

JeanRasczak

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123971147#Comment_123971147

Wiring is newish, house was renovated in early 2000

The trip is on all the plugs etc, the last trip switch on that row. Not sure what name of it is. So the oven and lights continue to work

Big energy is the car charger, which I bought a new one to make sure it wasn't it

Apart from that we have two kitchen etc so high electricity requirements. Also 2 T90 electric showers

We did get two heat pump dryers(dont ask) but if you plug in both at same time it seems to overload the system and trip goes down. Not even turn on, just plug them in. So removed one of them.

10-10-20

Upload a photo of the specific breaker which is tripping. No way we can know otherwise.

smuggler.ie

" The trip is on all the plugs etc, the last trip switch on that row. Not sure what name of it is. So the oven and lights continue to work "
Sound like RCD/RCBO, but image would tell more

JeanRasczak

THis is it, second row, the one in 13/14 goes :-)

standardg60

Probably the socket rcb. Does it reset straightaway? Seeing as it trips when little is plugged in it's more likely a socket issue. Have they all been checked for loose wiring or moisture ingress?

JeanRasczak

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123978218#Comment_123978218

Thanks

The board was all rewired in 2020 when the solar was installed, I just find it strange the main one goes and not the other trips which seems to confuse the electricians

None of the sockets have been checked, when the dryer was been plugged in I tried multiple sockets and got the same return

Bruthal.

If electricians diagnosis of a tripping RCD is that the system is being overloaded, they possibly are confused alright. Sounds like a generic answer to a breaker tripping, and no cause found, or appropriate tests performed.

Looks like a lot of socket circuits might be on a single RCD too. A second RCD and share the circuits can help. Although not much room in that DB.

Anyway, simple electrical checks of the socket circuits, combined with plugging/isolating all socket appliances out, should find the problem.

Buffman

OP, if the 'electrician' who can't find the issue is the same one who can't be bothered putting the front of that consumer unit back on properly, I'd advise getting someone competent in to look at it. (It's not fitted correctly so don't pull or slam it too hard.)

What I can tell you is, that 13/14 is the RCD that is probably only serving the sockets, so that's where the issue is. Is there any list/diagram on the door of what fuse does what?

So it is highly unlikely to be showers, solar, car charger or lights.

As mentioned above, one way to find the potential issue with a continuous tripping like this is to plug everything out and plug them back in one at a time until it trips. If it still trips with everything plugged out, then it's a wiring/socket issue.

If it was me, longer term I'd probably look at putting the various different socket circuits onto their own individual RCBO's rather than the single RCD that takes out the entire house when it trips.

standardg60

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123978605#Comment_123978605

What you can do is turn each mcb (the other trips) down one at a time and see if any of them then stop the rcd tripping. This will identify which circuit is causing an issue.

If you say it's happening all the time you shouldn't have to leave each down for too long.

JeanRasczak

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123980305#Comment_123980305

When I say all the time I was exaggerating a bit. It happened on Sunday night….nothing since

Before that it was maybe over a week or more

Then it could be a good few weeks, then again it will happen

Somedays, just in house, no real load, nothing extra been turned on and bang it goes. Its very odd

standardg60

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123981314#Comment_123981314

Ah ok, then as mentioned above the issue could simply be there are too many circuits controlled by only one rcd. The more circuits it monitors, the more chance it trips, due to nothing more than random variance in current flow. As suggested you need more rcds monitoring fewer circuits.

ted1

if it’s 13/14 it’s probably moisture related. I’d look at kettle , washing machine, dryer or external socket possible a light

could also be a faulty RCD

Bruthal.

Sometimes just replacing the RCD fixes it alright.

10-10-20

And in many cases some circuits can have a higher earth leakage than others and there can be a cumulative effect in situations where multiple circuits are protected by a single RCD. There are field tests for circuit leakage, I wonder were these carried out effectively.