Electrical Genius needed

[suzyoo]

We had something similar but tthere was a red herring trickig us. We thought it was the kettle tripping it out but it was actually the boiler leaking that filled up when the power went back on and dripped on a socket.

Best thing to do if you havent already, unplug everything, reset the power, and plug your appliances in one by one, giving a bit of time in between to see if one thing is tripping it out.

 

and thats why I never keep red herrings in the freezer:hihi:

[suzyoo]

try pluging the freezer into a socket in another room, without the extension lead.

it will rule out the impedance theory

[spider1]

:help:if you take the earth wire out of the 3 point plug on freezer and then plug it back in and it does not trip its a faulty freezer

[Ghozer]

Sounds like earth bleed through to me too, which can happen often with freezers after defrosting due to condensation and moisture!!

[sandie]

It sounds to me that the fault is due to the Freezer taking too much current, possibly due to a fault with the motor.

When you plug it into an extension cable what you are doing is lowering the supply voltage to the freezer because the impedence of the extension cable causes a volt drop along the length of the extension cable. With slightly less voltage available at the freezer, it uses slightly less current. Putting the range of the drawn current below that of the fusing limit on the breaker.

 

I would like to bet that if you made or bought a heavy duty extension cable instead of the existing one you are using, the freezer would blow the circuit again because the impedence of the extension would be lower.

 

What you really need is to get an electrician to put a clamp meter on the mains flex of all your kitchen appliances to see which of them is drawing too much current.

 

My bet is that your freezer has a faulty motor.

 

Absolute rubbish, by using an extention cable to another socket gives a question mark of the supply to the socket where the device is pluged into.

A clamp meter (a set of tongs) only is used for individual wires not flexes.

 

An RCD reacts to Earth faults not impedence, the rcd is there to protect and each circuit has its own breaker.

I do not understand you thought that a volt drop through an extention lead reduces the problem.

The RCD is not a circuit breaker if it trips there is an earth fault, not a current overload.

Try reading BS761.

[Anna B]

Thank you all so much for your ideas and advice.

 

I'm still awaiting another electrician, but I will show him all your comments when he gets here.

 

I think you're such a clever bunch, so thanks again for taking the time to reply. I'll let you know what happens.

[muddycoffee]

An RCD reacts to Earth faults not impedence, the rcd is there to protect and each circuit has its own breaker.

 

I know exactly what an RCD is, but the original poster did not say that she had one.

 

 

A clamp meter (a set of tongs) only is used for individual wires not flexes.

Correct, that's why you attach it to the line connection at the appliance end of the flex. Where the individual wires usually split as they go through some crimps or connectors.

[RootsBooster]

Evil spirits.

 

NO!!

At this time of year it will be Gremlins!!

[sandie]

This problem has foxed two professional electricians so far, but knowing that the Sheffieldforum is full of electrical geniuses, perhaps they can come up with a solution. Here goes....

 

I have a built in side by side fridge and freezer. They are plugged in to a double socket.

 

All was well until I defrosted the freezer. When I turned it back on it tripped out the main kitchen fuse, taking out the fridge, freezer, microwave, kettle etc. Having checked/changed the fuses, and turned it on at the mains, tried it again (a couple of times) with the same result.

 

(Now here's the interesting bit) We plugged the freezer into an extention and plugged it into the living room circuit and it worked perfectly. Also tested original plug socket by plugging fridge into it and it's working perfectly except when freezer is plugged in.

 

Electrician number one said freezer must be putting extra strain on the system as it tries to lower the temperature to freezing again, and that when it reached that temperature it should be OK. So we left it on overnight and when we got up it had frozen the turkey solid.

 

However once again when we plugged it back into the original socket it tripped the mains again.

 

Enter electrician number two. He said he thought the socket must be to blame and put in a new socket. Thought he'd fixed it, it worked for thirty seconds, then blew again. He undid front of freezer to look at switch mechanism and said it was wet (with defrosting it,) He dried it with paper towels and hairdryer, but it went again. He said it must still be wet at the back, so we've been drying it out with a fan heater for 24 hours.

 

Put it back together and plugged it in to original socket and it's tripped the kitchen out again.

 

Freezer is now plugged into dining room and working fine, but we have extention wires trailing from kitchen to dining room which is an accident waiting to happen.

 

Both electricians said they'd never come across anything like it before.

Do any of you electrical geniuses know what it might be?

 

Hi Anna,

When you say the fuse blew do yo meen a circuit breaker. Does your fuse board have an RCD and is this what trips or is it an old board with rewirable fuses.

 

Also the advice to disconnect the earth is a dangerous step to take and please do not do this.

[sandie]

:help:if you take the earth wire out of the 3 point plug on freezer and then plug it back in and it does not trip its a faulty freezer

 

Your comments are ill advised and dangerous, no way can you sugest removing the earth. Electrics cause fire the earth is there to firstly protect people and secondly an installation.

 

I suggest you read BS 7671 (Requirrements for Electrical Installations), before you give advice.