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Thread: RCD trips

  1. #1
    BobL is offline Member: Blue and white apron brigade
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    Default RCD trips

    Woke up at around 2 am this morning - power off - RCD has tripped.

    Quickly narrowed it to one of the 10A circuits that runs down southern side of house, at least the means the frig/freezer and coffee machine are not affected.
    Left that circuit off and went back to bed.

    AT 6am I got up and systematically removed everything on that circuit and then added it back in and tested if the RCD stayed on.
    At first it looked like the washing machine but it was not consistently tripping the RCD and eventually nothing on that circuit would trip it.

    Power stayed on for 3 hours and then tripped again,
    This time it looked like the HWS (it's a gas system but uses a mains power start) but that only triggered it once, and did not trigger it after that and now power has stayed on for more than 30 minutes.

    Any ideas?

  2. #2
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    I suggest a process of elimination. Disconnect everything you can from that circuit including the washing machine.
    Keep the HWS connected and then see how that goes. It could take some time to find this. It may also be a faulty RCD.
    Good luck Bob.

  3. #3
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    The issue is probably NOT in an external/plug in device, but the fixed wiring itself (or a faulty RCD as Paul suggested).
    Had any rain lately?
    Have a rodent, lizard, ant problem?
    Cheers.

    Vernon.
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  4. #4
    BobL is offline Member: Blue and white apron brigade
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    Quote Originally Posted by Vernonv View Post
    The issue is probably NOT in an external/plug in device, but the fixed wiring itself (or a faulty RCD as Paul suggested).
    Had any rain lately?
    Have a rodent, lizard, ant problem?
    Just a bit of drizzle a few days ago, but it has been very humid for the last few weeks.
    It's now been 3 hours since the RCD tripped - all appliances connected.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by BobL View Post
    Just a bit of drizzle a few days ago, but it has been very humid for the last few weeks.
    It's now been 3 hours since the RCD tripped - all appliances connected.
    Insulation test the fixed wiring see if you have a pest problem.

  6. #6
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    I used to have something similar happen, it wasn't electrical, but the security system.
    Rats had chewed the insuation off, and everytime they scurried across the wires, it would set the alarm off. I didn't mind having to wake up, it was the 45min drive to get there to switch it off, took several days to work out where the problem lay.
    Kryn
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  7. #7
    BobL is offline Member: Blue and white apron brigade
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    Thanks for the responses.

    The RCD tripped once more just after my last post (~1pm) but has stayed on since then. Have since picked up is that 4 GPOs at the far end of house furthest from the breaker box have no power so there must be a break in that circuit somewhere.

    The problem with these GPOs is that their wiring runs thru a section of roof space with very limited access and with the current state of my knee and back I'm not even going to try to crawl into that roof space to investigate so it looks like I'll be calling a sparky.

    One of the non-functioning GPOs powers the TV and ordinarily I wouldn't care about this too much but we find it handy (almost essential) when we baby sit our 3 year old tearaway grandson for the whole day. After a few hours of reading stories, swing and slides at a nearby park, and playing with out dogs and blocks, etc we have been known to park him in front of Play school and the Wiggles - he's a very active TV watcher and jumps around and dances and sings along etc while we flake out on the sofa and have an iced coffee. In the meantime an extension will be employed.

  8. #8
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    Hi Bob,

    Can you get at the point where those four GPO's are fed ? You might find that a simple loose screw could be the cause. Particularly if they are connected to a common point. If they go to four separate breakers then the fault is earlier than those.

    I've seen the earth wire in PVC covered cable migrate through the insulation on a tight bend and cause arcing and blown fuses/RCD's. Its also a fire risk but you can usually smell it long before !

    HTH
    Best Regards:
    Baron J.

  9. #9
    BobL is offline Member: Blue and white apron brigade
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    Quote Originally Posted by BaronJ View Post
    Hi Bob,
    Can you get at the point where those four GPO's are fed ? You might find that a simple loose screw could be the cause. Particularly if they are connected to a common point. If they go to four separate breakers then the fault is earlier than those.
    I'm pretty sure the junction is somewhere up in that low roof ceiling - even if I could get into the manhole I don't trust myself up there at the moment. A raft of medical conditions sees me spending half my day time laying down these days - a mix of tiredness/soreness and bung right knee and back. Hence my lack of recent projects to show on these forums. Some days are better than others. Today I would be battling to carry a ladder in from the shed let alone climb the ladder up to the manhole.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by BobL View Post
    I'm pretty sure the junction is somewhere up in that low roof ceiling - even if I could get into the manhole I don't trust myself up there at the moment. A raft of medical conditions sees me spending half my day time laying down these days - a mix of tiredness/soreness and bung right knee and back. Hence my lack of recent projects to show on these forums. Some days are better than others. Today I would be battling to carry a ladder in from the shed let alone climb the ladder up to the manhole.

    The GPOs are most likely daisy chained to save on using junction boxes. If that is the case isolation of the fault is straightforward as it only requires access to the GPO's. The fix maybe not so straightforward.

  11. #11
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    Default Not good.

    As an electrician, I am reading some scarey advice here. Get a licensed electrician too sort it out for you.

  12. #12
    BobL is offline Member: Blue and white apron brigade
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    On Saturday morning I had just enough energy to drag a 3m ladder to the manhole in the laundry and climbed the ladder so that with my feet still on the 3rd rung from the top my torso was inside the roof cavity. Many years ago I installed lighting in the ceilings of both the old and new parts of the house - the two ceilings are physically not connected - so I could see something up inside these spaces. Using a powerful torch I could see the 2 large connection boxes where arms of the general power circuits go off to different parts of the family room underneath. The one I needed to get to was in a spot with an 18" crawl space. I'm not game to go over there, not because of the electrical side of things but because my energy levels ore low and my back and knee would not cope with the level of contortion on crawling required. Hence will be calling a sparky tomorrow,

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Glot View Post
    As an electrician, I am reading some scarey advice here. Get a licensed electrician too sort it out for you.
    Don't let him on the property if he hasn't got a copy of AS3000:2018 he can show you. There are too many cowboys with "licenses" ad libbing it from memory or an out of date standard. Also ask him if he has ever had an on the spot fine for installations that are not in accordance with the latest AS/NZS. There are plenty of them in each state they only get a few hundred dollar expiation notice for setting a very long lasting booby trap for some other persons family so there isn't that much impetus for them to work to standards.

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