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(yes, of course I will get a grown-up in, but unlikely to be over a BH weekend)
We have a Crabtree consumer unit that has a series of MCB breakers supplying the various bits of the house electrics but also a "central, big" RCCB breaker. I think that's same as a RCD, isn't it ?
This RCCB breaker has tripped a couple of times at really low-load times (once in middle of the night and once when we were all out during the day today). None of the MCBs has tripped either time but the central breaker switches off everything anyway.
I'm no electrician but I think that MCBs trip when there's excessive draw and that RCBs trip when there's an earth fault. Googling suggests it's often kettles/toasters/washers etc but none of these was in use.
Course, there's other stuff "active" or at least plugged in, notably fridges and some tellybox stuff and a few phone chargers, alarm clocks etc all on low voltage charge/supply.
That's it; that's all I "know"
Go ! Tell me what's going on and/or how I can easily sort it today
Could something like a fridge cutting in and having a "bit of an earth problem" be more noticeable to the RCD when nothing else is running and overall draw is low ?
Guy at work had similar, it was a fault on his outdoor security light.
Took him ages to suss it out, he disconnected it and all was good so he replaced it and problem solved.
You might have to wait until your intermittent trip is a lot more frequent, or permanent. Once in a blue moon faults can be a bugger to track down.
Guy at work had similar, it was a fault on his outdoor security light
hmmmm, been a pretty wet winter/spring and I put up a new one last summer - largely under a gable, but even so maybe it's not a waterproof as the box would have me believe.
The RCCB is a RCD and it’s acting as your Main Switch (should be 100A rated with a 30mA trip rating). Basically all your MCB’s are routed through the RCD so any earth fault on any circuit will trip the RCD.
If it’s intermitant it will be a **** to find. Obvious place to look, kettles, toaster, external wiring (water ingress). May also be a good idea to keep a log of when it happens and what’s in use may help you track down the cause.
Also worth considering how many computer or laptops you have plugged in at any one time, they have a high earth leakage, roughly 3.5mA or so, whilst the RCD will say 30mA on it they can realistically trip from 15/20mA, depending on the manufactures tollarances, having 4/5 or more computer on the same circuit can often cause tripping, but obviously the same would apply if you have some high leakage items on the same circuit and add a computer on top.
Hope that helps!
Earth neutral fault or rcd failure.
Probably best to just swap the rcd (can test this on x.5 trip on an rcd tester). Failing that get a professional to find the neutral fault. Start by taking the neutrals out of the bar one by one until you can reset the rcd without it tripping this will tell you which circuit to start looking at. It's not always the one you think as neutrals and earth are common at source.
Thanks for the suggestions so far
sadly, I think we're in this for a long haul unless the RCD tests faulty or I find a lake in the outside light fitting
2 failures over a 2-3wk period and happening at low-draw times so I think it'll be bloody hard to find the cause. RCD can be reset without any problem at all
Start by switching off anything outside or in the garage/shed that involves water. Outside lights, condenser dryers in the garage, etc. although I'd think (always happy to be proved wrong) that wet fittings wouldn't reset as easily as you describe
Ask an electrician to check for anything obviously faulty, including the RCD.
RCD and RCCB is the same thing and describes many other three and four letter abbreviations used in this country and others, such as RCBO, etc
We had random failures at the start of the year. Also the cooker would hum slightly when not in use. Sparky came and checked things over, but couldn't find a fault. Few days later we had a power cut in our area, since then no more tripping or humming.
Mice? We had RCD trip twice during the night in December, for no obvious reason and then we discovered teeth marks through insulation.