RCD Keeps tripping

[LastManOnline]

What is the best way to trouble shoot

Bearing in mind your level of experience I would advise you go back over all the electrical accessories you have connected, with particular attention paid to those secured to metal back boxes (as suggested in a previous post). If that fails to find it, I would suggest you get in a professional (as suggested in a previous post)

 

[johntheo]

Would splitting the ring main onto more CBOs prevent th

What is the best way to trouble shoot that as I'm guessing it would be to go over all the new connections in turn also this happens every 4 to 6 hours or more sometimes with heavy load items ie kettles etc also happens under low load in the night

Have you taken N to E resistance with the mains/RCD switched out?.

 

[James9292]

Have you taken N to E resistance with the mains/RCD switched out?.

No not qualified to mess with CU and I don't have the full test equipment my socket tester does everything except N to E fault unfortunately but I will be checking over all wiring for lose or bare/connections etc

 

[johntheo]

No messing with the CU required, with RCD/main switched off just check the resistance between N & E on any user socket associated with that RCD,

 

[loz2754]

Are we sure that it's an RCD that's tripping and not a circuit breaker. If it takes a few hours to trip, it could be due to the circuit being overloaded. Maybe...

 

[James9292]

Are we sure that it's an RCD that's tripping and not a circuit breaker. If it takes a few hours to trip, it could be due to the circuit being overloaded. Maybe...

Defo not the cbo its every time RCD

 

[littlespark]

Is it when things are plugged in?
First rule of rcd club is to unplug everything, not just turn off at the wall.
That rules out faulty appliances if the rcd continues to trip.

 

[pc1966]

Are we sure that it's an RCD that's tripping and not a circuit breaker. If it takes a few hours to trip, it could be due to the circuit being overloaded. Maybe...

It could also be a N-E fault that only shows up when something else takes a large current.

 

[johntheo]

If it is a N to E fault then you could expect this to show up as the current flow through a (the) neutral is increasing as there normally is only a volt drop or so with low flows which then increases with increasing current flows but even if there is only say 1 volt in the neutral cable at the fault location; a fault resistance of ~ 33 ohms will have no bother in tripping the RCD, a simple N to E resistance test with a multimeter could easily pick this up, if no fault the resistance will be infinity.

 

[James9292]

If it is a N to E fault then you could expect this to show up as the current flow through a (the) neutral is increasing as there normally is only a volt drop or so with low flows which then increases with increasing current flows but even if there is only say 1 volt in the neutral cable at the fault location; a fault resistance of ~ 33 ohms will have no bother in tripping the RCD, a simple N to E resistance test with a multimeter could easily pick this up, if no fault the resistance will be infinity.

I've had purchases an advanced kewtech plug tester that tests the loop and continuity also. Last night we turned off the power to the fused spur/s and it was still tripping does this mean that the fault has to be elsewhere? I am guessing at moisture or water in the outside sockets after this heavy rain etc!