RCD tripping straight after smart meter install

[DPG]

Hello,

I promised I’d give an update in hopes it would help somebody else one day.

So, after much back and forth with SSE they finally sent out an engineer. Straight away the engineer said that it’ll be the smart meter causing the RCD box to trip.

He proved it by calling head office and asking a colleague to take a reading. When they did, it tripped.

He ended up moving the smart part of the meter as far away on the board as he could and it hasn’t tripped since.

It did take me filing a complaint to get this resolved as SSE were telling me I had to pay for my own electrician first. Eventually they agreed to look into it. I was also awarded £130 compensation as this went on for a good couple of months.

Hope this helps somebody one day.

Thanks

Many thanks for letting us know.

 

[swaRRR]

Is that a gas or water pipe? Cables have to be at least 25mm away if it's gas.

 

[jlisco]

Is that a gas or water pipe? Cables have to be at least 25mm away if it's gas.

Do you mean the pipe along the bottom that has the greenish yellow cables attached? I think that’s gas. The gas meter is off to the right where those pipes go.

I rent the property so not sure on the exacts, but my landlord does send out somebody to service my boiler and he does go into that area.

 

[LastManOnline]

He proved it by calling head office and asking a colleague to take a reading. When they did, it tripped.

Hope this helps somebody

Extremely helpful post.Smart meters have long been suspect.

 

[LastManOnline]

Is that a gas or water pipe? Cables have to be at least 25mm away if it's gas.

That 25mm distance is another meaningless regulation.The gas pipe is already part of the electrical system by virtue of been bonded to the MET.

 

[JBW175]

That 25mm distance is another meaningless regulation.The gas pipe is already part of the electrical system by virtue of been bonded to the MET.

I totally agree.

Isn’t that distance of 25mm a gas reg?

As I’m pretty sure there’s no distance specified in BS7671.

 

[swaRRR]

That 25mm distance is another meaningless regulation.The gas pipe is already part of the electrical system by virtue of been bonded to the MET.

So we can ignore that one?

 

[swaRRR]

I totally agree.

Isn’t that distance of 25mm a gas reg?

As I’m pretty sure there’s no distance specified in BS7671.

OSG pg 25: 'Where gas installation pipework is not separated from electrical equipment or cables by an insulating exclosure, dividing barrier, trunking, or conduit, the following separation distances shall be observed:

a) 150mm away from supply equipment and
b) at least 25mm from sockets, switches, supply and distribution cables.

BS7671 tells you on page 152 that BS6891 tells you what to do in this instance. BS6891 tells you the same as the on site guide.

It's a requirement that we're not just allowed to ignore.

 

[LastManOnline]

So we can ignore that one?

No we can,t.The regs are the regs and must be applied.What we can do though is look at the regs and put them in context and recognize that our regulators are learning too.That means that when we read a thread about a smart meter tripping an rcd we can be absolutely confident that it has nothing to do with a cable been "less than 25mm" away from a gas pipe.
I would love to sit in a room with a regulator to discuss who came up with these regulations and what is the basis for them.I have actually tried to. I won't bore you with details but let's just say it has,nt been very fruitful.

 

[swaRRR]

That means that when we read a thread about a smart meter tripping an rcd we can be absolutely confident that it has nothing to do with a cable been "less than 25mm" away from a gas pipe.

I wasn't getting at that being the cause of the issue, just that it doesn't appear to conform either.