Earth leakage tripping - after loadshedding

[Ren_G]

Earth leakage started tripping after loadshedding. Turned off all breakers then switched one by one. Problem is that it's more than one breaker at a time that trips the EL. Started with the geyser breaker. Reset it. Was fine for about an hour. Then tripped. Reset. Fine for a while. Tripped again. Reset. Then used kettle and microwave and tripped again. Reset. Fine for about an hour. Then tripped again. This been going on over two days.
What can I do? Please assist

 

[Sinbad]

How old is the earth leakage breaker?

 

[Swa]

First your geyser and permanent stove shouldn't be under an EL or under a separate one as they commonly trip under heavy loads.

 

[thehuman]

First your geyser and permanent stove shouldn't be under an EL or under a separate one as they commonly trip under heavy loads.

Geyser question.

If an element goes to earth should it not trip the earth leakage and not the geyser isolator. ?I was asked to look at a geyser that was not getting hot and found that there was power past the thermostat but not at the element connections. Working in a roof on a 31 degree day means its about 50...

www.4x4community.co.za

Regulations could have changed.

 

[Swa]

Geyser question.

If an element goes to earth should it not trip the earth leakage and not the geyser isolator. ?I was asked to look at a geyser that was not getting hot and found that there was power past the thermostat but not at the element connections. Working in a roof on a 31 degree day means its about 50...

www.4x4community.co.za

Regulations could have changed.

Could have. The time I did it it was only necessary if it was located in a specific spot in the bathroom but not outside or in the roof.

 

[krieg]

First your geyser and permanent stove shouldn't be under an EL or under a separate one as they commonly trip under heavy loads.

Everything needs to be on an earth leakage. Best to have multiple ones as you state or a bigger one. A ramp test can be done to test the unit.

 

[Swa]

Everything needs to be on an earth leakage. Best to have multiple ones as you state or a bigger one. A ramp test can be done to test the unit.

As I just said above it wasn't the case 2 years ago. We discussed it in the thread.

 

[midnightcaller]

Same thing happened to me on Friday night

Had to replace ELCB.


Generator or Inverter for residential use?
https://mybroadband.co.za/forum/ind...tor-or-Inverter-for-residential-use?.1068126/

 

[Ren_G]

How old is the earth leakage breaker?

Tx for your response Sinbad. If I guess it should be about 10 years old.
This morning I put back the geyser breakers. Theres 2 geysers (2 breakers). I also put on 2 plug breakers (out of 4 plug breakers) and its staying up. I will observe further to see how long it holds as yesterday when I did the same it held for about an hour then tripped.

 

[Ren_G]

Further info. I had an electrician out yesterday. Did some fault finding and said the geysers were not the fault. He'll be back today hopefully to check further. He suggests loose wire in a plug outlet could be shorting?

 

[Dairyfarmer]

Everything needs to be on an earth leakage.

Not a pressure pump. They "destroy" EL's.

 

[Dairyfarmer]

I had an electrician out yesterday ... He'll be back today

Wow, unless you have 300 plugs in your house, it shouldn't take more than 30 minutes to find the fault and fix it. You already paid a call out fee (after hours rates I guess). Now you'll be paying for them to come again.

 

[Ren_G]

First your geyser and permanent stove shouldn't be under an EL or under a separate one as they commonly trip under heavy loads.

Hi tx for your response Swa.
The electrician that checked yesterday did say it couldn't be the geyser tripping. I switched on both geyser breakers on this morning and still fine - been an hour now. Electrician "hopefully" back today. He suggested a loose wire in an outlet maybe shorting. I also put back 2 out of 4 plug breakers and still holding g up after an hour. I noticed this morning that it tripped on the 3rd/4th plug breaker when switched on. It's now off. I have plug breakers 1 and 2 on. So I'm assuming problem could be on plug breakers 3 and 4?? But then it's still in the fault finding phase and could be something else.

 

[Dairyfarmer]

geyser and permanent stove shouldn't be under an EL

But they need to be on a residual-current circuit breaker.

 

[Ren_G]

Wow, unless you have 300 plugs in your house, it shouldn't take more than 30 minutes to find the fault and fix it. You already paid a call out fee (after hours rates I guess). Now you'll be paying for them to come again.

Yes there are a lot of plugs. House about 50 years old. Had COC done 2 years ago. Wireman fixed issues and signed off. Fortunately no call out fees as yet. But if current electrician fails will have to call out a "professional". Please note only started after loadshedding - could be related to that??

 

[Sinbad]

It could be that your EL is tired. It does happen...

 

[Dairyfarmer]

Yes there are a lot of plugs. House about 50 years old. Had COC done 2 years ago. Wireman fixed issues and signed off. Fortunately no call out fees as yet. But if current electrician fails will have to call out a "professional". Please note only started after loadshedding - could be related to that??

I wouldn't say that the EL broke just because of load shedding. They "wear" out eventually. With our bad power in the country, I do always have a spare EL to replace that switch that goes at 6pm on a Friday evening. I've see some die within months and others are so old they were probably manufactured on the Ark.

 

[Swa]

But they need to be on a residual-current circuit breaker.

Residual current being EL? As I said when I did it it wasn't necessary. So unless something changed in the last year or two it's still the case. The regulations are a bit confusing and need careful reading. I'd rather go to that directly instead of trusting someone's interpretation on a forum.

 

[johnjm]

I had the same issue, was actually intermittent as it didn’t always trip.

Turned out to be a dishwasher that had a little leak that was causing it. I only found that out after I replaced it though.

Disconnect your water appliances and then try again.