wingnut771
Honorary Master
dbn also rides the overtime train. At least I know they are contactable and you don't feel like a number as the action happens pretty quick.
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Question of the Day: Main reasons you wouldn't get an EV?
Main Box in Street Keeps Tripping
- Thread starter Adrian15
- Start date
TheChamp
Honorary Master
To their credit even Eskom is contact able, their call centre is probably the shining light of the whole operation, things start deteriorating when the fault is handed over to a technician and someone has to keep tabs on the progress of the fault, that is the part that is not working. Techs have a free pass when it comes to this, it seems like there's just no consequence for repeat faults that are cleared without being fixed and no one cares.
wingnut771
Honorary Master
With all these subcontractors running around here, I doubt they even know what normal procedure is
soulie
Expert Member
has it tripped again yet ?.
UPDATE
It tripped again within less of a week of Eskom installing a new breaker. I now believe it must be a cable issue to my house. I'm waiting on the Eskom electricians to arrive today (hopefully). I'll demand that they get a thumper out to assess the situation.
Timeline of tripping below:
Timeline
1. 12 October 2022 - Wednesday
Resolved - 15 October - Saturday
2. 23 October - Sunday
Resolved - 23 October - Sunday
3. 26 October - Wednesday
Resolved - Wednesday
4. 26 October - Wednesday
Resolved 28 October - Friday
5. 27 October - Thursday
Resolved 28 October - New breaker installed in the junction box by Eskom.
6. 3 November - Thursday 23:30
Note: Everything was switched off, nothing was plugged in besides the fridge and freezer. All lights were off.
I feel so powerless with this whole situation. It feels like an easy fix if Eskom was just bothered enough to do their job.
It tripped again within less of a week of Eskom installing a new breaker. I now believe it must be a cable issue to my house. I'm waiting on the Eskom electricians to arrive today (hopefully). I'll demand that they get a thumper out to assess the situation.
Timeline of tripping below:
Timeline
1. 12 October 2022 - Wednesday
Resolved - 15 October - Saturday
2. 23 October - Sunday
Resolved - 23 October - Sunday
3. 26 October - Wednesday
Resolved - Wednesday
4. 26 October - Wednesday
Resolved 28 October - Friday
5. 27 October - Thursday
Resolved 28 October - New breaker installed in the junction box by Eskom.
6. 3 November - Thursday 23:30
Note: Everything was switched off, nothing was plugged in besides the fridge and freezer. All lights were off.
I feel so powerless with this whole situation. It feels like an easy fix if Eskom was just bothered enough to do their job.
I did some investigation and 2 years ago the same thing happened to someone else in the adjacent street, constant tripping and increased power usage. I suspect the Eskom electricians know exactly what is wrong and what needs to be done but they just do the bare minimum and hope the problem goes away.
Today I also got an sms from Eskom stating the issue had been resolved and that power was restored but this is a lie because Eskom was never here today, my neighbour was outside all day painting and he never saw them. So not only are they lying about fixing the issue they are also refusing to fix the actual issue.
Attachments
The_Ogre
Honorary Master
Your fridge tripped the breaker outside? Or did it trip the Earth Leakage?
You can find it here:
Main Box in Street Keeps Tripping
Photo of your main db would help 99% of the time there is just a isolator before your breakers. It could be a good idea to install a breaker just before or after isolator. This should trip if there too much load on the municipal line.
mybroadband.co.za
Orange handle "c1" breakers trip slower than white handle breaker "c2"
Get electrician to install a c2 rated breaker on the incoming line to your db board
In theory this breaker will trip before eskom breaker , if eskom breaker still trip im 99% sure it eskoms wiring then.
See below from cbi site
Curve 1 should always trip last in a discriminated system as it has a slower tripping curve than a curve 2. Curve 1 is the orange toggle breaker that is a slow tripping circuit breaker, has a 10-20x inrush current, whereas Curve 2 has a 5-10x inrush current rating.
Curves | CBI-electric (Circuit Breaker Industries)
cbi-lowvoltage.co.za
B-1
Honorary Master
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Can you reopen a case logged with them? I find keeping the same number and reopening the same case normally gets a different response to logging new ones the whole time with my municipality.
The_Ogre
Honorary Master
It tripped the breaker in the street. This was years ago, but I think it has something to do with the compressor. Note, the fridge was giving issues for some time already.
+1 on installing a CBI QF 63a 1+N in the house as main switch, then at least they are compatible with each other.
At this point it could very well be the Schenker circuit breaker. Not because it doesn't work but because it's tripping curve is not compatible with the CBI and almost certainly wasn't verified by the "electrician" that did your install. He slapped a circuit breaker that said 63a in there and called it a day.
At this point it could very well be the Schenker circuit breaker. Not because it doesn't work but because it's tripping curve is not compatible with the CBI and almost certainly wasn't verified by the "electrician" that did your install. He slapped a circuit breaker that said 63a in there and called it a day.
UPDATE
Eskom came today and the Eskom guy was shocked that they installed a 63A breaker in the main junction box in the street, I could also confirm that all my neighbours have 80A breakers. He replaced mine with an 80A breaker. It really seems as if the Eskom guys have zero standards when it comes to repairs, why was a 63A breaker even allowed to be installed in the first place?
He switched on the breaker but my house still didn't have any power. He then checked the junction box on my property and he did a reading but the equipment showed that there was no power (I don't understand how the equipment works so you'll have to excuse the lack of technical knowledge). The Eskom guy then confirmed there is a cable break. He called the thumper guys (they are a completely different team) and he said they will be here tomorrow.
I hope that this massive headache gets sorted soon and in a permanent manner. I've now completely lost faith in Eskom and thier electricians.
Eskom came today and the Eskom guy was shocked that they installed a 63A breaker in the main junction box in the street, I could also confirm that all my neighbours have 80A breakers. He replaced mine with an 80A breaker. It really seems as if the Eskom guys have zero standards when it comes to repairs, why was a 63A breaker even allowed to be installed in the first place?
He switched on the breaker but my house still didn't have any power. He then checked the junction box on my property and he did a reading but the equipment showed that there was no power (I don't understand how the equipment works so you'll have to excuse the lack of technical knowledge). The Eskom guy then confirmed there is a cable break. He called the thumper guys (they are a completely different team) and he said they will be here tomorrow.
I hope that this massive headache gets sorted soon and in a permanent manner. I've now completely lost faith in Eskom and thier electricians.
Attachments
That's good to know, but my fridge is still brand new, I bought it less than 2 months ago.
Well, theres your problem, you had faith in them to start with
soulie
Expert Member
a 6 ka breaker takes longer to trip than a 2.5 ka breaker.it is rated on your inrush current .nuisance tripping allways put a higher ka rating in especially on things like motors .amps is your load so if you take a 20 amp breaker at 5ka it increases your milliseconds slightly .that is also a red lever that is even slower to react allmost like a slow blow fuse .it will still however trip on the rated amps .i wouldnt go higher than 5ka in a home dist board though .no circuit breaker in a house install should ever explode .i also see the new one is 10ka so it can handle up to 10ka short without issues .thats a lot of power dont think he will ever reach that .