New oven & washing machine tripping RCD!

lisal0u

Hi,

We have had our house re-wired and a new consumer unit installed. We have also had a new kitchen fitted with new oven. The oven worked fine for a couple of uses but now trips the RCD on the consumer unit.

The washing machine is about 3 years old and does the same thing. About 10 minutes into the cycle when its starts to heat the water the RCD trips.

We have had the oven out and connected each element at a time to see what trips it, didnt trip. Put it all back together, didnt trip! Cooked tea, didnt trip! Turned it on last night, TRIPPED!!!

We are going to measure the earth leakage to check it isnt a fault with the RCD but I think this is unlikely as the dishwasher and tumble dryer are fine!

Any advice on what to do would be greatly received! The oven has a five year guarentee so not such a problem, but dont want to call them out just yet incase it isnt the oven!

Thanks
Lisa

G_M

Who re-wired the house?
Why are you messing with the electrics yourself? You'll invalidate any guarantee.
Is the oven new?
A faulty heating element in the washing machine can trip the RCD, esp as new trip switches are more sensitive than the old one would have been.
Get your electrician back.

I assume you got Building Regs sign-off for the re-wiring?

lisal0u

Hi G_M,

My Dad is the electrician (industrial though not domestic) so is qualified to mess about with the electrics, it wasnt me dont worry! We only took the element connectors off the back and put them back on again so we wont be invalidating and guarentee, you cant even tell weve done it!

The oven was bought a year ago but the kitchen was only installed just before Christmas. The oven has been used about 4 times before it started tripping the RCD.

I have paid building control to sign of the electrics but they are not completly finished yet (garage needs rewiring) so haven't signed them off yet.

Nothing else in the house causes any problems (dishwasher, tumble dryer, tv etc).

Thanks
Lisa

DVardysShadow

I imagine that the water heater element in the washing machine has a small fault. If your Dad has means of checking for earth leakage, perhaps he should focus on that.

With the oven, with it in situ, does it fault when you turn the mains on? I assume it does, which would indicate a wiring fault which you circumvented when you took it out.

lisal0u

Hi DVardysShadow,

My Dads next job is to check the earth leakage, I just thought Id check on here in the mean time incase it was something really silly that people had come across before!

It doesnt fault when the mains are turned on, only when I actually turn the oven on and it doesnt do it straight away, usually after a couple of minutes. Its almost as if the element gets to a certain temperature and it trips.

Thanks for your help!

keystone

lisal0u wrote: »

I have paid building control to sign of the electrics but they are not completly finished yet (garage needs rewiring) so haven't signed them off yet.

Who is providing you with the BS 7671 Electrical Installation Certificate then? Your BCO won't!

Cheers

lisal0u

Well the BC told me that I could do a re-wire this way and they would provide me with the certification, cost £175 for the privilage!

They have done the first and second fix checks then will send an electrician in at the end to do the final tests.

I am glad Ive done it this way as the amount of hassel Ive had with every other trades person during my house renovation has been appauling! At least with my Dad I can trust him and I know he wont cut corners or do a shoddy job like the rest of the people ive had in!

If it comes to it and the certification isnt correct I will purchase indemnity insurance for about £30 and the issue is solved! This is what happened when we bought the house and there was no certification for the double glazing!

Sorry if that sounds like a rant! Wont be house renovating again any time soon ha ha!

Lisa

G_M

At least with my Dad I can trust him and I know he wont cut corners or do a shoddy job like the rest of the people ive had in!

Errr... yes.....but... you've got some electrical problems......

lisal0u

Yes I have got an electrical problem but it looks like it's a problem with the oven not the wiring! If the wiring was at fault it would trip when the power to the oven was switched on at the wall! It only trips when the element starts to heat up! The washing machine is the same.

No other appliance or electrical item causes any problems!

Canucklehead

Hi

A little background info.


Is the oven still wired back on it's own circuit? If so then clearly an oven fault.

Or has the consumer unit been 'rearranged' ?


GSR.

lisal0u

Hi,

Not sure what you mean?

We changed the plans and the kitchen has it's own ring. The cooker has it's own fuse, not part of the ring. Is that what you mean?

We also changed the consumer unit for a larger one so now there are 2 spares. The council have ok'd first and second fix just need to do the final test once the garage is finished.

Lisa