MCB tripping at Fruit Machine startup

uberalles

The half to the right,


The whole unit

zax47

Labels are definintely wrong! B6 breakers would be forever tripping on a ring main.

Suggest labels on breakers 2,3,4,5 should actually be on the left hand side breakers (the B32 ones) and vice-versa. It's very important that is done carefully and correctly on a circuit-by-circuit basis - it's the only clue that someone working on the installation has as to which does what. A professional (like me) would always test for dead (and then test again) before touching anything, but a novice would probably assume the breaker is correctly labelled! Deadly, and needs correcting now!

uberalles

zax47 wrote: »

Labels are definintely wrong! B6 breakers would be forever tripping on a ring main.

Suggest labels on breakers 2,3,4,5 should actually be on the left hand side breakers (the B32 ones) and vice-versa. It's very important that is done carefully and correctly on a circuit-by-circuit basis - it's the only clue that someone working on the installation has as to which does what. A professional (like me) would always test for dead (and then test again) before touching anything, but a novice would probably assume the breaker is correctly labelled! Deadly, and needs correcting now!

I fully understand that now. To be honest I never had an inkling what the B6 (from this thread learnt that B6 means 6 amp) referred to. Cheers again.

macman

OP, can you now advise which circuit is the one that the fruit machine is plugged into? It should be marked as one of the ring mains circuit, but given the mis-labelling, you'll probably find it is on one of the 32A circuits marked lighting.
Normal convention is to have an upstairs ring main, downstairs ring main, and one for the kitchen. But in a larger property there may be more, looks like you have at least 4.
Then for lighting you should have upstairs lighting circuit and downstair 6A lighting circuit, but again there may be more, as appears the case on your CU.
I can understand the labels being missing, but why would anyone label everything wrongly-it's as if they just shoved a sticker on without any idea of what is what?
If you can't ID all the circuits correctly then I suggest you remove ALL the labels, so that no-one working on it makes any potentially lethal assumptions.

uberalles

What I'll do tomorrow is to switch the trip switches down one at a time then wander around the house to see what is not functioning with the power down on this switch.

I'll then compile my findings on a piece of card and keep it in the same location as the consumer unit.

I'll then remove the labels as they are obviously not serving any real purpose being incorrect and as has been said could be dangerous.

Least then I'll be able to tell any electrician working on the system that, for example, Number 1, B6, powered down stops all lights in the bedrooms, as a matter of fact.

I'll also post details of the circuit that the fruit machine is plugged into.

Thanks to you all again for taking the time to offer advice.

macman

Spot on, suggest you also (once you know which is a power circuit and which is a lighting circuit) confirm that you have got 32A breakers on the power and 6A on the lighting.
If you haven't, then you need to get a properly qualified electrician in immediately to test the whole system, as it indicates that your wiring or CU has been installed or worked on by someone completely incompetent.
PS: also check which circuit the cooker is on, as none of those circuits is marked cooker.
If you have an electric shower, this should be on it's own dedicated power circuit, with nothing else on it at all.

vaio

Given the mistakes in the labels and the fact that you have one for a non existent basement it could be that someone has fitted a “pre owned” board. Nothing particularly wrong with that but you should sort the labels out.

Turn them off one at a time and label them according to what stops working.

Re the fruit machine, I’d guess it has a filter/suppressor fitted, these have a capacitor in which can sometimes leak to earth as the capacitor charges up. Diagnosis & repair should be easy, if you can’t find a fruit machine mechanic an ordinary appliance repair man will do as a similar item is fitted to most tumble driers/washing machines.

ormus

as above. i would remove all the labels for the time being.

zax47

macman wrote: »

OP, can you now advise which circuit is the one that the fruit machine is plugged into?

He said it's tripping the RCD, so it's on one of those 32A circuits (incorrectly labelled as lighting).

Forgot to say, the gap in the CU front cover needs filling in with blanks/spacers. Should be no holes/access greater than 2mm (you can get your finger in through that gap in the front!).

uberalles

zax47 wrote: »

He said it's tripping the RCD, so it's on one of those 32A circuits (incorrectly labelled as lighting).

Forgot to say, the gap in the CU front cover needs filling in with blanks/spacers. Should be no holes/access greater than 2mm (you can get your finger in through that gap in the front!).

Yes, the fruit machine is on fuse number 10, 32 amp ring.
Therefore if it is already on a 32amp ring then the initial detail I posted is irrelevant, about adding a 32 amp fuse to support this socket.
So I need to now check the socket wiring, as previously suggested, then perhaps look to see if the machine itself is maybe at fault.

The cooker is uniquely on fuse number 9, 32 amp.

There is no electric shower, they all work off the mains water supply.

As vaio mentioned, I did wonder if the consumer unit was reused frrom another property because of the labelling. Thank you vaio for also mentioning what may be the fault with the fruit machine.

All 6amp fuses are for lighting and 32 for circuit rings / sockets.

Thanks again, just wanted to update as promised.