13amp sockets trip switch keeps going - anyone know why?

wallofbeans

our boiler is out of action until the middle of next week so instead of living in a freezing cold house we went out and bought a few electric heaters:

- a Delonghi HCS2053T convector heater
- a Delonghi HCM2030 convector heater
- and a Delonghi HTE332-3 fan heater

The house is reasonably warm with those going BUT now the 13 amp sockets trip switch keeps going. It's happened 3 times so far, first time when we had all three heaters going and then put the tumble dryer on, the second time when we put the kettle on and the third time we're not sure why!

We got the heaters yesterday afternoon and the first time the trip switch went was last night and the next times this morning and then just now...

Is there any way I can stop this happening? Isolate the heaters somehow? I dont really know much about this stuff but know we have to have these heaters running often until the middle of next week so need to figure out a way to make this work!

Thanks all!

WestonDave

You are overloading the circuit! The clue is that it trips when you switch another high power drain appliance on. If your heaters are 3kw heaters they are going to draw nearly 13 amps - think 8amps for a 2kw and so on. You can get up to 30 or 32 amps from a socket circuit (check the number on the trip switch - it will tell you the amp rating). If you turn on more power than it can take it will trip. So you need to sit down and work out how much you are drawing which will then enable you to work out what spare you have for things like the kettle or tumble dryer.

Its possible that you may have to turn a heater off to put the kettle/dryer on, or if you have an appropriately rated extension lead and a seperate socket circuit upstairs you may be able to plug into that.

keystone

You know what the answer is from your other thread - you are overloading the circuit.

Why does this need two threads - both on the front page?

Cheers

zax47

How big is the circuit breaker that's tripping, 20A (radial circuit) or 32A (ring final circuit/"ring main")?

Add up the wattage of all the devices you have plugged in.

Every 3kW = ~13A so 3 x 3kW devices = 39A.

A 32A breaker will take more load for a period but will eventually trip - to protect the cable between the consumer unit ("fuse box") and the sockets from overheating.

You're overloading the circuit by the sound of it! 3 heaters is close to the limit, add a tumble dryer at 2 or 3kW and a kettle at similar and you're asking for trouble.

You can't just keep plugging extra load in without something giving!

wallofbeans

keystone wrote: »

You know what the answer is from your other thread - you are overloading the circuit.

Why does this need two threads - both on the front page?

Cheers

i know im overloading the circuit but i need to know how to stop doing it without not using the heaters (coz we'll freeze to death if i do that)... the other thread was actually about one of the heaters plug getting really hot and this trip switch thing has come up afterwards... i needed advice on this ASAP and got no reply in the other thread so thought it deserved its own... i was right too coz now ive got the replies i was after!

wallofbeans

WestonDave wrote: »

You are overloading the circuit! The clue is that it trips when you switch another high power drain appliance on. If your heaters are 3kw heaters they are going to draw nearly 13 amps - think 8amps for a 2kw and so on. You can get up to 30 or 32 amps from a socket circuit (check the number on the trip switch - it will tell you the amp rating). If you turn on more power than it can take it will trip. So you need to sit down and work out how much you are drawing which will then enable you to work out what spare you have for things like the kettle or tumble dryer.

Its possible that you may have to turn a heater off to put the kettle/dryer on, or if you have an appropriately rated extension lead and a seperate socket circuit upstairs you may be able to plug into that.

i guessed that im overloading the circuit but wanted to know if there's anyway to make it work better... i dont have a clue about this stuff so thought it was worth asking.. we've now turned almost everything but the heaters off!

is just turning the heaters off when you want to use the kettle a good enough solution? do i have to wait a few minutes or can i just turn one off and the other on straight away?

thanks for the advice!

closed

sit in one room, put a jumper on, and use 1, your bill is going to be hefty if you use them constantly

wallofbeans

WestonDave wrote: »

You are overloading the circuit! The clue is that it trips when you switch another high power drain appliance on. If your heaters are 3kw heaters they are going to draw nearly 13 amps - think 8amps for a 2kw and so on. You can get up to 30 or 32 amps from a socket circuit (check the number on the trip switch - it will tell you the amp rating). If you turn on more power than it can take it will trip. So you need to sit down and work out how much you are drawing which will then enable you to work out what spare you have for things like the kettle or tumble dryer.

Its possible that you may have to turn a heater off to put the kettle/dryer on, or if you have an appropriately rated extension lead and a seperate socket circuit upstairs you may be able to plug into that.

the trip switch says the 13amp socket circuit can take 30 it says... i had no idea about this stuff, no idea that the heaters would draw 13amps or that the most the circuit could take was 30!

have already turned everything off that isnt essential and will swtich off heaters before boiling kettle or putting on the tumble dryer (both needed a lot when your boiler is broken in this cold weather!!)

thanks so much for the advice!

wallofbeans

andrew-b wrote: »

Just looked them up...those heaters are 3kW, 2kW, 3kW respectively...so 9kW in total..roughly 39amps (at 230V) if all on full power at once.

Most rings mains are wired with a 30A/32A Fuse/MCB at the consumer unit. So 1 circuit alone isn't sufficient to power all 3 beasts at once. Spread over 2 ring mains i think you should be alright. A 13amp socket with a 3kW heater attached is working at its very maximum load. Assuming the cables buried in the walls are sufficiently sized!

However i wouldn't use more than 2 of your heaters at once and would put them on seperate ring mains (if possible) or at least seperate sockets. Don't use any extension cables. Don't have more than 1 heater on when your using the other high power devices (tumbler,iron,kettle) on the same circuit and you should probably be ok.

Don't keep overloading it like this though as if the consumer unit doesn't do it's job right you might have no house left and it will get somewhat warmer than you hoped for in the process!

im assumng we have only one ring main as there's only one trip switch for 13amp sockets - how do i know for sure?

we've got the larger one trying to keep the whole downstairs warm, the smaller one moving back and forth between our room and the babies room and the fan one for extra blast occassionaly in kitchen and bathroom....

a broken boiler at this time of year (with an 8 week year old too) is not a good thing!!

wallofbeans

andrew-b wrote: »

What circuits are there labelled at the consumer unit..usually there's at least two ring mains? (post up a picture if your not sure).

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A1 says COOKER
A2 says 13A SOCKETS
A3 says WATER HEATER
A4 says LIGHTING DOWNSTAIRS
A5 says LIGHTING UPSTAIRS

ormus

you only have one ring main for sockets. pretty rare. most houses have two seperate ones.
can you plug a heater into the cooker box socket?
(if you have one).