Freezer tripping electrics?

ka7e

born_again said:

Or that RCD is not rated for the  supply.

It is relatively new (6 years old) and copes with other appliances being used during the day (dishwasher, washing machine, dryer, air fryer etc)

ka7e

Lorian said:

Or there is already high residual current from other devices and the freezer is just the last straw. Try switching things off you aren't using, laptop power supplies and the like.

At 6-8am there are only a few devices drawing power - Hive, internet hub, microwave, integrated oven display (on it's own circuit), Alexa. Laptop is off, TV off but on standby. It isn't really practical to switch these things off every night.

marcia_

Niv said:

If your test comes back that it is the freezer, it may be worth checking the plug socket etc as it feels like getting two freezers with the same fault is less likely than the socket having an issue i.e. loose / damaged wire? I would maybe go a step further and look at the wiring back to the next junction too.

 This. I threw away a toaster as it kept tripping. New toaster did the same thing and realised it was the socket despite previous toaster working just fine for years in the same socket 

glennevis

ka7e said:

My RCD is tripping every morning between 6 and 8am! I suspect it might be my 7-month old Beko freezer if it cycles through a 24 hour defrost programme - obviously there are many appliances on the same circuit, including an integrated f/f, but the timing seems very precise. The freezer is a replacement for one that had the same problem from the time it was installed and it was replaced within a week. The model is still for sale and gets good reviews...am I just very unlucky or should I be looking at my home electrics? My house was rewired 6 years ago and it was inspected as part of the electrician's re-certification.

My Beko freezer is attached to a smart plug with power monitor. Normal power consumption cycles between 0 and ~100W, then the defrost cycle is a ~1500W power spike for less than ~10 seconds but it is not at a fixed time and occurs approximately every 18 hours.

For a start you could try testing all your outlets with a mains socket tester to see if there are any obvious wiring faults, for example a loose screw causing a missing earth. This one is from Screwfix:

Ectophile

RCDs are all different.  Some may trip on power spikes.  A compressor starting up can draw a big current for a short time.  Some trip at lower currents - 30mA is the maximum, not the actual trip current.  Some can become more twitchy the more often they are tripped.

victor2

Ectophile said:

RCDs are all different.  Some may trip on power spikes.  A compressor starting up can draw a big current for a short time.  Some trip at lower currents - 30mA is the maximum, not the actual trip current.  Some can become more twitchy the more often they are tripped.

^^This^^

If the RCD is protecting all circuits in the property, then there could be a very small "leakage" due to other devices or wiring which is not a problem in itself until the freezer kicks in and the cumulative effect trips it. Of course, it could just be that you've had two Beko freezers with the same fault.

It may be worth getting an electrician to check and possibly replace the RCD with another one and see if the problem goes away.

Lorian

ka7e said:

Lorian said:

Or there is already high residual current from other devices and the freezer is just the last straw. Try switching things off you aren't using, laptop power supplies and the like.

At 6-8am there are only a few devices drawing power - Hive, internet hub, microwave, integrated oven display (on it's own circuit), Alexa. Laptop is off, TV off but on standby. It isn't really practical to switch these things off every night.

Just one night to test....

It's not about what's drawing current it's about what's causing residual current.

Either that or you need an electrician with a meter to measure your residual currents circuit by circuit.

It has rained a lot recently too. The most common thing Ive ever found causing RCD trips are water ingress in external lights or external sockets.

WIAWSNB

Which model freezer, ka7e?
Does it actually have a built in clock? If not, how does it 'know' it's 6am?
If all it actually has is a built in 24-hour timer, then the antifreeze cycle would surely start at a different time each time it trips?
How exact is 6am? Edit - it's not, it's between 6 and 8. 
Your Hive can operate in 'anticipatory' mode, in that it'll actually come on earlier in order to achieve the set temp by the set time, and not just come 'on' at that time. If you can bare a chilly morn, then turn the whole CH system off at the isolating switch one night before bed - rule it out.
For the freezer, turn off the power mid afternoon, and leave it for an hour - it'll be fine. Replug, and hopefully any 24 hour timer will have a new position.
If both of these fail, then fully unplug every other device on that circuit one at a time.
Does it trip every morning?

RCD trips are notoriously bonkers! We had an early morning one occur regularly a few years back. Sparky could not find a single cause, but noted that another house up t'road also had trippy issues - he considered it might be voltage fluctuations or 'dirty' spikes as more power is added to meet the morning demand. No idea if that's credible, but the trips did stop shortly afterwards of their own volition. 

ka7e

WIAWSNB

It's a Beko FFEP5791. Apparently they do have a built-in clock to do a regular defrost cycle. If it trips at 7am, maybe it "thinks" it has then fulfilled that requirement and so the cycle repeats at the same time? 

I previously had the same model and it tripped every morning from the day it was installed - it was replaced, no questions asked, in a week. This new one was fine until about 8 days ago when the problem restarted. Speaking to my electrician at the time, he said he had the same problem with a different make of freezer, but it took him months of troubleshooting to find the source of the problem!

My Hive is not set in the anticipatory mode.

ka7e

As a previous poster recommended, I got up and switched off the freezer at 6.30am. Heating came on at 8. Electrics all working, nothing tripped. 

I will do the same tomorrow morning to make sure it's not a fluke. 

Then tomorrow night, turn off everything on that circuit (except the freezer) to ascertain if it's residual current that's adding to the load.