Any electricians out there?

[deeveus 81]

We have a holiday home in Canterbury and for the second FKN time now the power has gone off and everything in the fridge and freezer has gone off and leaked everywhere. We initially thought it was the fridge itself but after replacing it with another one it's now happened again for the 2nd time in 12 months. There is nothing worse than that smell - it was just starting to come right from the last time!

Before we bought the place we were told it was all re-wired and fitted with and RCD board which we can confirm as it all looks quite new. The area can be susceptible to power surges and gets it's fair share of power cuts every now and then but I thought that it still shouldn't cut everything off. Is it possible to get a higher tolerance with the RCD's cutting off or is it possible there's an issue within the internal wiring system?

I'm keen to get an electrician out but the problem is it's literally in the middle of nowhere and it costs a bloody fortune for anyone to call - if this has to be done it has to be done but was wondering if anyone here knew of an easier/cheaper option??

Thanks in advance.

[RvT 9]

I am not an electrician but I have some practical experience. If the board is fitted with an RCD fuse, it is possible that the fuse has popped due to something on the same circuit, earthing out and popping the fuse.

If it was me, I would replace the RCD circuit breaker (CB) with a normal CB. They are a simple turn off the mains, replace the circuit breaker and wire back in. Cost is $20 for a 16 Amp CB

[deeveus 81]

I am not an electrician but I have some practical experience. If the board is fitted with an RCD fuse, it is possible that the fuse has popped due to something on the same circuit, earthing out and popping the fuse.

If it was me, I would replace the RCD circuit breaker (CB) with a normal CB. They are a simple turn off the mains, replace the circuit breaker and wire back in. Cost is $20 for a 16 Amp CB

When we leave the place EVERYTHING is turned off bar the fridge. So I'm fairly sure that it's nothing else, can't be the fridge because we've replaced it with a new one, so must either be that circuit or a faulty RCD ?

[bravo 35]

I'm not a sparky, but it's the family business, so I forwarded your question on.

The first answer was "RCDs are a pain in the arse in this type of situation" (where you aren't living there and so can't pop it back in.) RCDs are really sensitive, the issue is called "nuisance tripping" and the number of possible causes is large including the possibility that it is the fridge's compressor engaging that is causing the trip. Not a fault with the fridge per se, but compressors are commonly at fault on this problem.

By law all new power points must be connected to one. The solution is to get your sparky to permanently wire the fridge in like you would a heated towel rail. Then it can be moved off the RCD circuit.

[deeveus 81]

Someone else suggested this. There's a hell of alot of older places up where I am and I'm fairly sure most of them haven't been re-wired and RCD's installed which is why no one else would be complaining of the problem.

[Dave@nz 11]

HI,

Some times the fridge can cause this type of problem, on my house after tripping problems the fridge was removed from the RCD at the circuit board and it has not tripped since.

Dave.

[deeveus 81]

HI,

Some times the fridge can cause this type of problem, on my house after tripping problems the fridge was removed from the RCD at the circuit board and it has not tripped since.

Dave.

Hehe, can't trip an RCD if it ain't there. I'm guessing if you re wired hat circuit to be an older fuse type that would be illegal?

[bravo 35]

Yep, unfortunately that's the current code.