Keg Fridge Tripping Safety Switch

[RetsamHsam]

Hi all,

Hoping someone might be able to help me here. I woke up this morning and found that my house had no power... Went and flicked the safety switch back on, 10 seconds later it tripped again. Managed to trace the problem back to my keg fridge. I didn't have much time to check it out before going to work this morning, however there doesn't seem to be any frayed wires or leakage anywhere. Any ideas on what might be behind the problem?

 

[Quintrex]

Hi all,

Hoping someone might be able to help me here. I woke up this morning and found that my house had no power... Went and flicked the safety switch back on, 10 seconds later it tripped again. Managed to trace the problem back to my keg fridge. I didn't have much time to check it out before going to work this morning, however there doesn't seem to be any frayed wires or leakage anywhere. Any ideas on what might be behind the problem?

Might be an overloaded circuit, turn everything else on the circuit off and leave just the fridge on, then try it.

 

[LethalCorpse]

If it's the safety switch and not the breaker, the fridge is borked - probably a short to earth in the compressor. Have a look behind it whilst powered off to see if you can spot any loose wires that may have touched the chassis, but otherwise you've got yourself a bloody big esky.

 

[technocat]

If you are talking about a RCD (residual current device) they will trip around 35mA. Like LC said they detect earth leakage. Condensation could be a consideration. A dead or even partial short will take out the circuit breaker.

 

[RetsamHsam]

If you are talking about a RCD (residual current device) they will trip around 35mA. Like LC said they detect earth leakage. Condensation could be a consideration. A dead or even partial short will take out the circuit breaker.

I think you might be onto something, the switch was labelled 'RCD 60A' from memory. So condensation/moisture or earth leakage are what I should be looking for then?

 

[canon1ball]

my house had no power... Went and flicked the safety switch back on, 10 seconds later it tripped again.

The same happened to me on my daughters 18th!!!
An electrician found out that it was one of our fridges, he stated that typically the power comes back on for a few seconds after switching the safety than the compressor of the fridge kicks in and tripps it again. So, I believe the compressor is the culprit.
In the electricians experience a fridge repairer charges about $180-$200 plus compressor, probably not worth it if the fridge is more than 10 years old.

 

[matho]

i had an old fridge that tripped the rcd all the time i looked in the back and the compressor was covered with dust and there was alot of condensation on it so i cleaned off the compressor and the fridge didn't trip of the rcd for the rest of the time i had it

 

[Nath151]

It could be moistue in the fridge it could be a neutral shorting to earth or it might just be a combined leak to earth from mutiple appliences
any of these things will probably trip an RCD most are rated to 30mA but most trip at 20-25mA
your best finding a circuit that isn't connected to an RCD and if it trips the circuit breaker then you have some sort of fault in the fridge
also how old is the fridge as old appliences generaly have a lot more leakage current than newer ones

 

[LethalCorpse]

It could be moistue in the fridge it could be a neutral shorting to earth or it might just be a combined leak to earth from mutiple appliences
any of these things will probably trip an RCD most are rated to 30mA but most trip at 20-25mA
your best finding a circuit that isn't connected to an RCD and if it trips the circuit breaker then you have some sort of fault in the fridge
also how old is the fridge as old appliences generaly have a lot more leakage current than newer ones

Whether it's tripping an RCD or a breaker, there's something wrong with the fridge.

 

[Nath151]

Whether it's tripping an RCD or a breaker, there's something wrong with the fridge.

true but pluging it in to a non RCD circuit will tell if it is a leakage problem or a dead short with the compressor

 

[reg]

Whether it's tripping an RCD or a breaker, there's something wrong with the fridge.

This is not necessarilly true.
If it a slightly older fridge then a little "leakage" is a natural occurence.
The way you have described the goings on is that you have one RCD covering the whole premises. This is a pain when you have a problem like this and some people jump to the conclusion that they must get rid of their fridge. This is not the case.
There is an allowance in the wiring rules that makes exceptions for fridges to be covered by an RCD. This exception is to prevent nuisance tripping.
When wiring my house I have my lighting on one RCD and each of my power circuits has there own RCD so that if I do get an earth fault occur in the middle of the night I dont loose all power including lights. Oh I also have my fridge and freezer on their own unprotected circuits.

My point is that the fridge may not be stuffed but have just enough leakage to trip the earth leakage.
If you can find an unprotected circuit and plug it in you may be surprised that it still works.
Then to pay an electrician to install an unprotected outlet.........

:icon_cheers: Reg

 

[Nath151]

unfortunatly now acording to AS 3000:2007 (wiring Rules) All socket outlets MUST be protected by RCD

 

[jlm]

unfortunatly now acording to AS 3000:2007 (wiring Rules) All socket outlets MUST be protected by RCD

And don't forget ovens, AC ect. if not protected by metal conduit when cable is passing through stud frame walls.. OT but the sparkies will feel my pain...

 

[LethalCorpse]

This is not necessarilly true.
If it a slightly older fridge then a little "leakage" is a natural occurence.
The way you have described the goings on is that you have one RCD covering the whole premises. This is a pain when you have a problem like this and some people jump to the conclusion that they must get rid of their fridge. This is not the case.
There is an allowance in the wiring rules that makes exceptions for fridges to be covered by an RCD. This exception is to prevent nuisance tripping.
When wiring my house I have my lighting on one RCD and each of my power circuits has there own RCD so that if I do get an earth fault occur in the middle of the night I dont loose all power including lights. Oh I also have my fridge and freezer on their own unprotected circuits.

My point is that the fridge may not be stuffed but have just enough leakage to trip the earth leakage.
If you can find an unprotected circuit and plug it in you may be surprised that it still works.
Then to pay an electrician to install an unprotected outlet.........

:icon_cheers: Reg

Natural, yes, acceptable, no. To suggest finding an unprotected outlet as a means of working around the problem is particularly stupid. If it's tripping an RCD, it's developed a fault, you can't know what caused it, you can't know how big the leakage is, and you can't know how the situation will get worse. RCDs are there for a reason. If you find a fault you fix the equipment or throw it. You don't ignore it.

unfortunatly now acording to AS 3000:2007 (wiring Rules) All socket outlets MUST be protected by RCD

Only on new installations. Plenty of houses still, legally, have ceramic & wire fuses.

 

[Nath151]

Hard wired appliences like some ovens, cooktops, storage hot water and aircon dont allways have to be protected
but thats getting alittle off topic

 

[andmat]

if it is an auto defrost fridge it could be the heater. to check you need to rotate the defrost timer a little. it is normaly located near the compressor.

 

[Batz]

I'm just a dumb fitter but I'll pass my opinion anyway.


It's stuffed !

That's me it'll be out with the old in with a new old.

Batz

 

[LethalCorpse]

It's stuffed !

Exactly. It doesn't matter how, or why it's stuffed. It may be repairable, or it might be easier to just chuck it and get another, but to come up with dodgy ways to work around it is madness

 

[Nath151]

Natural, yes, acceptable, no. To suggest finding an unprotected outlet as a means of working around the problem is particularly stupid. If it's tripping an RCD, it's developed a fault, you can't know what caused it, you can't know how big the leakage is, and you can't know how the situation will get worse. RCDs are there for a reason. If you find a fault you fix the equipment or throw it. You don't ignore it.

everything with an earth has some amount of leakage current it dosn't mean that the unit is faulty
find a sparkie or eletrical wholesaler in your area ask him to check the appliance with a MEGOHM Metre if the reading is 1Megohm or better the appliance is fine
they might even do it for a couple of your finest

Only on new installations. Plenty of houses still, legally, have ceramic & wire fuses.

sorry i forgot to leave that part out

just from a sparkies POV

 

[troopa]

Dont go testing faulty equipment on unprotected circuits .. if your willing to do that you might as well strip the wires off the end of an extension cord and lick the ends to see if its live or not <_<

get a sparky out to test it and go from there

my 2 cents from just another busted arse Fitter

Tom