stevec176 Posted June 8, 2021 Share Posted June 8, 2021 I know I'm going to be asking the impossible but I'm clutching at straws. Just arrived on site, 16amp power supply, fridge freezer auto switched to electric, Alde 3020 heating control turned on but when I turned on our usual electric kettle the ehu power supply kept tripping. Took the kettle to the ehu plynth and plugged it in and hey presto it boiled. So kettle is not at fault. Changed ehu cable and still trips. Switched off the Alde 3020 heating and the kettle boiled. Turned the control panel back on and the fridge freezer but no kettle and it tripped again. To me it looks like the Alde system is causing the tripping so does any one have an ideas why please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laimeduck Posted June 8, 2021 Share Posted June 8, 2021 Steve hello. This was discussed at length in this post a few weeks ago. Try selecting gas only for the fridge, not 240 v. After a few hours, try the 240 for fridge again. It may be moisture in the fridge heating element which can be dried using the gas function. Let us know if it works! Jeremy https://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/Fridge-freezer-tripping-the-230V-trip-switch/58040/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevec176 Posted June 8, 2021 Author Share Posted June 8, 2021 Hi LD, thanks but unfortunately the fridge isn't the problem, it appears to be the Alde heating which is tripping the ehu. The fridge and kettle work fine together it's only when I turn the Alde heating control panel on does it trip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterjl Posted June 8, 2021 Share Posted June 8, 2021 Try a different ehh power supply point. It’s worth a punt. Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevec176 Posted June 8, 2021 Author Share Posted June 8, 2021 Tried the other socket on the plynth and still tripped no other power supplies close enough. Will be moving on in a couple of days so will see what happens then. I was at the new Sherwood Pines site a couple of weeks ago and everything worked as it should. The plynth circuit breaker is displaying a 16amp notice so assume it's correct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alanb Posted June 8, 2021 Share Posted June 8, 2021 Steve, Have you considered that the cause may be a combination of your appliances. A 25mA RCD will trip when the insulation resiatance (IR) between the live conductor and earth falls below about 10,000 Ohms. This could be due to one faulty appliance, or a combination of several. For example, 3 appliances each having an IR if 30,000 Ohms would bring the combined IR to 10,000 Ohms. I think that you could try Jeremy's suggestion of running the fridge on gas for a while to dry it out. Try Alde on its own, then switch fridge to 230V operation, if OK try adding the kettle. Another possibility is your mains charger. Can you run with the charger switched Off while trying the others? Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bounty hunter Posted June 8, 2021 Share Posted June 8, 2021 Steve If you have Alde on full electric heating on my van that's 3kw of power. If you put the kettle on at the same time you are probably trying to take more than system designed to supply and that's why you are tripping the system. You have proven everything works individually so there appears to be nothing wrong with your equipment Reduce your Alde to 1kw and try the kettle John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevec176 Posted June 8, 2021 Author Share Posted June 8, 2021 Thanks BH, looks like you're right, checked my settings and it was set to 3kw so lowered it to 1kw and all seems to be working. Think it must have been set to 3kw during it's service but why did it work previously and not now, I wouldn't have thought Sherwood Pines would be allowing more than 16amp but maybe they do. Thanks all for your advice after a 4.5 hour drive I needed my cuppa and now I've had it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanedwin Posted June 9, 2021 Share Posted June 9, 2021 Just being nosey, but why do you need the alde on when it's 25 degrees outside? :-o Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robinhood Posted June 9, 2021 Share Posted June 9, 2021 alanedwin - 2021-06-09 9:35 AM Just being nosey, but why do you need the alde on when it's 25 degrees outside? :-o ....hot water....? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevec176 Posted June 9, 2021 Author Share Posted June 9, 2021 True, the heating is turned right down so wasn't actually working. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinM50 Posted June 9, 2021 Share Posted June 9, 2021 We find much the same on some sites. If we turn the hot water or heating on (2kw) and then switch on the kettle(3Kw) , the power trips. Easily solved, just turn off the heating when you use the kettle, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laimeduck Posted June 9, 2021 Share Posted June 9, 2021 ColinM50 - 2021-06-09 5:57 PM We find much the same on some sites. If we turn the hot water or heating on (2kw) and then switch on the kettle(3Kw) , the power trips. Easily solved, just turn off the heating when you use the kettle, We have a Boots 2 cup 800watt travel kettle specifically to avoid this problem - May not be available now - it's probably 20 years old? Tee Hee! Jeremy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevec176 Posted June 9, 2021 Author Share Posted June 9, 2021 We have a 1kw Campa kettle, couldn't find anything using less power and this is slow enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alanb Posted June 9, 2021 Share Posted June 9, 2021 ColinM50 - 2021-06-09 5:57 PM We find much the same on some sites. If we turn the hot water or heating on (2kw) and then switch on the kettle(3Kw) , the power trips. Easily solved, just turn off the heating when you use the kettle, Far better to purchase a low energy kettle. If you try to use a standard 3kW domestic kettle on an EHU which supplies only 10A, you may have to resort to your gas kettle. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted June 10, 2021 Share Posted June 10, 2021 We used to carry our 'travel kettle' which only holds about 2 cups of water and IIRC is 500w, some years back I brought a Aldi special offer low power kettle holds about usual amount of water and around 1Kw, a bit slow but fine for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ocsid Posted June 10, 2021 Share Posted June 10, 2021 Is it tripping the RCD or a mini circuit breaker fuse? The answer to that, assuming the panel has that refinement is exceedingly pertinent to understanding the fault. The RCD tripping indicates a leakage, typically of a few tens of milliamps, to what is "earth". Whereas, the MCB tripping is an overload, be that too much kit on or a real short of some sort. All heating elements, like in the kettle, fridge and the Alde are a tad prone to tripping RCDs as they are insulated through the element with a ceramic powder. This powder close to the terminals has a tendency to "breathe" so can get just enough moister in it to, cause a loss of a few mA to its earthed sheath, to trip the sensitive RCD. Hence, the advice to run kit on gas if you can, to aid "drying" out that dampness. With nothing else on, switching the Alde from gas to include mains, and seeing what if anything trips will be very informative. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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