Dibsy Posted February 12, 2016 Share Posted February 12, 2016 Hello again. I'm here for more help I'm afraid - I'm not knowledgeable enough to offer advice yet! I've got a Pilote Atlantis A5 2003. We are having a problem with our electrics... We've brought the van home this evening to get it ready for a few days away - luckily we are not going until Sunday afternoon. We plug the hookup into the van, then into the house, then switch the house plug on. Immediately on switching it on the house electrics tripped and on inspection the mains unit in the van had also tripped - the RCD. But if we leave one of the two MCBs off then it doesn't trip. I think that the culprit is the water heater (Truma B10). Is it just tripping because we had inadvertently left it on and there is no water in the tank or could there be something more serious wrong? We'll put some water in tomorrow but it's a bit cold and dark to try it now. Now we've switched it off everything seems to be fine. But when we switch it back on again it trips. Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks Dibsy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayjsj Posted February 12, 2016 Share Posted February 12, 2016 Are you saying that if you leave the internal 240 v supply to the heater/boiler off, then the rest of the vans 240v electrics stays on ? If so, why not try the heater/boiler on gas and 12v. And leave the heater/boilers 240v off. You will have narrowed it down a bit then. Chief suspect mains heater element. Or mains boiler element. Both should work on gas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andytw Posted February 12, 2016 Share Posted February 12, 2016 It does sound like you have diagnosed the problem as the electric element in the Truma heater. If you have had it on with no water then you may well have damaged the element. I had mine on and lost my water and it, too, took out the RCD. Fortunately it resolved itself once cooled and was fine once the boiler was re-filled. andytw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dibsy Posted February 12, 2016 Author Share Posted February 12, 2016 andytw - 2016-02-12 7:34 PM It does sound like you have diagnosed the problem as the electric element in the Truma heater. If you have had it on with no water then you may well have damaged the element. I had mine on and lost my water and it, too, took out the RCD. Fortunately it resolved itself once cooled and was fine once the boiler was re-filled. andytw Thanks for your reply. It hadn't been on without water. When we left the site I forgot to switch it off but we didn't plug in to hook up again. Just emptied the water out when we got home. So when we hooked up today the switch was on and this seems to have caused the trip. Hopefully the brief amount of power that got to it before the circuit tripped hasn't caused too much damage.... Dibsy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dibsy Posted February 12, 2016 Author Share Posted February 12, 2016 Rayjsj - 2016-02-12 7:31 PM Are you saying that if you leave the internal 240 v supply to the heater/boiler off, then the rest of the vans 240v electrics stays on ? If so, why not try the heater/boiler on gas and 12v. And leave the heater/boilers 240v off. You will have narrowed it down a bit then. Chief suspect mains heater element. Or mains boiler element. Both should work on gas. Thanks for your reply. I'll try that tomorrow. I think it is the water boiler rather than the heater. Dibsy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted February 13, 2016 Share Posted February 13, 2016 Are you certain that what is tripping is the RCD? If it is, and the MCBs don't also trip, the fault is an earth leakage fault. You haven't said how long the water heater was on before the RCD tripped, but I would imagine that, bearing in mind the age of the installation (12 years?), and that without water the element would heat rapidly, the element has blown and is now shorted to earth. If the heater is not the only thing on that circuit you could try disconnecting its wiring (with the mains unplugged, of course :-)) and then re-setting the MCB to see if it still causes the RCD to trip. At least you will then know the fault is in the heater or its wiring. If it is not, it will be a case of disconnecting the other items on the circuit one by one, until to find which is the culprit. Even when you have identified the source of the fault, it would be worth checking all the wiring from the (I'm assuming) MCB to the actual appliance, as over 13 odd years of shake, rattle, and roll, it is just possible that a wire has disconnected within a terminal somewhere (including at the MCB) and is completing an earth path. Good luck, and take care! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dibsy Posted February 13, 2016 Author Share Posted February 13, 2016 Brian Kirby - 2016-02-13 5:52 PM Are you certain that what is tripping is the RCD? If it is, and the MCBs don't also trip, the fault is an earth leakage fault. You haven't said how long the water heater was on before the RCD tripped, but I would imagine that, bearing in mind the age of the installation (12 years?), and that without water the element would heat rapidly, the element has blown and is now shorted to earth. If the heater is not the only thing on that circuit you could try disconnecting its wiring (with the mains unplugged, of course :-)) and then re-setting the MCB to see if it still causes the RCD to trip. At least you will then know the fault is in the heater or its wiring. If it is not, it will be a case of disconnecting the other items on the circuit one by one, until to find which is the culprit. Even when you have identified the source of the fault, it would be worth checking all the wiring from the (I'm assuming) MCB to the actual appliance, as over 13 odd years of shake, rattle, and roll, it is just possible that a wire has disconnected within a terminal somewhere (including at the MCB) and is completing an earth path. Good luck, and take care! Thanks for your reply. Both tripped initially. The heater was on for no more than 1-2 seconds before it tripped. We couldn't find anything else on the same circuit. Anyway. Filling the boiler with water seems to have cured the problem and the water gets hot so hopefully it was a problem easily fixed! I am very careful with all things electric!! Thanks again. Dibsy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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