Tumble Dryer Tripping RCD
 

Hi

I have an Electra 37459V tumble dryer that has just started tripping
the house elctric out on the main RCD. If the low temperature setting
is selected it works fine, so I disconnected one of the elements and
set the temp. switch back to high and again it worked fine. From this I
thought the element must be faulty so I bought a new one, fortunately
it only cost £15 because it made no difference, the fault still
remains. Obviously it isn't the motor or the timer because the temp
setting wouldn't make any difference. Is there anything else that could
cause the RCD to trip. Any help would be great.

thanks

Tut

Tumble Dryer Tripping RCD
 

"Tut" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi

I have an Electra 37459V tumble dryer that has just started tripping
the house elctric out on the main RCD. If the low temperature setting
is selected it works fine, so I disconnected one of the elements and
set the temp. switch back to high and again it worked fine. From this I
thought the element must be faulty so I bought a new one, fortunately
it only cost £15 because it made no difference, the fault still
remains. Obviously it isn't the motor or the timer because the temp
setting wouldn't make any difference. Is there anything else that could
cause the RCD to trip. Any help would be great.

thanks

Tut


When this started happening on mine, it turned out to be the the RCD that
was faulty.
I guess it was the sudden load that stressed it out.

Does your RCD trip any other times?

Sparks...

Tumble Dryer Tripping RCD
 

Sparks wrote:
"Tut" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi

I have an Electra 37459V tumble dryer that has just started tripping
the house elctric out on the main RCD. If the low temperature setting
is selected it works fine, so I disconnected one of the elements and
set the temp. switch back to high and again it worked fine. From this I
thought the element must be faulty so I bought a new one, fortunately
it only cost £15 because it made no difference, the fault still
remains. Obviously it isn't the motor or the timer because the temp
setting wouldn't make any difference. Is there anything else that could
cause the RCD to trip. Any help would be great.

thanks

Tut


When this started happening on mine, it turned out to be the the RCD that
was faulty.
I guess it was the sudden load that stressed it out.

Does your RCD trip any other times?

Sparks...


It only ever happens when the tumble dryer is on, and the RCD is only 1
year old.

Tut

Tumble Dryer Tripping RCD
 

Tut wrote:
Sparks wrote:
"Tut" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi

I have an Electra 37459V tumble dryer that has just started tripping
the house elctric out on the main RCD. If the low temperature setting
is selected it works fine, so I disconnected one of the elements and
set the temp. switch back to high and again it worked fine. From this I
thought the element must be faulty so I bought a new one, fortunately
it only cost £15 because it made no difference, the fault still
remains. Obviously it isn't the motor or the timer because the temp
setting wouldn't make any difference. Is there anything else that could
cause the RCD to trip. Any help would be great.

thanks

Tut

When this started happening on mine, it turned out to be the the RCD that
was faulty.
I guess it was the sudden load that stressed it out.

Does your RCD trip any other times?

Sparks...


It only ever happens when the tumble dryer is on, and the RCD is only 1
year old.

Tut

Could be you have a marginal situation house-wide anyway.

Try switching on a 3KW fan heater plugged in the same place.

also check for neutral earth shorts on the drier, or elsewhere.

Tumble Dryer Tripping RCD
 

The message
from The Natural Philosopher contains these words:

Could be you have a marginal situation house-wide anyway.

Try switching on a 3KW fan heater plugged in the same place.

also check for neutral earth shorts on the drier, or elsewhere.

Or if you're feeling foolhardy and brave, open the plug and disconnect
the earth wire to see if it still does it.

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

Tumble Dryer Tripping RCD
 

Guy King wrote:
The message
from The Natural Philosopher contains these words:

tumble driers trips rcd

Or if you're feeling foolhardy and brave, open the plug and disconnect
the earth wire to see if it still does it.

definitely foolhardy. A pocket multimeter will tell the OP whether the
tumbler is leaking, one probe on E and the other on L&N with it
switched on will tell you. Yes I know it only catches 99% of cases -
thats a simple easy quick way to almost always tell you whats going on.

NT

Tumble Dryer Tripping RCD
 

Tumble Dryer Tripping RCD
 

The Natural Philosopher wrote:
wrote:
Guy King wrote:
The message
from The Natural Philosopher contains these words:

tumble driers trips rcd

definitely foolhardy. A pocket multimeter will tell the OP whether the
tumbler is leaking, one probe on E and the other on L&N with it
switched on will tell you.

You might care to remove the utterly lethal ambiguity in that statement..

er, ok :) machine to be unplugged, but controls set so it would be
running on hot tumble if plugged in.


NT

Tumble Dryer Tripping RCD
 

wrote in message
oups.com...
Guy King wrote:
The message
from The Natural Philosopher contains these words:

tumble driers trips rcd

Or if you're feeling foolhardy and brave, open the plug and disconnect
the earth wire to see if it still does it.

definitely foolhardy. A pocket multimeter will tell the OP whether the
tumbler is leaking, one probe on E and the other on L&N with it
switched on will tell you. Yes I know it only catches 99% of cases -
thats a simple easy quick way to almost always tell you whats going on.


A pocket multimeter won't indicate a lot of problems but is still worth
using.

On all machines there are suppressors which are connected between earth -
neutral and earth - live. I would suggest if you see such a can isolate it
from earth by undoing the earth tag or stud and making sure the case is
insulated from the drier body. Neutral - live suppressors won't give rise
to earth currents.

It's a shame there aren't cheap gadgets to measure imbalances in live and
neutral currents. Mind few cheap multimeters measure AC current!

Tumble Dryer Tripping RCD
 

Tumble Dryer Tripping RCD
 

Fred wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...
Guy King wrote:
The message
from The Natural Philosopher contains these words:
tumble driers trips rcd

Or if you're feeling foolhardy and brave, open the plug and disconnect
the earth wire to see if it still does it.
definitely foolhardy. A pocket multimeter will tell the OP whether the
tumbler is leaking, one probe on E and the other on L&N with it
switched on will tell you. Yes I know it only catches 99% of cases -
thats a simple easy quick way to almost always tell you whats going on.


A pocket multimeter won't indicate a lot of problems but is still worth
using.

On all machines there are suppressors which are connected between earth -
neutral and earth - live. I would suggest if you see such a can isolate it
from earth by undoing the earth tag or stud and making sure the case is
insulated from the drier body. Neutral - live suppressors won't give rise
to earth currents.

It's a shame there aren't cheap gadgets to measure imbalances in live and
neutral currents. Mind few cheap multimeters measure AC current!


Cheap clamp-ons do.

But not mA..more likely A...

I found that a cheap multimeter goes a LONG way.

2K between neutral and live, and earth, on a washing machine motor that
blew the RCD every time was pretty conclusive..I even stripped it down
to just the frame and the windings. Looked perfect. measured bad. New
motor showed no conduction. It worked.

In laws washing machine was doing this..that also showed a problem BUT
after disconnecting the LEAD from inside the machine (pulled the spades
off the input filter) and taping it up, still same problem. The lead had
flexed and got cracks in it and damp got in..