Thread: E.L.C.B. and Lightning

Lightning will do it, inducing current differences between neutral and earth. When I had the house rewired 22 years ago my sparkie didn't fit RCD's to the fridge and freezer circuits because of the risk of nuisance tripping.

A faulty fan in a fridge will also do it.

Regards Philip A

Just as well I think, they certainly would have thrown a few nights ago up here b u.

Originally Posted by 123rover50

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Tried to reset but it wouldn't till I turned the fridges off then on again one by one.
The next day I found the E.L.C.B. in the shed had tripped also.
Rang the neighbours but they were all OK.
Would a near strike cause this?
Never had the problem before but its a bit of a worry if one was away for a week or so and came home to rotting freezer goods.
How to prevent it happening again.?

Keith

I would get the fridge circuit split (or some fridge/s moved to another outlet on a different cct), as looks like if you had a power failure for a period long enough to cause all your fridges to cycle on, the breaker would trip when they all restarted, simultaneously, at the same time, together.

Originally Posted by RANDLOVER

I would get the fridge circuit split (or some fridge/s moved to another outlet on a different cct), as looks like if you had a power failure for a period long enough to cause all your fridges to cycle on, the breaker would trip when they all restarted, simultaneously, at the same time, together.

I thought of that too.
We have had many power cuts over the last 18 yrs we have been here, some up to 12 hrs.The fridges would have all started at the same time then but we had no problems. We only have two power circuits so will check if they are on the same one.
If they are it might be hard to split them.