Five reasons why your safety switch keeps tripping – The electricians point of view
5 Reasons Why Your Safety Switch Keeps Tripping
The electricians point of view.
I express “point of view” because of the large amount of articles I have read on the internet by home improvement company’s that come up with misleading jargon just to capture leads for their job ads, and good on them. I just wish they could follow up with their research and put forward factual articles to help the internet savvy consumer and not mislead the consumer to receive as many leads possible.
Safety Switches tripping – Not good
Safety Switches should be installed in all homes to protect you and your family this should also extend to all business in the work place. Homes and Businesses without safety switches can have an electrician easily install a RCD (Residual Current Device) to some existing switchboards and this will depend on the switchboards age and condition. It is important to protect all power points and there circuits including lighting circuits. Introducing a safety switch in your home and business will reduce the risk of electrocution.
Safety Switch tripping can be annoying especially nuisance tripping but think of what its really doing, its protecting you from an electrical injury or death. When your RCD has tripped it has detected a difference of amps between the active conductor and neutral conductor with electricity leaking to earth. When this difference has been detected your safety switch then trips. So why is your RCD tripping and how can you resolve this issue, well I have come up with 5 common reasons that I have found on some emergency call outs .
Faulty Electrical Appliances
Electrical appliances tend to wear and not function properly with extended use over a period of time. If appliances are not maintained they will be one of the biggest causes of your safety switch tripping. You will find electric kettles, toasters, range-hoods, clothes iron fridge and freezes to be possible issues.
How to find the electric appliance causing the problem. Once tripping has accrued you will try to reset you safety switch, if it trip’s again in a short period of time then you will need to unplug all your electrical items from the power point. Then reset your safety switch and if it holds then go back and plug in your electrical appliances one at a time until you have found the faulty appliance. You know this once the faulty appliance is plugged in the power point then it will trip your safety switch again. When found remove the appliance and dispose of appropriately.
Nuisance Tripping
I would describe nuisance tripping when your safety switch trips occasionally about every one to two days, I have had customers even saying once a week. Nuisance tripping is caused by two different issues. I will use thee examples of this.
First there had been nuisance tripping on a power circuit and I found an outside power point in the back yard, when disconnected there were hundreds of ants and bugs inside.The second a water feature with a submersible water pump in the water pond and found the electric motor has seized.The third example was a dish washer in the kitchen, I was told by the owners that tripping accrued every two days and what I found was a small leak in the electrical panel enough to trip a safety switch.
These three examples show how electrical appliances can trip a safety switch and clear themselves of an electrical problem only to return again until the problem becomes constant and apparent. Nuisance safety switch tripping will be hard to find since the faults do not present themselves all the time. An electrician can use their insulation resistance tester to find a reading to earth fault, this will only work if the electrical hazard is present at all times. So serious visual inspection and experience will help determine these tripping conditions.
Faulty Electrical Wiring
If it has been established that electrical appliances is not the cause of safety switch tripping then faulty wiring can be another issue. Old electrical wiring deteriorates over time and the insulation around the wiring become brittle and unsafe.
This will be common with older homes (1940 – 1960s) that have black rubber insulated cables or split metal conduit with cotton cables as there electrical system. The only way to overcome this is to have your property rewired and replace the electrical cables. If the age of your home is within 10 to 15 years old things like rodents eating into cables and possibly 240 volt wiring for garden lighting can be damaged.
Safety Switch Myth Busted
When safety switches tip the most common question asked by customers is “my safety switch keeps tripping does it need replacing or is it broken“. No it does not need replacing, its actually doing what its should be doing.
If your safety switch is broken then it probably wont trip at all when there is a fault. You should test your safety switch once a month and if it doesn’t trip when testing or the test button gets stuck and won’t release then this is a good sign that it will need to be replaced.
Rain And Lightning
Severe storms and long periods of rain can cause safety switch trip’s. This happens when excessive water get’s in behind electrical items such as outside light fittings under eaves and external power points. There have been many times I have found trees draped over external power points dripping with water leading straight inside the power point terminals. Thunder and lighting will also cause safety switch tripping. Safety switches don’t like voltage fluctuations and the imbalance in electrical supply will trigger a trip.
This is a guide only, it is illegal and dangerous to perform electrical work and always contact a licensed Electrical Contractor to perform any electrical woks.
Hi Steve
Thank you for the tips this has help us tremendously, we are expecting you guys on Monday cheers see you then.
Stephen Skec
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Hi Stephen
I have a specific ‘Stove’ switch which tripped yesterday. I went to switch it back on but it sparked and immediately tripped again. My main isolater/safety switch did not trip.
Very hesitant to touch anything after yesterday. Appreciate any advice you may have.
Regards
You will need to organize an oven service, if your in Melbourne http://www.ovenrepairmelbourne.com.au contact us for a quote.
Hi.
Great site!!
So, I have an issue with my breaker tripping at certain times of the day, which I have traced down to the time the power company changes over from off peak to high peak. Although this occurs at certain specific times, it does not happen every day, we went through a spell where it happened every Saturday morning at 0740 hours for 3 weeks, which happened when we were absent from the house, so no kettle etc causing the trip. I have been tracking this for some 3 years now, I thought it was the old dishwasher, replace that..still happens. Other than replacing all power outlets, and changing the appliances to other circuits, is there a device I can use to resolve this issue?
Hi Paul
you will need to contact a local electrician, we have your email so I will send you quot a quote for service. This will need to be left fan an electrician sorry no quick fix for this.
Hi, I have a problem like this. I have washing machine, dishwasher, cooker, kettle, toaster, oven and microwave wired to the same breaker switch. It trips only when 3 appliances are in operation that include the kettle or toaster. Everything is plugged in constantly and in use on its own or in 2’s there’s no problem. overload coupled with faulty kettle or toaster? Its awfully specific! Thanks!
We are having the same problem. The safety switch trips every morning at 7:40 a.m. Monday-Friday. (It used to be 8:10 a.m., but recently moved up a half hour). We have replaced a UPS that was on the line, the coffee pot, and a power strip. But it still trips during the week, but not on Saturday and Sunday. It started at the end of summer — and we’re going crazy trying to resolve it. It doesn’t happen any other time of day, even when all appliances and items are loading the circuit. It only occurs in the morning when nothing is operating… not even the coffee pot (we are late risers, so no one is up that early). Since the UPS beeps when the outlet trips, we hear a beeping until we get up and reset it. It has become our new alarm clock since it trips at the same time everyday. Unfortunately, I don’t need to be up until 9 a.m. lol If anyone else has this problem, please let me know. We’re in Southern California, and I don’t know if this is specific to our region
Our Braemae air conditioner evaporative switch tripped half hour ago. We had it on low at the time. Not real low. Only had serviced last month so don’t think that is problem. Have turned on again and turned fan up to 10 bars cooling. Seems to be working now. If it goes again I assume we don’t use it. Concerned as there have been house fires with faulty air conditioners. Holiday today so can’t ring anyone.
Reply
Hi Helen
Sounds like you will need to have your unit inspected and serviced, there are many reasons why the evaporative cooling is tripping the safety switch. Best to leave it with a trusted cooling company. If you can unplug the cooler to stop it from tripping the rest of the house.
Reply
Had safety switch installed recently, the roller shutter in one of the bedrooms OCCASIONALLY trips the safety switch. Is this a shutter problem or an electrical issue since it occasionally trips..
The electrician says he has taken this shutter off the safety switch, why is it still switching the safety switch off? is it possible??
Reply
Halo
We installed 3phase machines that use elements on a standard 30mA RCD and have problems with tripping do you get a RCD with a higher rating. 100 or 300mA rating.
Thank you
Hi Jurie
there should be a safety switch rated at 100ma
Hello Stephen,
This might be a strange situation. Recently the main power went off (several times) for the hole area due to some maintenance. The moment when the power goes off, then my RCCB is tripping. This is happening only when the main power goes off. Do you think any particular reason, or any fault installation in my home ??!!. Thank you.
My RCCB is /n 40A, /dn 30mA, /m 800A
yes this is common with safety switches, irregular electrical supply can cause a safety switch to trip as it may interpret this as a fault in the system.
Hi, If the problem is caused y water getting into an external light of power point would the problem fix itself by drying out or has there been damage done that needs an electrician?
Hi yes your right, when the water drys up it should stop tripping the safety switch this is a short term solution, please be aware if water keeps entering the fitting this will damage the unit, there will be rust damage mostly and if this effects your earth connection then the fitting becomes very dangerous. It is advised to have a licensed electrician to inspect and repair any possible damage when convenient.
Hi we have lots of ants in our meter box and in/around our aircon safety switch. Over the last 24hrs it has been tripping alot and offten. Could the snts be doing this? How do we get rid of the ants? And how do we fix it so it won’t trip? Thank you so much for any advice you can give.
Hi Kathrine
ants will definitely cause the tripping of a safety switch. If you have ants in the meter box you should contact you local power supply company or at least make them aware of the situation, if they can prevent damage to their meter it will save electrical interruption on your property.
As for the ants on the A/C safety switch you will need to contact an electrician for him to clear or replace the safety switch controlling the AC. There is nothing you can do without putting your self at risk of danger. Do not spray anything on the ants near any electrical connections or the safety switch as you will get electrocuted. This needs to be resolved by an electrician.