RCD socket problems

[laurar]

Hello,

An electrician installed a RCD socket for a brand new fridge freezer in my kitchen.

The socket kept tripping so I called the electrician to come and check it. He tested it and said it was fine (tripping at 29) and the fridge was likely to be the problem.

I had the fridge replaced only to keep experiencing the same problem.

He has no idea what is going on... any insight??

Thanks a lot

 

[pjcomp]

Did he explain why he was installing an RCD socket for a fridge - seems a curious approach. What happens when you plug anything else into the socket - does that also trip or not? Might be time for a second opinion from a second pair of eyes.

PJ

 

[laurar]

Did he explain why he was installing an RCD socket for a fridge - seems a curious approach. What happens when you plug anything else into the socket - does that also trip or not? Might be time for a second opinion from a second pair of eyes.

PJ

Thank you , what kind of socket do we need for a fridge then?

He said this socket was the safest?

 

[wingcoax]

Do you have RCD protection on your main consumer unit? If so you do NOT need it at a socket, an ordinary socket would do the job.

 

[Lectrician]

Is this a new socket he installed? If so, and the wiring is flushed in the wall, he would have to provide RCD protection to the cable too, not just to the socket outlet.

Sounds like a bad design to me.

 

[laurar]

Is this a new socket he installed? If so, and the wiring is flushed in the wall, he would have to provide RCD protection to the cable too, not just to the socket outlet.

Sounds like a bad design to me.

Yes, it is... I guess I will have to call a different electrician

thanks

 

[ericmark]

There is no need for a RCD with a dedicated fridge socket. I would not normally fit one as too easy for it to trip unnoticed.

The RCD is tested 6 times pos and neg wave at 1/2, full, 5 times rating to test both the ma needed to trip and not to trip and second checks the time for the 5 times rating has to be under 40ms. I would think (tripping at 29) refers to ms or he could be using ramp tester and 29ma is rather close to 30ma limit although within limits. But he should also be testing it does not trip at 15ma on both pos and neg wave.

If not marked "Fridge only" then yes needs to be RCD protected to comply with regs for new sockets. If the cable is not surface then this also needs protection but that does not have to be with a RCD using special cable is also allowed.

Because there are so many ways around the rules to comply one has to be careful saying what can and what can't be done.

Be careful with RCD sockets there are passive that's what you want and also active with the active with a power outage it needs manual resetting clearly not what you want with fridge.