Melb. southern - electricity problems at 11am - anyone else?
Submitted: Friday, Apr 06, 2007 at 11:19
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Mike Harding
Both yesterday and today my ELCB (electrical earth safety switch) has tripped at exactly 11am. I suspect the cause of this may be the control signals which the electricity supply company (AGL) frequently send across the
grid to provide remote control of their switching and metering equipment. The fact that this has only just started suggests they have changed something?
I has this problem a few years ago (same house) at 10pm and 7am most days the switch would trip but after a few weeks it stopped doing it? It's probable that my particular ELCB is more sensitive to this than other makes but I would be interested to hear if others have experienced an issue.
Mike Harding
mike_harding@fastmail.fm
Reply By: Boldjack - Friday, Apr 06, 2007 at 19:47
Friday, Apr 06, 2007 at 19:47
G'day Mike
Years ago I worked in a chemical plant in
Sydney where one of the boiler stations started to trip out and go off line for no apparent reason. The records started to show a pattern ,that it always happened around the same times of the day. It turns out that some instrument had become sensitive to the (ripple) that is sent in the electricity supply to turn the off peak water heaters on and off
Not that I'm electrically trained,but it seems to me your on the right track,whether the problem is caused by (AGL) or something in your system I don't know. What you are suggesting has been experienced before.
Cheers Boldjack.
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Reply By: Brian T (VIC) - Saturday, Apr 07, 2007 at 14:51
Saturday, Apr 07, 2007 at 14:51
My guess would be that your ELCB/RCD is starting to fail and should be replaced soon. The control pulses the electricity company send down the lines shouldn't affect your property in that manner.
It wouldn't hurt to have the sparky that changes your safety switch(es) to
test your installation (house and appliances) for earth leakages, a small leak in one appliance may not generally cause any problem but multiple small leaks and possibly an electric motor with a faulty snubber circuit in it will trip an ELCB every time.I know this because in my line of work I am continually finding my customers have appliances with motors that cause line spikes besides the "apparent" problems with their electrically heated
spa pools drawing near capacity loads out of any given circuit in their property.
Sorry about the whinge about idiot customers.... it's been a long 4 day week.
But get the ELCB looked at a.s.a.p.
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Follow Up By: Mike Harding - Saturday, Apr 07, 2007 at 17:39
Saturday, Apr 07, 2007 at 17:39
Thanks for that Brian. I doubt the ELCB is failing - they are a pretty simple design and tend to either work or not. But I have checked it and it's tripping at 21mA which is fine.
My house installation is OK too, my Megger shows all to be good and the appliances which tend to be a bit leaky are fine when checked individually. The only motor I have in the place (fridge/freezer aside) is the central heating blower and that hasn't been in use for months :)
I've contacted AGL and asked their tech. people to call me next week so we'll see that happens then. Interestingly, it didn't trip today?
Mike Harding
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