Oven Tripping RCD Since Cleaned

[hightower]

Brother got his oven cleaned yesterday, today it's tripping the RCD (not the breaker) - I'm gonna head over tonight and take a look for him but just thought I'd post here and ask for advice/possible things to look for.

Thanks,

 

[telectrix]

damp probably, or cleaner has disturbed something that was potentially a tripping issue. try IR test but leave the meter testing for a bit. see if the reading rises.

 

[Andy78]

I would say moisture ingress into some part of the oven from the cleaning.
Last time my missus fried a bit of our oven it was from getting water down behind the knobs which shorted a knob control. A steam cleaner could possibly have pushed water into the rear through the cavity as well I suppose.

 

[hightower]

Oh, more information trickled in. Love that. He says oven was working once after clean, so cleaned yesterday dinner, used last night, gone to use this morning and tripping the RCD.

Asked for information of what is causing it, ie does it trip when turned on at wall, or when light it turned on, grill, fan etc. Because it's worked since it leads me to think there's simply an element of coincidence?

 

[Andy78]

Oh, more information trickled in. Love that. He says oven was working once after clean, so cleaned yesterday dinner, used last night, gone to use this morning and tripping the RCD.

Asked for information of what is causing it, ie does it trip when turned on at wall, or when light it turned on, grill, fan etc. Because it's worked since it leads me to think there's simply an element of coincidence?

Or moisture slowly working it's way into somewhere ? Definitely don't rule out coincidence though, one of the best tools in fault finding is an open mind.

 

[hightower]

Okay, little more info again. The oven will happily sit with the mode select in off, and the temp select in off, and the oven on at the wall - however, the light indicating the oven is heating is on. He says whenever he turns a dial - so either the mode select or the temp select - the RCD trips. Any more thoughts?

 

[Andy78]

Sounds like moisture to me and if so it's almost certainly a product of the cleaning.
If a complaint is to be made then disconnect the oven, test the oven circuit, and record the details to prove no fault lies with the final circuit.

 

[hightower]

Brother has phoned the oven cleaner and asked him to sort - he's arranged for a sparky to visit tonight which is good service I reckon. Will keep thread updated with outcome.

 

[NDG Elecs]

That is good service from the cleaner. I would put a little blowy heater on to see if that helps. Defo sounds like it is related to it being cleaned. I am a little surprised that no selection at all is available on the dial, I would have thought it would maybe be the bottom element selection, or whichever, which would cause the trip, rather than all of the selections. It doesn't sound like the thermostat if the little light is coming on.

I had a customer once whose RCD was tripping. Narrowed it down to the built in microwave. Then they decided to tell me they had recently tried to clean it by putting a bowl of water inside and leaving it to bubble away. They tried to basically steam clean it!

 

[fall-apart-dave]

That is good service from the cleaner. I would put a little blowy heater on to see if that helps. Defo sounds like it is related to it being cleaned. I am a little surprised that no selection at all is available on the dial, I would have thought it would maybe be the bottom element selection, or whichever, which would cause the trip, rather than all of the selections. It doesn't sound like the thermostat if the little light is coming on.

I had a customer once whose RCD was tripping. Narrowed it down to the built in microwave. Then they decided to tell me they had recently tried to clean it by putting a bowl of water inside and leaving it to bubble away. They tried to basically steam clean it!

Morons!

Everyone knows you boil vinegar in the microwave to clean it!

(actually, that works, so long as you don't leave it too long)

 

[hightower]

Morons!

Everyone knows you boil vinegar in the microwave to clean it!

(actually, that works, so long as you don't leave it too long)

I actually smashed the glass plate in our microwave. Had a Google, £40 to replace the plate..... pffft, I'll just buy a new microwave for that. Google the microwave, £300 brand new. Yeah, I'll replace the plate then.

Not sure how this is relevant at all to my OP, but it's Friday so who cares.

 

[fall-apart-dave]

Friday Fudgeups?

 

[ruston]

The element will draw moisture from the oven and trip the rcd.
Elements are hygroscopic.
It is quite common with ovens that have stood unused too.
Drying them out usually solves the problem .

 

[NDG Elecs]

The element will draw moisture from the oven and trip the rcd.
Elements are hygroscopic.
It is quite common with ovens that have stood unused too.
Drying them out usually solves the problem .

Don't remind me! I had an argument with an electrical engineer over this. He was a tenant in a property and he would work away from home all the time, and his oven only got used at weekends occasionally. This was a flat that had some damp issues also. When I clamped the oven as it warmed up the meter went from 3mA up to 21mA and then tripped each time, until around the third time when it held for a while longer. Replaced the element as it was essentially faulty, but the engineer could not see my point whatsoever.

 

[ruston]

I have a friend who has a lot of rented properties , this problem occurs from time to time when they have stood empty for awhile.
Funny enough it is more prevalent in the free standing cookers, I suppose that is because the 'rings 'are more exposed to the humidity.