Fridge tripped out on mains

[baxtjhn@aol.com]

On our recent shortbreak where we had a 16amp hookup the fridge tripped the bollard and the caravan switches.

Everything was ok with everything else but as soon as we switched on the fridge it would pop the switch.

Got chatting to the guy in the next pitch and he said that it used to happen to him with a previous van but only at this particular site.

Tried it when we got back home on mains,everything ok..never had this problem on any other sites and this was our first visit to this site.

Does anyone have any suggestions what could be wrong,someone mentioned earth leakage!!!!! is it safe!!!!.

Any help would be gratefully received

regards john.b.

 

[rob_jax]

Hi John,

There are many things that could be "wrong".

It could be that the power pole at the camp site had an overly sensitive or defective RCD trip.

If you have any concerns about your ability to correctly fault find the problem, take it to a service agent that you trust.

If you want to narrow down the fault yourself - try plugging the caravan in at home with a RCD trip between the hook up cable and the house power supply - maybe you have a RCD trip for the garden?

If switching the fridge trips the RCD - then you do have a problem with the fridge, most likely the heater element or the illuminated switch. These could both be a source of "leakage to earth" that doesn't blow a fuse.

You didn't say if the RCD trip in the caravan activated itself when you use the fridge - this would be another indicator pointing to the power pole.

Again - if you have any doubts about your ability to correctly fault find problems with power electrical systems - give the problem to a trained person.

But using an external RCD trip to test if you have a problem is something you can safely do yourself.

Robert