Looking for some help on our truma ultraheat. We have a 2008 Bretagne, from the day we got it the heater has always tripped the house RCD, the father in law gave us a new thermostat, being in lockdown thought I'd try the new thermostat. Initially the heater sprung into life on all settings until after 10-15 mins, then the RCD went again, reset that and set the heater to 500 setting and sat there for a while quite happy but switching to 1000 or 2000 initially will stay on but but under a minute ish later the RCD trips again. Can reset RCD and the same fine on 500 trips on 1000 or 2000. Any ideas. Tia 👍
Heater issues
- Thread starter Darren1974
- Start date
Given you description and the fact the RCD and not an MCB is tripping points to a earth fault in the heater.
It's most likely on the high setting element, but it could possibly be in the electric elements control circuit, ony a hands on investigation would confirm it.
As with all electrical and gas systems only attempt a repair if you are competent to do so.
It's most likely on the high setting element, but it could possibly be in the electric elements control circuit, ony a hands on investigation would confirm it.
As with all electrical and gas systems only attempt a repair if you are competent to do so.
Where you got the caravan from did it come with any warranty if so i would take it back to have it check out
Have you tried the heater on a site? If so was it with the same huck up lead and in both cases fully unwound. You could also try plugging a 2000watt heater in a socket in caravan to make sure it is the heater and not another outside influence as the RCD in the caravan appears not to trip
Hello Gralay,
RCD's Residual Current Detector, only detects the difference in the current flowing in the Live and Neutral conductors of a circuit, Under normal conditions the current will be exactly the same so there is no difference and it doesn't matter what the power of the appliance is, the current in the connection wires should be balanced.
Under fault conditions some of the current may "leak" (usually to ground) which means the there will be a difference in the current in the L&N conductors passing through the RCD. If the difference exceeds the RCD's reference, it trips.
I guess when someone has made 12617 contributions to the Forum it might be nice to cut them a bit of slack occasionally.
Hello ProfJohnL
I only wanted to eliminate other possible issues i.e hook up lead also residual current device in caravan been faulty as the caravan Residual current device was not mentioned as to whether it was tripping or not only house RCD
I only wanted to eliminate other possible issues i.e hook up lead also residual current device in caravan been faulty as the caravan Residual current device was not mentioned as to whether it was tripping or not only house RCD
Probably same as me with predictive text🤪 A wild card . Have you tried using a different socket in the house for the caravan connection? I wonder why the caravan RCD doesn’t trip? Maybe the home system is faulty?
From what you describe , very hard on here, my best guess is the lower rated TOD ( Thermal overload device) at the rear of your heater or more simply the element itself.
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Ok so, we bought the van privately 2 years ago so no come back there.
House electrics are only 2 years old, I can plug anything else into them and nothing happens only when the van heater as described above is used.
As I said the thermostat was from my in laws as they had similar problem with the same heater in their van, but there's wouldn't work at all, turned out a new circuit board was needed.
Never used the heater when away always relied on gas
Sounds then possibly one of the tods or failed board or element.
House electrics are only 2 years old, I can plug anything else into them and nothing happens only when the van heater as described above is used.
As I said the thermostat was from my in laws as they had similar problem with the same heater in their van, but there's wouldn't work at all, turned out a new circuit board was needed.
Never used the heater when away always relied on gas
Sounds then possibly one of the tods or failed board or element.
Yes I have trouble with such technology, including my brain and fingers......
Hello Gralay,
You have raised a valid point, the fact the house RCD was tripping rather than the caravan RCD, so yes it is entirely possible the house RCD is becoming more sensitive with age, and or the caravan hook up cable might be producing the problem.
But the point I was making is the the RCD does not respond to the size of the load, it only responds if there is a difference in the L&N currents, so adjusting the applied load would not replicate the problem.
There are some RCBO's which do have an over current trip built in, but these would be rated much higher than the MCB of fuse on the circuit of a domestic distribution box, and would more commonly be used in special purpose installations.
Hello,
I posted a response ( a bit tongue in cheek)and some of the responses were wrong (should have read the original post correctly).Tried to delete response and thought I had done so but failed !
How do you delete a response before posting.
I've since deleted the response but not before it was posted onto the web site.
I posted a response ( a bit tongue in cheek)and some of the responses were wrong (should have read the original post correctly).Tried to delete response and thought I had done so but failed !
How do you delete a response before posting.
I've since deleted the response but not before it was posted onto the web site.
Parksy
Moderator
To delete a response before you post it use your back / erase key to remove what you don't want to write and don't post it.
I moved into a new build house a number of years ago, and the main trip was forever tripping out for no reason, so it needed to be replaced. Completely resolved the issue. Don't assume because something's brand new it's not faulty...
I thought the RCD and over current breaker were in the same box. So it could be the tripping is due to over current when switched to 2KW
We can only work on the basis of what we are told, and in this case the OP stated it was the RCD, which as I have pointed out is not load sensitive.
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