Plug electric heater into camper blows house mains

Donaldo

Hi,

I have my camper connected to the house mains. When I plug an electric heater into the 220V outlet in the camper, it blows a circuit in the house mains and I have to trip a fuse.

Any ideas?

D

paddyp

Is it an mcb or and rcd is tripping?

Aidan_M_M

Plug the heater into the house , and see does the tripswitch trip out then?

Otherwise sounds like the wires are mixed up in a socket.

It could also be that your cumulative load on the same circuit is over the rating for the trip. Worst case scenerio you'd be on a 10amp trip in the house. Check the total load of the camper combined with whatever you might be running off the same socket in the house if that's above you trip's rating everything is working as it should to protect you from melting the cables in your house. So just plug some other stuff out.

Donaldo

Thanks for the replies

@paddyp: this I don't know, how can I tell?

@aidan: doesn't trip in the house, i've plugged it into the camper before with no issues when connected to mains. routinely use it during the cold weather to heat the camper.

@sirliamalot: will plug a bunch of other stuff out later and see how that goes.

Aidan_M_M

if you plug in something else , like a lamp , does that blow it ?

paddyp

Donaldo wrote: »

@paddyp: this I don't know, how can I tell?

Click the link in my post MCB is on the left RCD on the right, or simpler still the rcd will have both and amp rating e.g. 63A and a milliamp rating e.g. 30mA written on it.

A 10 amp trip only allows 2300watts +/-.
Is there anything else heavy on juice in the camper like a fridge perhaps?
ampage x voltage = max wattage
10 x 230 = 2300w

Here's a heater that'll never trip.
http://www.windysmithy.co.uk/html/woodburners.htm

Aidan_M_M

Aidan_M_M wrote: »

if you plug in something else , like a lamp , does that blow it ?

most lamps work fine with the polarity reversed as the tungston coil is indifferent to where it gets juice from so it's not the best solution for fault checking wiring problems.

If you use a multimeter on the socket, set to read AC voltage with the positive lead in the live (right as you look at it) and the negative in the neutral (left)...if this gives you a negative value then it's a crossed wire in the socket.
(make sure your meter leads have their insulation intact before you try this as the camper will have to be plugged in)

Aidan_M_M

Sir Liamalot wrote: »

most lamps work fine with the polarity reversed as the tungston coil is indifferent to where it gets juice from so it's not the best solution for fault checking wiring problems.

I understand that , I only meant to use the lamp as a check to see if the Trip itsself was gone weak.. I'd a couple of older ones went that way.


It's rare that the house trip blows before the camper one... was anyone at the wiring?

Malta1

Aidan_M_M wrote: »

I understand that , I only meant to use the lamp as a check to see if the Trip itsself was gone weak.. I'd a couple of older ones went that way.


It's rare that the house trip blows before the camper one... was anyone at the wiring?

I agree....can you disconnect the van from the house and plug the heater into the same socket that the camper van power cable is coming from........sounds like there is a number of "heavy" things plugged into the house circuit that the van is using to charge itself?
The heater in the van may be the "straw that breaks the camels back"?

Donaldo

Thanks for all the replies, won't be able to check until tomorrow but will come back with findings based on all your suggestions above.

Donaldo

Managed to get some time to look at this again and here's what I've discovered:

1. It's an MCB that trips (although one time an MCB and the RCD tripped)
2. Tried pluggin a lamp in the camper and nothing tripped
3. Tried the heater in the house and nothing tripped
4. UnPlugged a lot of items in the house and still plugging the heater in the camper cause fuse to trip.
5. Sometimes, as well as the house fuse tripping, the camper fuse will trip also. This only happens sometimes, but the house fuse trips everytime.

At a bit of a loss where to go from here?

Aidan_M_M

okay , well the lamp must be ok if it didn't trip the house . Sounds like you need to get the polarity checked in the camper . Did you recently put a new plug orsocket , or even re-wire one , on the heater , the camper hook-up lead , or inside in the camper? When you have the camper plugged in , does the fridge stillwork ok on mains , and the battery charger?

I'm still convinced you're overloading the circuit. Try turning off all the mains appliances in the camper and unplugging anything in the same socket you're feeding from the house, then run your heater. If it trips then I'm wrong.

If problem does persist I'd run an extension lead from your house from the socket that's not tripping into the camper through a window (you can seal the gap with gaff tape if you're worried about efficiency) and run your heater from that.

also it wouldn't do any harm to open the back of the plug on the heater and make sure all the wires have intact insulation, are going into the right pins and are not rattling around.

The lively brown bear danced under the blue neutral sky on the green earth and all that.

Donaldo

Aidan_M_M wrote: »

okay , well the lamp must be ok if it didn't trip the house . Sounds like you need to get the polarity checked in the camper . Did you recently put a new plug orsocket , or even re-wire one , on the heater , the camper hook-up lead , or inside in the camper? When you have the camper plugged in , does the fridge stillwork ok on mains , and the battery charger?

Haven't touched the electrics in the camper and the heater is pretty new, have never needed to go at it. Fridge and battery charger work fine in camper. Hook up lead has not been touched either.

Donaldo

Sir Liamalot wrote: »

I'm still convinced you're overloading the circuit. Try turning off all the mains appliances in the camper and unplugging anything in the same socket you're feeding from the house, then run your heater. If it trips then I'm wrong.

If problem does persist I'd run an extension lead from your house from the socket that's not tripping into the camper through a window (you can seal the gap with gaff tape if you're worried about efficiency) and run your heater from that.

Have done this. Nothing plugged into camper, hook up lead is the only plug coming from socket in house. Still blows

tibia

So heater trips it but lamp does not. I'm inclined to think Sir Liamalot's suggestion deserves further investigation.

Can you run the heater at a lower power setting? e.g. 1kW instead of 2kW?

Can you tell us what the power of the heater is? If it's 2kW, say, then a 2kW kettle should also trip the MCB if it's an overload issue.