Dryer Tripping Switch

s.c

I am living in Australia but I am assuming that the electrical systems here are generally the same as Ireland. Somebody might be able to confirm this?

Anyway the problem I have, that has been bugging me for a while, is that our clothes dryer (around 10 to 15 years old) trips the safety switch at the power box but only in one particular socket. Sometimes it will work in this socket but more often than not it will trip out. The washing machine always works in this socket with no issues. Then when the dryer is plugged into a different socket it works with no problems at all.

What could be causing this issue?
Dryer? Works perfectly in a different socket
Power socket? Washing machine works perfectly when plugged into it.

If anyone could give me an idea of what might be causing the problem it would be much appreciated.

ectoraige

When you're using the Dryer in the "bad" socket, is it because you have something else plugged in to the "good" socket? Dryers put a high load on the circuit, could it be the case that the dryer+something else is too much, causing the switch to trip, but that the dryer on it's own is okay?

s.c

ectoraige wrote: »

When you're using the Dryer in the "bad" socket, is it because you have something else plugged in to the "good" socket? Dryers put a high load on the circuit, could it be the case that the dryer+something else is too much, causing the switch to trip, but that the dryer on it's own is okay?

No nothing plugged into good socket. The only reason we don't have it plugged into the good socket all the time is because we have to stretch the lead across the room.

The other possibility is that both the dryer and the "good" socket are faulty. As in the "good" socket is not tripping out when it should be.

s.c

Ok so I have just tried the dryer in a third socket by using an extension lead and it tripped out again.

So I reckon that both the dryer (doesn't really sound the best either) and the "good" socket are faulty.

Irish Steve

the description you've given is not really enough to be able to provide an analysis.

On the main panel, the incoming supply may be split into "zones", some of which are then protected by a circuit breaker only, and some of which are protected by an earth leakage circuit breaker, which then connects to individual circuit breakers for different areas of the house.

It could be the case that some sockets are not routed through the earth leakage device, but others are, and in that case, a device that has a low level of earth leakage will not trip a circuit breaker, but it will trip an earth leakage breaker if it gets supply through that device.

The only way to analyse that will be to determine the way that things are connected at the main panel, by metering the supply and turning off specific breakers, to see what is connected to which sockets. From your description, it's not possible to determine if it's an Earth breaker, which may be protecting several circuits, or an individual breaker that's switching off, and if you move to another socket, is it the same protection that trips, or another one.

It does sound like the dryer may have an earth leakage issue, but that may not be a fault, some heater elements can have a low earth leakage through the insulation medium, which usually decreases once the element warms up and dries out the insulation, I've had problems here with several small devices (raclet), like an electric barbecue, which if not used for a while does exactly that, and on contacting the manufacturers, they advised to run it on a circuit that avoided the leakage breaker for 30 minutes, and after that, it would be fine again for normal use, which proved to be the case.

I don't have any 13A sockets that are not routed through the ELCB, so it was a case of making up a very clearly labelled special short extension lead with no earth, and connecting everything up with the power off on the garage workbench, and then not touching the device while it was "drying out", and making sure that no one else could touch it either. That was easier than cutting the moulded plug off and replacing it with a wired plug or opening the device to disconnect the earth internally, as it had special screws to discourage users from opening it. The extension then gets the fuse taken out to make sure someone else doesn't use it by mistake.

To be able to give any more help, we're going to need some more information about the panel, and which breaker or breakers are tripping when the dryer is connected.