Hi,
I have an air compressor which I want to keep outside due to the noise. I put it on an extension lead and plugged it into a inline RCD plug, but it trips as soon as it is switched on. So is there something wrong with the compressor, or are RCD plugs not designed for this sort of thing? It appears to work perfectly well when plugged directly into the socket.
Any input appreciated. Rick
RCDs trip when they sense an imbalance between the currents in the live and neutral conductor. An imbalance of 30mA is the normal limit.
If there is an imbalance, the current is going somewhere it shouldn't- usually to earth. Check for a "low" resistance between the live and earth (low here means less than about 10kohm) or neutral and earth (a lower resistance on the latter may not cause a trip due to the lower potential between neutral and earth in normal use). obviously you check this with compressor unplugged!
Brian
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