Mains Voltage fluctations

[John Geddes]

RCD 80A, 0.03A, 240v - Made by GE ref 304/28031-601 if that helps

John Geddes

[Christian McArdle]

Yes. I wouldn't put a freezer on a 30mA RCD. OK, it might have also tripped a 100mA, but it is less likely.

I don't know what earthing system you have. If you have TT currently:

You should probably upgrade to a 100mA time delay RCD split load or RCBO system, with the freezer on its own dedicated MCB circuit covered only by the overall 100mA trip.

An even better alternative is to enquire if your supplier offers TN-C-S earthing. Then you can have the freezer circuit with no RCD at all. Then you can pretty much guarantee it will get power after reconnection.

If you have TN-C-S or TN-S earthing:

You seem to have a non split load consumer unit with all circuits RCD protected. This is no longer current practice partly for the reasons you have found. You should change to a split load unit (or RCBO system) with lighting and a dedicated freezer circuit NOT RCD protected.

Christian.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember John Geddes saying something like:

You need a non-RCD (or non-ELCB) protected spur to your freezer.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember The Natural Philosopher saying something like:

That exact thing happened to me a few years ago and wrecked a PC. Every major component within it failed over the next year. The motherboard was dead at once, but subsequent failures of the salvaged components convinced me that the surges were to blame.

I bought a decent UPS and it's paid for itself since, many times over.

[Ian Stirling]

Or a relatively small UPS, and several car batteries from the scrappies, along with blower to keep the UPS cool.