Samsung American fridge-freezer tripping RCD

[Chris Green]

My daughter's Samsung american fridge-freezer is tripping the RCD in her new house.

This is happening after it had been standing in our garage for a few months.

It doesn't trip the RCD instantly, the RCD trips several seconds after plugging the fridge in.

I know this is a a bit of a 'how long is a piece of string' type question but I was wondering if this is something of a known fault with a (hopefully striaghtforward) fix.

I have looked at the obvious things, the plug is clean and dry and so is all of the wiring that I can actually get at and the (large!) PCB under a cover on top of the fridge looks OK, no obvious dampness or bulging/burnt looking components.

We're not even sure that this is a new fault as I'm not sure if old house had RCD protected sockets. I guess I could try a standalone RCD to see if the new house's RCD is particularly sensitive. Are Samsung fridges known to be marginal for leakage?

[Jim GM4DHJ ...]

my american samsung has never done that.....

[Harry Bloomfield Esq]

Chris Green formulated the question :

Maybe put a fan heater blowing towards it for a while?

[Chris Green]

Yes, we've been hoping that being back in a warm, dry house will help. Where is the heating element (if there is one)?

[Paul]

Maybe it's an inverter fridge ?

I am including this video for Jim, as he is our resident Youtube connoisseur.

"Inverter refrigerator has a variable speed compressor which adjusts it speed depending on the outside temperature and load on the refrigerator."

I can see a couple disc caps that might be RFI filter caps. The caps might be similar in function, to C2 and C3, here.

Perhaps the compressor uses a DC motor or something.

They use such things with R600/R600a refrigerators, at least the Korean ones. I have an R600a refrigerator, but it starts and stops like a regular refrigerator.

My clamp-on ammeter doesn't register low enough to check for leakage.

Paul

[Brian]

Just a suggestion.

If you have a split consumer unit, run an extension lead from a socket on the other half ( ie which uses a different RCD). If the RCD is overly sensitive, this may show it up.

Your idea won?t detect that. The existing one will trip before the one you add, unless you add a lower rated one.

[Chris Green]

I did mean a standalone RCD on a different circuit from the one that's tripping! It's a fairly old (electrical) installation I think and I really haven't spent enough time there to investigate how it's all wired.

From what I remember seeing at a quick glance last time it's a fairly standard split load CU so it may well be that there are no sockets which aren't on the same RCD in which case I'm a bit stuck unless I rig something up. There *may* be a separate cooker circuit (they often have a socket) and/or there may be an immersion heater circuit that I could 'borrow'. We'll see.

There's also a single 'odd' socket that "doesn't work" that I need to investigate so I need to go more properly prepared with electrical tools and test gear. Fortunately her new house is just up the road in the same village as us, five minutes away, if that.

[Brian Gaff (Sofa]

What is the wattage of this thing? Also did the plug run a bit warm? I just had a trip at home and for some unknown reason, just removing the plug from the wall, removing the fuse, cleaning it up from slight oxide and replacing it has stopped it.I have no idea of what these cut out devices regard as a fault, but maybe one can trick them into popping in some obscure ways. I'm assuming you have tried it connected to a different ring with a different breaker? Is it on an extension lead at all? If its quite old, ie older than 7 years or so, then you would probably not get it fixed.

Brian

[Brian Gaff (Sofa]

I'm not that convinced that the current rcd systems are worth the trouble they can cause. I gave somebody a QED mains filter for his Hi fi. Very old but works well here with the basic breakers, in his house it trips randomly. Part of the circuit is some inductor, with three capacitors to and from each pin at each end, plus a VDR across the supply rated at something link

400v, one supposes to keep transients out.

Brian

[Brian Gaff (Sofa]

If you are brave enough, you could unwire the earth and see if it still trips, of course all that will prove is where the leak is, not what it is. grin.

Brian

[John Rumm]

Our Samsung is...

Also worth noting that their inverter models typically have a 10 year warranty on some parts.

[Steve Walker]

We had a whole house RCD (not covering lights or alarm) and suffered multiple trips, which we put down to a number of PCs, a server, peripherals, hi-fi, etc. with leaky filters, leaving it perilously close to the trip level.

I removed the RCD and replaced all the protected MCBs with RCBOs (upstairs ring, downstairs ring, kitchen ring, cooker, garage, plus a spare). We haven't had a single trip since then.

I must get round to changing the non-protected MCBs as well, then we'll have every circuit protected.