by ericmark »
Sun Jun 27, 2010 6:41 pm
[quote="jimmy_one_ball"]Alternatively, you may have an earth leak, may be worth getting the conductors to the appliance tested and the appliance FAT tested.[/quote]
I am sure they do have an earth leakage. There are tests that can be done of course they all come under "Inspection and testing of in-service electrical appliances" which has a number of sub-sections Hand held, Portable, Movable, Stationary, Fixed, Appliances/equipment for building in, and Information technology equipment (business equipment) and they all are subjected to same tests. However on items over 3Kw the clamp on ammeter required to measure the milli-amp leakage to earth is expensive and often not used and the appliance is normally part dismantled to complete the tests using a insulation tester. This of course is a problem where the item has some guarantee as a third party can hardly dismantle to test.
Normally the site electrician will test the installation which will include testing the RCD which is done in 6 parts 2 to show it will not fail at 15ma and 2 to show it will fail at 30ma and 2 to show it will fail in 40ms at 150ma and if it passes and the cooker trips the supply it is simply a matter of sending the cooker back as faulty.
However as already explained there is a typical fault which can be rectified on site and some suppliers are really sneaky and they know if the cooker is powered up without a RCD it will drive out the moisture so they do just that. Then claim there was nothing wrong in first place and try to charge the customer.
To save all this hassle most electrician will cheat using one of a number of methods and get every element hot on site for a couple on minutes and try drying it out on site before returning it.
However it is cheating and I am not prepared to detail how it is done. The appliance testing is often split into two that which can be done with a all in one tester (PAT) and that which needs the skill of the electrician to test it. But to as you put it "FAT" (Fixed appliance testing) may prove the appliance is faulty but it will not repair the appliance and the only advantage would be you can prove it was faulty.
And a range cooker is a heavy beast and really the best option has to be for some one "Often refereed to as their engineer" to do a site visit to test and if possible correct the fault and there is very little the DIY person can do himself.
Both as the DIY person with not have the meters or the expertise required. I am not being sneaky by not saying how it is done as I am sure if I did the moderators I would hope would delete it anyway. It is just not a DIY job.
