6 ms·

I like the comment on the post: > "The kettle had caused the trip. It was no longer safe to use the kettle" > You know enough to start designing a temp. contr

by GuiA 13y ago

I like the comment on the post: > "The kettle had caused the trip. It was no longer safe to use the kettle" > You know enough to start designing a temp. controlled kettle, and yet you overlooked the simple (and most likely) possibility that the kettle was on the same circuit with another high draw appliance (hair dryer, electric heater, etc.) and the combination of the two resulted in the trip from overload. And that there was nothing in fact wrong with the kettle at all. We sometimes forget that our hacker minds can be a weakness :)

gregory144 13y ago
It's possible he did consider that fact and the kettle wasn't on the same circuit with another high draw appliance.
- joshschreuder 13y ago
  The author responded: "Everyone else in the house was asleep. But yes, you’re right, I have overlooked that possibility"
ars 13y ago
Not to mention if your kettle caused your main breaker to trip you have some serious problems in your wiring, not your kettle. A kettle might cause a branch circuit to trip - but the whole house??? If that happens you have bigger problems than a kettle. (Plus in the UK plugs have built in fuses should trip first. So it's pretty doubtful it was the kettle.)
- kabouseng 13y ago
  An over current situation would trip the branch. A grounding issue would trip the main switch. If water came into the electric circuit causing a grounding of the current, then the main switch would trip. Nothing wrong with the house wiring.
  - ars 13y ago
    > A grounding issue would trip the main switch. If water came into the electric circuit causing a grounding of the current, then the main switch would trip. No it wouldn't. You could stick the bare wires of a branch circuit in water and it wouldn't trip the main breaker. The main breaker will trip if there is a short inside the panel (which is all but impossible unless you are working on it live - which is sometimes done). Or if you used so much electricity you simply overloaded it, but if you did that you have the wrong panel for your house (or you are running some crazy equipment - arc furnace, maybe).
    - DaveLond 13y ago
      Errr, short-circuiting to ground will cause a RCD to trip immediately - that's what they're there for. You will generally have one RCD on the entire fuse board, and then individual circuit breakers for each branch.
      - ars 13y ago
        If that's really how they do that - one RCD for a bunch of circuits then I have to retract my words, a ground fault would cause a whole bunch of circuits to lose power. It seems crazy to me, but if they do that, then they do that.
    - Robin_Message 13y ago
      Main breakers in the UK are often RCDs, which do in fact trip in the case of grounding issues. The main breaker usually feeds into several circuit breakers. Generally the wiring goes: mains input -> 1 or more RCDs -> several circuit breakers -> several outlets -> fuse in plug -> appliance. So a grounding fault can take out many circuits, and many-lots of sockets.
      - ars 13y ago
        OK, that's new to me. They really do that? One RCD for several breakers? How is the panel wired - how do you pick which breakers are on which RCD? That must cause so many nuisance trips - doesn't seem like a good idea (kinda like the ring circuit that to this day causes trouble). In the US you can have an RCD (called a GFCI here) in the panel, but it feeds a single branch.
- Crito 13y ago
  Could this be a consequence of a single ring-circuit for the whole house? I am not familiar with how exactly those work with circuit breakers.
- aaronsnoswell 13y ago
  Here in Australia in older houses it is very common for power to trip if too many appliances are running at the same time - not unusual at all.
  - icebraining 13y ago
    Same here in Portugal. In our house, both the branch breaker as well as our main breaker will usually trip if we put too much load.
- alextingle 13y ago
  RCDs are quite expensive, so its common in the UK for a single RCD to cover several circuits. The most common configuration is to have two RCDs each of which cover half of the circuits. Here's a typical consumer unit... http://www.ctm.co.uk/gallery/Electric/Electric_photo_gallery/17th%20edition%20split%20load%20consumer%20unit.jpg http://www.ctm.co.uk/gallery/Electric/Electric_photo_gallery... RCDs detect the slightest earth leak, so they are far more likely to trip than the MCB or the fuse on the plug, which only detect a sustained over-current.
  - dded 13y ago
    Is "RCD" British for what we call "GFI" (Ground Fault Interrupt) in the US?
    - jpollock 13y ago
      Yes, RCD - Residual Current Device is the same thing as a GFI.
- walshemj 13y ago
  And why decide that after one trip - is it the kettle or the outlet you have plugged it into thats causing the problem?
jpollock 13y ago
My house had residual current devices in the main circuit board (like the bathroom socket, only centralised). That meant that when devices such as the toaster, kettle, dishwasher and exterior lights developed ground faults, they would take out half the house. It would lead to much fun as we reset the RCD and then tried each appliance to figure out which one was faulty.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
SomeCallMeTim 13y ago
> "The kettle had caused the trip. It was no longer safe to use the kettle" If the kettle still works, then problem solved. If the ($10) kettle is broken, then I'm going to say that it's entirely possible to consider that quality of components, design, and build may account for the difference between a $10 and a $40 kettle. I often end up spending more on something if I have reasonable evidence it will last longer and/or perform better. And I don't write long articles about how I resent spending the "extra" money.

by GuiA 13y ago

gregory144 13y ago

It's possible he did consider that fact and the kettle wasn't on the same circuit with another high draw appliance.

joshschreuder 13y ago
The author responded: "Everyone else in the house was asleep. But yes, you’re right, I have overlooked that possibility"

ars 13y ago

Not to mention if your kettle caused your main breaker to trip you have some serious problems in your wiring, not your kettle. A kettle might cause a branch circuit to trip - but the whole house??? If that happens you have bigger problems than a kettle. (Plus in the UK plugs have built in fuses should trip first. So it's pretty doubtful it was the kettle.)

kabouseng 13y ago
An over current situation would trip the branch. A grounding issue would trip the main switch. If water came into the electric circuit causing a grounding of the current, then the main switch would trip. Nothing wrong with the house wiring.
- ars 13y ago
  > A grounding issue would trip the main switch. If water came into the electric circuit causing a grounding of the current, then the main switch would trip. No it wouldn't. You could stick the bare wires of a branch circuit in water and it wouldn't trip the main breaker. The main breaker will trip if there is a short inside the panel (which is all but impossible unless you are working on it live - which is sometimes done). Or if you used so much electricity you simply overloaded it, but if you did that you have the wrong panel for your house (or you are running some crazy equipment - arc furnace, maybe).
  - DaveLond 13y ago
    Errr, short-circuiting to ground will cause a RCD to trip immediately - that's what they're there for. You will generally have one RCD on the entire fuse board, and then individual circuit breakers for each branch.
    - ars 13y ago
      If that's really how they do that - one RCD for a bunch of circuits then I have to retract my words, a ground fault would cause a whole bunch of circuits to lose power. It seems crazy to me, but if they do that, then they do that.
  - Robin_Message 13y ago
    Main breakers in the UK are often RCDs, which do in fact trip in the case of grounding issues. The main breaker usually feeds into several circuit breakers. Generally the wiring goes: mains input -> 1 or more RCDs -> several circuit breakers -> several outlets -> fuse in plug -> appliance. So a grounding fault can take out many circuits, and many-lots of sockets.
    - ars 13y ago
      OK, that's new to me. They really do that? One RCD for several breakers? How is the panel wired - how do you pick which breakers are on which RCD? That must cause so many nuisance trips - doesn't seem like a good idea (kinda like the ring circuit that to this day causes trouble). In the US you can have an RCD (called a GFCI here) in the panel, but it feeds a single branch.
Crito 13y ago
Could this be a consequence of a single ring-circuit for the whole house? I am not familiar with how exactly those work with circuit breakers.
aaronsnoswell 13y ago
Here in Australia in older houses it is very common for power to trip if too many appliances are running at the same time - not unusual at all.
- icebraining 13y ago
  Same here in Portugal. In our house, both the branch breaker as well as our main breaker will usually trip if we put too much load.
alextingle 13y ago
RCDs are quite expensive, so its common in the UK for a single RCD to cover several circuits. The most common configuration is to have two RCDs each of which cover half of the circuits. Here's a typical consumer unit... http://www.ctm.co.uk/gallery/Electric/Electric_photo_gallery/17th%20edition%20split%20load%20consumer%20unit.jpg http://www.ctm.co.uk/gallery/Electric/Electric_photo_gallery... RCDs detect the slightest earth leak, so they are far more likely to trip than the MCB or the fuse on the plug, which only detect a sustained over-current.
- dded 13y ago
  Is "RCD" British for what we call "GFI" (Ground Fault Interrupt) in the US?
  - jpollock 13y ago
    Yes, RCD - Residual Current Device is the same thing as a GFI.
walshemj 13y ago
And why decide that after one trip - is it the kettle or the outlet you have plugged it into thats causing the problem?

jpollock 13y ago

My house had residual current devices in the main circuit board (like the bathroom socket, only centralised). That meant that when devices such as the toaster, kettle, dishwasher and exterior lights developed ground faults, they would take out half the house. It would lead to much fun as we reset the RCD and then tried each appliance to figure out which one was faulty.

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

SomeCallMeTim 13y ago

> "The kettle had caused the trip. It was no longer safe to use the kettle" If the kettle still works, then problem solved. If the ($10) kettle is broken, then I'm going to say that it's entirely possible to consider that quality of components, design, and build may account for the difference between a $10 and a $40 kettle. I often end up spending more on something if I have reasonable evidence it will last longer and/or perform better. And I don't write long articles about how I resent spending the "extra" money.