[aramosfet]

RCCB nuisance tripping is notoriously difficult to diagnose. The RCCB is essentially looking for current imbalance between Line and Neutral. If there is an imbalance, it mostly likely means the residual current is flowing through a faulty equipment or worse through a human. When the difference current exceeds beyond the set threshold of 30mA(in this case) it should trip and disconnect both line and neutral conductors.

The tricky part here is that all equipments with a ground pin can have a leakage to earth. This may be well below the set threshold of 30mA. But if you add up all the equipments in the house, it can exceed the threshold and start tripping the RCCB, But this is typically very rare if all appliances are in good working order.

Trying to isolate by switching off different MCB's in the house is not fool proof because, it only identifies if the leakage is from line to earth. Not neutral to earth. Note that neutral can be several volts above earth especially in apartments where it can be a long distance to the transformer where neutral get connected to Earth. The neutral voltage varies based on how many houses are sharing the return wire and how much load is put on the wire.

Adding another complication to this is that residual current is not stable. It varies depending on how appliances are being used. So it can be hard to re-create the fault consistently.

The ideal way to diagnose would be to get a sensitive clamp meter which can measure currents down to ~1mA and isolate both line and neutral and test each circuit in the house.

I ran into the same issue last year and was not able to identify the root cause. Unqualified local electricians will try to blame it on the RCCB and if it still trips with a new one, suggest bypassing RCCB which is absolutely not recommended.
I had bypassed the RCCB for a while and a year later with few appliances swapped, the issue has disappeared in my case.

Another potential cause could be leakage due to old wires with worn insulation in the electrical conduits. This is very difficult to identify unless we pull out all the wiring and check and can turn out to be expensive.

Originally Posted by Rodie09

Recent Work:
I got some additional points done 3-4 months back, mostly LED decor lights ranging from 2 watts to 18 watts. This required some new concealed wiring also but considering low load it was not done in proper conduits. Mostly just a phase and neutral wire for these small lights in a flexi tube. I am sure many of us must have done similar.

Inspect every part of the new wiring and verify that either the Line or neutral does not come in contact with any metal building structural elements (eg Rebar, Metal containers behind switch boards, bulb holders etc). These are typically earthed and any leakage from neutral through these can trip the RCCB.

Originally Posted by Rodie09

DP Box - Located right after main entrance this houses about 18 Havells circuit breakers for different circuits in house and 1 Havells RCCB of 63 A/30 mA which is standard in apartments.

Issue:

A week back the RCCB tripped. None of the breakers opened but just the RCCB was down. I isolated all breakers and tested one by one and found this to be happening from master bath 25 litre Racold geyser. I thought I had found the issue. Disconnected the geyser.

My educated guess here would be a high impedance (Meaning not a 0ohm short) leakage from neutral to earth. When there are not many appliances switched on, the neutral-earth voltage will be low and the leakage current will be below the RCCB threshold. As the appliances are turned on the return current on the neutral increases which in-turn increases the neutral-earth voltage and increasing the leakage current tripping the RCCB.

Suggested experiment if you are up for it and have an electrician who can follow instructions
1. Disconnect every appliance in your house with an earth connection.
2. Disconnect and Isolate the neutral for all circuits which is typically shorted at the breaker box.
3. Connect a single circuit to the mains/RCCB and add enough load.
4. Repeat on each circuit until you find the one circuit which causes the RCCB to trip consistently.

[Rodie09]

Originally Posted by aramosfet

RCCB nuisance tripping is notoriously difficult to diagnose. The RCCB is essentially looking for current imbalance between Line and Neutral. If there is an imbalance, it mostly likely means the residual current is flowing through a faulty equipment or worse through a human. When the difference current exceeds beyond the set threshold of 30mA(in this case) it should trip and disconnect both line and neutral conductors.

The tricky part here is that all equipments with a ground pin can have a leakage to earth. This may be well below the set threshold of 30mA. But if you add up all the equipments in the house, it can exceed the threshold and start tripping the RCCB, But this is typically very rare if all appliances are in good working order.
.................................................. .....................

Thanks @aramosfet for your detailed analysis and guidance on possible causes.

After a pause of few days, I got an electrician again today to look at the problem and we were able to at least find and isolate the issue. So, I owe the answer to the forum that someone can use someday.

As the individual breakers were not tripping and it was only the RCCB every time, we had almost concluded that there is an earth fault somewhere in the house that comes into play only on heavy loads. I had already changed RCCB so faulty RCCB was eliminated as a cause.

In the distribution box, there is a strip for earth connection from different circuits in the house. Electrician made a check for earth leakage current in each of those earth wires - he did this using a device (I think it was continuity tester) which lit up mildly on a particular wire indicating leakage current. I am not very sure of this step but in worst case we could have found this particular earth wire by way of elimination also. That would have been a bit tedious though.

Anyway, having found the culprit we isolated it from the strip and tested with full load - 3 geysers, 2 ACs and voila!! nothing tripped.

Next step was to find which area of house was this earth wire serving. This was easy using the continuity tester and we zeroed down to Master Bedroom. Electrician suggested to replace entire length which would be expensive and complex to do. I was somehow not convinced that it is due to a wiring in conduit going bad. Did not make sense given that it's earth wire and not load carrying wire.

My suspicion moved to our 1.5 ton LG ac which has been doing fabulous service without a service in 15 years
The outdoor unit is not accessible for any maintenance and I felt it is highly likely the earth fault is in outdoor unit which is exposed to all kind if things in 15 years. We could not verify though as it's not accessible and will need window grills to be removed. I could have pulled out the power plug point from inside but some genius during installation had hard wired the power supply into the wall socket wiring. And that was completely hidden behind the indoor unit now.

I'll get this checked soon and perhaps have the AC ODU serviced too but for now no more tripping in the house and all loads are normal.
Problem is pretty much solved.

[DriveOnceMore]

Hello Guys!

I am looking forward to taking possession of my new home in Pune in coming 3-4 months.
Started the search for furniture and almost finalized HomeLane for the job.
I wanted a single Point of Contact for the job and I don't want to run behind different persons to get the work done.

Has anyone recently tried their service?

My budget is MAX 10 lakhs.

Please guide. TIA.

[rajivr1612]

Hi Team,
Can anyone please suggest a good website that sells PPE equipments like safety gloves and goggles?
I am specifically looking for rubberised safety gloves to be used during my household chores.
I have small hands, and I am at my wits end trying to find size small on Amazon.
Any shops selling these in Chennai also will be helpful.

[d.w.w.]

Originally Posted by rajivr1612

Any shops selling these in Chennai also will be helpful.

There are many shops in Parrys, dont remember the exact street, but I find them on my way to Govindappa Naicken Steet (where they sell all the electrical stuff) from Beach railway station.

You can also check with Gen Junction at Parrys and Akkaarai (near ECR). I have seen some PPE on display here . These guys are very helpful, so you can just give them call and ask.

[kushagra452]

Hello Team BHPians

My friend has a plot of land in Sec 47 Gurgaon. He wants to start constructing a residential building primarily for rental income (also to stop paying ever increasing penalty to the govt every year + secure the plot from encroachment). The plot is about 270 sq yds in size. As per the Haryana Building by laws he can construct stilt parking + 3 floors. However, he is also allowed to construct a basement.

He is in a dilemma whether to go ahead with the construction of the basement. The cost of basement is ~20% of the total project cost.

Just for context: The plot is located bang opposite the upcoming IKEA Mall and metro station in sector 47. The plot is facing an open field (which might be used to construct a school/education institution in the future).

Any suggestions? Thanks.

[Ananthang]

Originally Posted by Rodie09

Thanks @aramosfet for your detailed analysis and guidance on possible causes.

After a pause of few days, I got an electrician again today to look at the problem and we were able to at least find and isolate.

Thanks a lot Rodie for this thread. I have exact same problem in my house in any point if I use a driller, water heater.

In my case it is new apartment and builder electrician is not able to find it. May be he is skilled but doesn’t have time to explore as the apartment is partially handed over and other works are happening.

He played around disconnecting Neutrals and simulated issue on a particular line but not able to close it clearly. So finally he blamed the RCCB and swapped it from another apartment which resolved it for 3 weeks.

Now the issue is back that even switching on fans or refrigerator was a problem. They blamed parallel high wattage work in apartment common area as it is reaching final handover. Many houses faced same issue in the morning but only for my house the issue is persisting, but totally random.

[casnov]

Originally Posted by rajivr1612

Hi Team,
Can anyone please suggest a good website that sells PPE equipments like safety gloves and goggles?
I am specifically looking for rubberised safety gloves to be used during my household chores.
I have small hands, and I am at my wits end trying to find size small on Amazon.
Any shops selling these in Chennai also will be helpful.

You can check out https://www.industrybuying.com

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by casnov

https://www.industrybuying.com

Current reputation? It was not good a few years ago.

I haven't looked for gloves, etc, but shops in Chennai... I'm sure the engineering/tools district of Parry's would have some, and it's always an interesting place to explore anyway.

[thanixravindran]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Current reputation? It was not good a few years ago.

I haven't looked for gloves, etc, but shops in Chennai... I'm sure the engineering/tools district of Parry's would have some, and it's always an interesting place to explore anyway.

I remember seeing some gloves in IBO OMR Padur recently. It is the erstwhile Decathlon store now taken up by IBO. I like their large format store with good display of all tiles, electrical, sanitary ware, plumbing, paints and tools and pick & bill experience. Prices are competitive and they accept all cards as well unlike regular hardware shops. I am not associated with them but it is quite convenient to walk around on your own and select.

[Rodie09]

Originally Posted by Ananthang

Thanks a lot Rodie for this thread. I have exact same problem in my house in any point if I use a driller, water heater.

In my case it is new apartment and builder electrician is not able to find it. May be he is skilled but doesn’t have time to explore as the apartment is partially handed over and other works are happening.

Hey @Ananthang

I learnt that these issues can be really tricky and difficult to isolate. Perhaps you should try what I wrote in below excerpt of my post. It surely looks like an earthing fault and you'll need to first narrow down to the faulty earth circuit and then isolate that particular appliance. Quoting below:

"In the distribution box, there is a strip for earth connection from different circuits in the house. Electrician made a check for earth leakage current in each of those earth wires - he did this using a device (I think it was continuity tester) which lit up mildly on a particular wire indicating leakage current. I am not very sure of this step but in worst case we could have found this particular earth wire by way of elimination also. That would have been a bit tedious though"

Hope that helps.

[PreludeSH]

Originally Posted by DriveOnceMore

Hello Guys!

I am looking forward to taking possession of my new home in Pune in coming 3-4 months.
Started the search for furniture and almost finalized HomeLane for the job.
I wanted a single Point of Contact for the job and I don't want to run behind different persons to get the work done.

Has anyone recently tried their service?

My budget is MAX 10 lakhs.

Please guide. TIA.

Its not assured thing regarding quality and aesthetics. One of my friend used their service and the designers have their own personal implementers who then use their own carpenters/factories to build furniture. Since it flows through multiple people, the end product might not be exactly of what you needed.

You have to keep a check on each and every step right from design to how its being created and what materials are being used. It might depend on who you are dealing with but you need to keep this in mind and be extra cautious all along.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by thanixravindran

IBO OMR Padur ... ... ... it is quite convenient to walk around on your own and select.

Google tells me this is just half an hour drive away from me. Looks great: I must make it an afternoon out.

[NammaTBHP]

Folks,

Need some input. We sold our apartment in Bangalore in November 2023 and are now looking to invest in land (as against another apartment) to avoid capital gains tax. We have identified a plot of land (North Bangalore) and if things go well, we will close out the transaction shortly. This land is quite far away from our current location and we have no plans of moving there at least for next 7-8 years (until after kids are done with their schooling).

Unfortunately, buying land is not good enough, as we need to construct something there to avoid any capital gains tax implications. In this context was thinking of constructing a very basic studio apartment type setup, that we could visit once in month or two. There will be no income generated out of this.

Prefab is an option to consider but do not know of any good builders (Tata group has Nest In / NestStudio but do not have a presence in Bangalore. Considering no underground parking or anything fancy, any idea what a basic/functional studio setup (600sq ft perhaps) cost?

[akhil_007]

Looking for recommendations for a good "Interior Designer" in Bangalore. I have reached out from my friends circle and references based on word of mouth,youtube etc. Almost every Interior company/Person I have reached out to are mostly "Interior Execution". They are ready to do whatever "I" want and if I ask them their inputs,they try to provide me "Storage/Cabinet/Bookshelf" recommendations.

But I am looking for an Interior Designer who understands my requirements, abstract thoughts,lifestyle, crazy ideas and then translate it to a Design. This should includes minute details like recommendations on decor/artifacts,curtains all the way till shades of paint, wardrobe design and artistic elements. The interior designer should be able to fill the gap of my lack of creativity

On a related note, is my requirement reasonable OR is the ask too high? Asking this question since everyone gives me weird looks if I mention this. The typical response being -"Its your house and you need to decide what you want"

Thanks in Advance