Good Afternoon,
I have recently opened a gym, and when I switch-on the main gym lighting it trips the 30mA breaker.
This is an intermittent fault, and there is no particular pattern to when it happens.
The gym has eight spotlights and twenty-four other fluorescent lights.
Can anyone advise why this is happening please?
Thanks.
Gym Lighting Tripping Breaker
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GymOwnerJB
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Neelix
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Gym Lighting Tripping Breaker
Electrical fault. You need to find a competent local spark.
How old is the installation and did you get in electrical installation tested before you opened ?
How old is the installation and did you get in electrical installation tested before you opened ?
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GymOwnerJB
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Gym Lighting Tripping Breaker
It's only been open since last November, and it was tested when we opened.
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ericmark
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Gym Lighting Tripping Breaker
I in 1992, when returning to the UK, found the RCD was a problem, as we do not switch the neutral, it is also affected by spikes. Over the years, there have been attempts to improve the RCD, the X-pole has an RCM (Residual current monitoring device) built in, there have even been auto resetting, but in the main, the best option seems to be to have less protected by each RCD, so the RCBO (RCD and MCB combined) seems to be the best idea to reduce nuisance tripping. Together with the SPD to remove spikes.
We have three tools to help with nuisance tripping. One is the RCD tester, I found early on, even the strain on the terminal screws can affect how sensitive the RCD is, so when fitting they should always be tested, they should trip at 30 mA but not at 15 mA so in the main, if they pass the latter test, then background leakage is likely low, but we should actually test the background leakage, which should be no more than 9 mA, for this we use the clamp on ammeter. Clearly we can't do that if not powered up, so the third meter in our arsenal is the insulation tester, it is important it is used neutral to earth, as well as line to earth, as many switches don't switch the neutral.
The problem I had for years was my clamp on meter measured in increments of 0.01 amps, or 10 mA, so it had exceeded the limit before I could measure it, I now have one which will measure 1 mA AC or DC,
but only had it a couple or years, so it was a bit hit-and-miss.
The rules for commercial premises are in theory the same as domestic, but I note with commercial EICR can fail due to lack of SPD, and poor division of the installation, the rule book as far back as 2008 has said
"(iii) take account of danger that may arise from the failure of a single circuit such as a lighting circuit
(iv) reduce the possibility of unwanted tripping of RCDs due to excessive protective conductor currents produced by equipment in normal operation"
So in domestic we would not fail (give a code C2) for lack of SPD or using a consumer unit with only 2 RCD's, but with commercial we might. Even having all lights on the same RCBO could be considered a danger, however in the main, we would have emergency lights anyway, so tripping of the RCD/RCBO would not cause a danger.
There is an argument that an electrician is not a fire prevention officer or a safety officer, so he should limit his inspection to electrical danger only.
Clearly the fluorescent fittings are only temporary, and will need changing, as the tubes are being withdrawn, and it would seem likely one of those fitting is faulty, so maybe bringing forward their replacement is the way to go. With 24 fluorescent fittings I would hope not all on the same switch, as the inrush could cause problems.
We have three tools to help with nuisance tripping. One is the RCD tester, I found early on, even the strain on the terminal screws can affect how sensitive the RCD is, so when fitting they should always be tested, they should trip at 30 mA but not at 15 mA so in the main, if they pass the latter test, then background leakage is likely low, but we should actually test the background leakage, which should be no more than 9 mA, for this we use the clamp on ammeter. Clearly we can't do that if not powered up, so the third meter in our arsenal is the insulation tester, it is important it is used neutral to earth, as well as line to earth, as many switches don't switch the neutral.
The problem I had for years was my clamp on meter measured in increments of 0.01 amps, or 10 mA, so it had exceeded the limit before I could measure it, I now have one which will measure 1 mA AC or DC,
- Diffrence line neutral 8 Feb 24 reduced.jpg (9.73 KiB) Viewed 313 times
The rules for commercial premises are in theory the same as domestic, but I note with commercial EICR can fail due to lack of SPD, and poor division of the installation, the rule book as far back as 2008 has said
"(iii) take account of danger that may arise from the failure of a single circuit such as a lighting circuit
(iv) reduce the possibility of unwanted tripping of RCDs due to excessive protective conductor currents produced by equipment in normal operation"
So in domestic we would not fail (give a code C2) for lack of SPD or using a consumer unit with only 2 RCD's, but with commercial we might. Even having all lights on the same RCBO could be considered a danger, however in the main, we would have emergency lights anyway, so tripping of the RCD/RCBO would not cause a danger.
There is an argument that an electrician is not a fire prevention officer or a safety officer, so he should limit his inspection to electrical danger only.
Clearly the fluorescent fittings are only temporary, and will need changing, as the tubes are being withdrawn, and it would seem likely one of those fitting is faulty, so maybe bringing forward their replacement is the way to go. With 24 fluorescent fittings I would hope not all on the same switch, as the inrush could cause problems.