electrical help needed

[richard1951]

Hi all
I know this is nothing to do with the cars but there are some very clever people on hear and this is realy confusing me .

I need some advice please and it is quite complicated so please bare with me



i live on a boat and have mains to it at 32 amp

I also have a generator rated at 14 kv and also fused at 32 amp



there is a controle systen that dictates manualy where the supply is coming from , gen , or frount or rear plug in on the boat.Now everything is working properly except the cooker , and this has always been wired in so it could only get supply from the gen, as usualy supplys from marina is only 16 a and not enough for the cooker.

i have reconfigered iit so now i have the increased supply from shore i can use the cooker without having to run a gen as it is so expensive when you just want to slow cook things .



Right now the prob comes in when i swich on the power to land line it blows the trip , i thought it was something that was cross wired and shorting but just gone through everything again and everything is fine tracing and disconecting all the tracks i have got power to the cooker switch from the mains and it will work the 13a plug on same with red warning light on , but as soon as i switch the cooker main switch on it blows the fuse and that is with everything switched off on cooker .

If i select the gen everything works fine and it is only with the land supply it does this

the fan oven fan is u/s and i am waiting for a new one but i just cant see why it works with gen and not with land supply

Any ideares please as i am pulling my hair out

Richard

[artful.codger]

Just a thought, is the gen totally isolated from the switch when not selected, by which I mean both positive and negative poles are physically disconnected from the cooker?

[richard1951]

yes via a three possition switch 3 in one out and the gen is not running .
i did wonder that so i selected the land line possition before switching the cooker on at the wall
in the morning i will run a lead straight from outside plug to the cooker to see what happens

[Charless]

When you say fuse do you mean modern RCD?
I have a slow blow on my house RCD from the oven fan which takes a minute or two with the oven running to upset the RCD. It is just gradual leakage to ground from a knackered old fan, I but will be replacing it all shortly, so use a gas BBQ in the meantime. Sounds like your generator wouldn't be sensitive to the ground leakage where shore supply would.

[talkingcars]

Get an electricain in.

edit: because I am concerned that the OP should be playing with mains electricity.

[richard1951]

well funny you should say that as the controle panal says polarity wrong and also right but always has .
but when i checked it is all correct but both red and green lights come on when gen is running and selected.
yes Charless they are RCDbut what i cant understand is why is everything else working lights electric fires it is only cooker and even the plug on the cooker switch works i just had deep fat fryer in only blows when i through the big switch to the cooker
Richard

[Charless]

That is because the RCD is very sensitive to a tiny current leakage between both, but particularly the neutral polarity to ground. The ground will not be so referenced on your generator cct, but more so with the shore supply.

[xm607]

That is because the RCD is very sensitive to a tiny current leakage between both, but particularly the neutral polarity to ground. The ground will not be so referenced on your generator cct, but more so with the shore supply.

Hi,
If you have a electrical test meter you could check if the cookers neutral and the earth are shorted out or have a resistance between them, your cooker must be switched off at the wall cooker point and disconected,
I can not stress enough that IF YOU ARE NOT SHORE ABOUT THE TASK, GET A QUALIFIED ELECTRICAN to look at it.
Sorry for shouting but mains electiricty can kill you.

Regards,
Steve.

[richard1951]

well i must admit i am not sure how to do this and never was good with test meters .
iv blown several up .
i am compitant with circuits and electronics and wow to do and have rewired houses and all the wiring on the boat i have done . there is over 3 miles of wire on hear and i know what and where it is
First step today is to run a lead from the land line to the cooker direct just to rule out the componants etc between

[talkingcars]

F YOU ARE NOT SHORE ABOUT THE TASK,

Intended pun?

[tanamana]

Naaah - he's not THAT clever........
*ducks and covers*

[Geoff.F]

Ok. Somewhere you have a short to Earth. It is not before the Cooker Switch Box (or you would not have had some chips in the fryer from the Socket).
The most common leakage on a cooker is from the elements. Ensure they are all Off.
If you feel confident then disconnect the feed cable at the cooker, the connections to the element switches and the connections from the switches to the elements. Wrap any bare connections with insulating tape and the start reconnecting the connections in reverse order testing the switch at each reconnection until it trips. viz. rebuild the cooker until the faulty bit is connected.
Geoff F

[richard1951]

yes Geof it is prob that and as the fan oven fan is not working , but 1) i cant remember if the fan would still run when that oven was switched off meaning it was not conected to the reostat for oven but everything is off ( and Ruth is not allowd to use it or do any cooking , she can only do soup. and 2 ) the thing that confuses me most is that it will not blow Rcb on the gen that works ok and even runs the cooker , not tryed the fan oven but other two and all the rings and griddle do . as both have 32a fuse i would have expected the gen to kick out as well.
It is such a job to get behind it that i have ordered a new fan and when it comes on monday will fit it and check all the rest.
I will also add it is a new cooker and although it has been in the boat for 5 years i think it can not have done more than 50 hr use .
Richard

[tanamana]

( and Ruth is not allowd to use it or do any cooking )

Good ! - Now all you need to completely fubar the system is a dishwasher.

F*cked Up Beyond All Repair.

[richard1951]

i got one , you. and i already started saving the dishes up for your next visit lol thank god for belfast sinks you can get a months dishes in them ......

[tanamana]

Yes - but anything 'dropped' in a belfast sink does tend to shatter, you know.

[talkingcars]

well i must admit i am not sure how to do this and never was good with test meters .
iv blown several up .
i am compitant with circuits and electronics and wow to do and have rewired houses and all the wiring on the boat i have done . there is over 3 miles of wire on hear and i know what and where it is
First step today is to run a lead from the land line to the cooker direct just to rule out the componants etc between

RICHARD - IF YOU ARE NOT COMPITANT USING A TEST METER YOU ARE NOT COMPITANT TO DO WIRING ON A HOUSE (even a floating one)

GET A QUILIFIED ELECTRICIAN!

[richard1951]

i can use to test circuits and basic things but on appliances not sure what to do internaly i have rewired 2 houses in past and fitted ring mains and spurs , i also am a grade 3 nokia repairer and know what i am do ing with mobile phones but mainly coz it is told what to do and what readings to expect but other than telling if there is a short on the cooker i would not know what i was looking for and where to test for things that are hidden in very inexcesable places.

[richard1951]

all sorted now . it was the fan , it was not u/s and i now have a spair, what had happened was that there is a big 6in bladed fan in oven and on the outer side which is outside the oven a small fan blade to cool the motor , this had picked up a poss wire that went to the hobs and choped it in half and wrapped round the shaft , i tidied the ends up and joined up again and now all is fine
Richard

[tanamana]

I smell a roast dinner approaching.
Well done that man.
Hope it doesn't happen again.