Earth leakage tripping when plug in snake rack

[MattyN]

Hi guys

I recently built a snake rack which uses 2 x 30watt heat cable. No matter where I plug it in my flat the earth leakage keeps tripping after about 30mins or so or as the wire heats up. With this happening I decided to plug it into a plug where I disconnected everything else and it ran fine for the night but when switched kettle on in morning it tripped. Would this be due to overloading the breaker ?

[AndyD]

It's much more likely the snake heater or whatever it is has got an insulation fault which is causing the earth leakage to trip. You'll need to get an electrician in or someone who has a megger tester to test it and replace the faulty part.

[MattyN]

I decided to change the plug last night and ran it whole night without a trip. Hoping a faulty plug was the issue. Time will tell.

[AndyD]

Plug? I'm not sure how the plug could be the culprit, highly unlikely.

[MattyN]

Only thing I have really changed and had 2 days with no trouble at all. Usually it takes 30 mins and trips

[AndyD]

You occasionally get heating elements that cause earth leakage tripping if they're either new or if they haven't been used in a long time. The mica filling in an element tube is hygroscopic and when the element is hot for some time it sometimes dries out any moisture that's been absorbed and the tripping fault miraculously disappears.

[MattyN]

Awesome. Thanks for the help.

[Sparks]

Could also be the cable was being pinched at the plug entry to the point where the insulation might not have been what it should be. This could also be the cause, especially if the end of the cable was cut off before fitting a new plug which applied less pressure. If this is the case I would consider a thicker cable on the appliance.