Earth leakage tripping precisely every two hours.

[magron]

Hi all,
I'm new to the group, I have a electrical problem at my house, I will give you a bit of history and will try try to keep it short.
My problem started with an underground cable fault which was tripping at the municipal meter box outside my property, a contractor was assigned to fix the problem, a "thumper fault locator" was called in and the cable was bridged with aluminum cable ? My problem now is that my earth leakage is tripping on my DB precisely every two hours, 33 minutes past the hour, 5-33, 7-33 9-33 etc., I actually stand in front of the DB ready to reset the earth leakage which stays up till exactly two hours time, this has been constant for the last 3 days. this problem was not there before the work was carried out on the supply cable I'm waiting for the contractor to return to look at it but I was wondering if anyone could shed some light on this problem ??
Regards
magron

[GCE]

To be so consistent on the 33rd minute I very much doubt it will be supply cable.

It must be something that is on a timer , delay timer to start, and on resetting the earth leakage it begins the countdown for 2 hours before switching on again to only trip and start the cycle.

On the next trip , leave it tripped for 10 minutes and see if it still trips on the 33rd minute or is it now forward by 10min.

To me it sounds like a fridge or freezer defrost cycle kicking in , or something similar

[magron]

Hi GCE,
The Contractors have just been to fit a temporary cable so will wait and see what happens. Regarding the timing of the trips, as you are aware, load shedding does not always adhere to the timetable, so let's say the load shedding kicks in at 10-15am and comes back on at 12-20pm, I can guarantee that the earth leakage will trip at 13-33, the odd thing is that its always on the odd hour, never an even hour.

[GCE]

I would try unplugging fridge , freezer etc - Is about the only thing that I can think would be constant
Does not make sense though to be so consistent

Do you have ripple relays fitted by municipality for geyser control

Maybe post a pic of your D/Board , might just see something

Be interesting when it is eventually tracked down

[magron]

Will let you know as soon as power is restored in the area, we had load shedding but now a damaged cable in the area !!

[Dylboy]

Hello : )

Yes I second the fridge or freezer etc. It could be when the compressor kicks in.

Keep us posted please : )

Sent from my CPH2197 using Tapatalk

[magron]

Hello : )

Yes I second the fridge or freezer etc. It could be when the compressor kicks in.

Keep us posted please : )

Sent from my CPH2197 using Tapatalk

I will keep you posted, I still don't have power due to an area fault.

[Derlyn]

Interesting fault.

You will need to use a process of elimination.

If this problem persists, you will need to eliminate all your appliances by unplugging them ALL 10 min before tripping time. Remember it doesn't help just switching them off. You need to unplug them so that the neutral is also disconnected. At least then you will know if it's an appliance or not.

A friend of mine had an earth leakage that would trip at 2am each morning. It took us 3 days by a process of elimination to establish that it was a faulty earth leakage. Replaced unit, problem solved.

I'm leaning towards agreeing with GCE on this one.

[magron]

Well my problem has gone, since the suspected faulty cable was bypassed with a temporary above ground cable the tripping has stopped, I am completly baffled and will probably go to my grave not knowing what the problem was but I would like to thank everybody for their suggestions