An Overview Of RCD Tripping – Everything That’s Essential To Know

by Avadhesh Sharma SEO Analyst

RCD or residual current device is a device that breaks up an electrical circuit as fast as possible, to prevent any serious injury that may happen due to an electric shock. RCD tripping is a common phenomenon among many households in many places across the world. The main reason as to why RCD trips is a huge topic to be covered.

The main reasons as to why a circuit breaker would trip can be further classified into 3 broad spectra: a ground fault, a circuit overload, or a short circuit.

Ground Fault:

Ground fault mostly tends to happen when there’s an active or hot wire which comes in contact with that of a grounded area of an appliance, the ground wire, or a grounded portion of a junction box.

Hotwires are mostly black and neutral wire which is mostly white, while ground wires are usually green in color. When any contact happens between a ground wire and a hot wire, it results in a huge amount of current which passes through the circuit breaker, which mainly causes it to trip.

Circuit Overload:

Circuit often becomes susceptible to be overloaded when an electrical circuit or a wire gets more amperage than it can handle or for what it was initially designed to handle. Another reason for this can be corrosion or any loose wires and connections.

When any circuit generally trips, due to an overload, the best and easiest solution is to disconnect the present load from a circuit that got tripped and also placing it on a different circuit altogether for more electrical power. A residual current trip test will make it evident the main reason for the tripping.

Short Circuit:

A short circuit is a commonly heard term that mostly happens when any active or hot electrical wire comes in direct contact with that of a neutral wire. This results in a large number of electrical currents to flow and overrun the circuit. A short circuit mostly causes sparks, trips, make popping sounds, blow up a fuse, or causes some smoke.

Some other reasons why short circuits can happen in any household is due to the damage from cuts by animals chewing on wires, a stripped wire, loose connections, or by Bad electrical switches or bad and not working properly electric cords.

Steps To Follow To Understand Why The RCD Tripped And Finding A Suitable Solution Accordingly –

Below mentioned are a few steps that you should be following whenever you think or assume the RCD has tripped –

• The first thing to do is to turn off any switches present next to the RCD

• The next step will be to switch on the RCD. It might be a little hard to achieve it at the very first go, But after a few continuous tries, you will be able to finally switch it on.

• Then very carefully to turn on all the circuits back on, but one at a time.

• The next step is the most important one. It is to identify which one of the circuits is causing the problem within the system.

• Once you find out the circuit which is causing the problem Pull out all the plugs of the appliances that are connected to the problematic circuit.

• Carefully switch on the RCD again. If it switches on then try plugging in your appliances one at a time. When one trips the RCD, then you have found the main culprit which is causing the problem within the system.

• After this, you're mostly left with two choices, either you can choose to keep the item off to immediately solve the issue or the other thing is you can plug it into any other socket. The majority of the time the fault might be from a wonky or bad conditioned socket. So this option is available to you.

• Contact Resistance Test/ Ductor Test to find out more about the issue.

Things To Keep In Mind

If even after trying all these methods you continue to face the problem it is highly advised to call in for a well-equipped electrician who will be able to understand the problem altogether and help you get quick relief from it.

In most cases, fuses and circuit Breakers are initially installed within the electric circuit to prevent you from facing any malfunction or electrical issue within the system.

It actually can be a little frustrating when a fuse completely blows off or a circuit breaker trips, but it generally indicates problems and protect from any further damage that could have happened which might be of a greater length.

When it comes to dealing with electrical equipment and electrical system within the area you need to be extra careful about whatever you are touching.

Most people remain completely oblivious of how current and electricity passes therefore the end of the day hurting themselves.

Do not repair any electrical equipment or electrical cords unless you are authorized or qualified to do so. It can prove out to be extremely harmful otherwise.

Always wear protective gear whenever necessary and maintain cautious behavior when working near or nearby the electricity.

It is of utmost importance to immediately consult a well equipped and proper electrician whenever you are dealing with any electrical appliance that has malfunctioned and is wet.