Pete Posted January 14, 2021 Share Posted January 14, 2021 We fitted two ovens in our kitchen which was lucky as one did not work so had to rely on one only. Just to explain we bought a load of Gaggenau appliances from Ebay ( over 18 months ago) and all have worked as expected. I tested them when I got them home just to see if they switched on which they did. The kitchen was fitted 12 months ago and we moved in this xmas. The oven in question turned on ok and my son did all the settings and everything was tickedy boo. When we came to actually use the oven it tripped and due to the time of year I left it until now. So today I got the oven out and had a look at it. The oven is on a 4mm radial circuit and that circuit works fine until the isol switch is made. I have a flex that I can connect to a reel so I could isol the oven and see if the fault is from the oven. I connected this up, L and N only and it works ok. Just by luck I decided to try and connect another cable that had an earth cable and this then tripped the CU. So just to clarify, oven trips when hard wired and when isol the radial circuit works fine. When I connect a bit of flex up just using L/N it is ok but when I connect L/N and earth it trips. I tried the extension reel with the flex on both sides of my CU and it still trips out so has anybody got any ideas or is it a case of getting engineer out as I could ring Gaggenau tech tomo but I am not sure what they will say over the phone apart from getting an engineer out? My mate who could find and fix the fault is not back from France till June so I suppose I could wait till then although SWMBO might not be as keen on this idea as me!! You can see the oven is brand new and never been used, was all wrapped up when we went and got the thing but obviously there is no warranty. We saved a massive amount of money overall so it is not the end of the world if we have to go down the engineer route. TIA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyT Posted January 14, 2021 Share Posted January 14, 2021 Do you have RCD/RCBO’s? it’s possibly tripping due to moisture in the elements, so if you were able to run it off a temp supply via a circuit breaker it may resolve the problem Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted January 14, 2021 Share Posted January 14, 2021 Stop right there and call an electrician who will test the wiring and test the oven. Connecting a possibly faulty appliance witout an earth is potentially very dangerous (pun intended) Any competent electrician should be able to sort this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyT Posted January 14, 2021 Share Posted January 14, 2021 I didn’t say remove earth, I said supply it off a non rcd circuit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted January 14, 2021 Author Share Posted January 14, 2021 16 minutes ago, TonyT said: Do you have RCD/RCBO’s? it’s possibly tripping due to moisture in the elements, so if you were able to run it off a temp supply via a circuit breaker it may resolve the problem Why would it have moisture in the elements? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyT Posted January 14, 2021 Share Posted January 14, 2021 Just that they absorb moisture, and have never been used since testing in the factory so if you have an RCD/RCBO it thinks the circuit is in fault and trips. maybe a fan heater pointed in the oven for a while may help dry it out enough to operate. Failing that get a sparks in as per ProDave’s advice 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick1c Posted January 14, 2021 Share Posted January 14, 2021 We had a steam oven & regular oven in a container for 2 years. When they were finally put in our new house the steam oven tripped it’s rcbo & the main element in the other one wasn’t working. By a quirk of fate I found the number of the (ex as it turned out) Gaggenau engineer who had come to our last house. He was helpful & said that steam ovens often trip & elements go after storage due to moisture - due to electronics in the steam oven & the material in elements being hygroscopic, eventually causing a short if damp enough, this isn’t a problem in normal use as the heat from using the ovens drys them out. Having turned the steam oven back on at the board a couple of times it was fine. The other oven needed a repair to anoint in a relay & a new element - total cost £90. This was done by a local electrical repair man - I am sure a gaggenau engineer wouldn’t get out of bed for that...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFDIY Posted January 14, 2021 Share Posted January 14, 2021 I've had this, oven in a rented property, working fine, property unoccupied for 6 months over winter, new Tennant comes in, oven turns on and trips. Father-in-law suggested moisture absorbed into element, I was dubious, but it was on an rcd circuit and it was RCD tripping not the circuit breaker. I just kept turning it on and eventually it dried out. Other option is remove the appliance, sit it on a workmate in the garden, supply it with an extension lead off a non RCD circuit (operate wearing gloves/rubber boot and don't touch the case to keep everyone happy) and let it bake for a good few hours. Chances are it will dry out and be fine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Temp Posted January 14, 2021 Share Posted January 14, 2021 3 hours ago, Pete said: When I connect a bit of flex up just using L/N it is ok but when I connect L/N and earth it trips. As others have said... That sounds like a fault between live or Neutral and Earth In the oven. The RCD is detecting the fault and tripping to save your life as its designed to do. With the earth disconnected its not able to do that. Devicex with heating elements like ovens, toasters, hir dryers are notorious for earth leaks and trips. I had to replace both elements in our oven as they warped and cracked in five or six years. Check any light bulbs in the oven are working as sometimes when they blow they can cause a similar issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted January 15, 2021 Share Posted January 15, 2021 13 hours ago, TonyT said: I didn’t say remove earth, I said supply it off a non rcd circuit. Sory it was the OP talking about connecting it without an earth I was refering to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted January 25, 2021 Author Share Posted January 25, 2021 Sitrep on the oven guys. Finally had a look over the w/e and decided to try disconnecting the earth ( I have a fair bit of elec knowledge @ProDaveso I knew what I was doing)and try heating the elements one by one to see if it was moisture that was causing the problem. Well it worked even though the oven had been in the new kitchen for over 12 months I still find it hard to understand how there was still moisture in the elements. Great news though as these appliance repair engineers can charge and guess who is flavour of the month with SWMBO!! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpmiller Posted January 26, 2021 Share Posted January 26, 2021 the insulating powder in the elements is hygroscopic. Same with Pyro cable. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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