Bread making machine tripping out

[Rossluck]

SWMBO recently bought a bread making machine from a garage sale. It was in good condition and had barely been used, but tripped out our earth leakage CB halfway through its run. I suggested that she throw it out, which she did.

But recently her mother gave her another one, which had been well tested and was known to work well. Same story. When the process reaches the stage when the element kicks in to cook the bread, it trips our ELCB.

Has anyone else experienced this?

[Big Shed]

I'm not an electrician

Having got that out of the way, if 2 different bread machines trip your safety switch it would suggest it is your powerpoint/circuit that has a problem, not the bread machine.

Have you tried plugging in another appliance, such as a fan/bar heater? If that doesn't trip and it is of a similar rating to the bread machine, then I think it is time to test the bread machine on another circuit. If that also trips, then you could have another dud bread machine.

My Remington bread machine is rated at 750W, not a particularly high load for a domestic power point, but if you already have other loads on the same circuit then the additional load could trip the safety switch if the total load exceeds the safe limit.

[Simomatra]

Its quite common with appliances with elements in them that are not sealed correctly. As an electrician I have cured the problem by heating the element in a workshop on a non protected source, when the element get cherry red and all the moisture has been driven out the I seal the end with either super glue or red silicone. This prevents the moisture being sucked back into the element when it cools thus causing the path for tripping

This should only be attempted by a person who is competent with this sort of task and all electrical safety should be followed

[Big Shed]

You'd have be pretty stiff to get 2 bread machines in a row that had a leaking element. We have a total of 5 bread machines in the family, also several friends have a bread machine, none of those trip the safety switch.

Statistically you'd have to guess it would be external to the bread machine.

[Rossluck]

I had a look inside the thing and there's a plastic insulator between the element and the metal lining. I sprayed a bit of WD40 around it and SWMBO tried a shorter cycle. Something worked because she was successful.

It shouldn't be the wiring in this house. We had a new board installed a few years ago for our three phase air conditioner. We've never had any trouble and I havn't really even suspected a house wiring problem. We did try a different power point.

I'm with Simomatra on this.

[Simomatra]

Ross as a marine electrician where they monitor earth leakage by meter all the time, elements are a never ending source of leakage. Once we heated and sealed the elements then no problems. You don't need much leakage to trip your ELCB

[Smurf]

Agreed it sounds like a damp element. Elements are always trouble with RCD's unless they are either in constant (daily) usage or are sealed.

(Yes I'm an electrician)

[ljcox]

Our dishwasher started tripping the earth leakage circuit breaker after about 9 years of use. However, I assume it was not simply a damp element as it was designed for the dishwasher and is used daily. Perhaps the metal cover developed some small holes that let the water in.

I replaced the element and have had no further problems.

Len

[Simomatra]

Standard run of play for the dishwasher the little pin holes are caused by the heating and the chemical reaction. A good run for 9 years