The electrical wiring in the place I live in is ... well - scary. It is old and done in a time with no reasonable regulations for this sort of thing.
Apart from not knowing if safety earth is connected in all places mandated by law, my problem with the wiring is the following:
In the kitchen and bathroom, there are electrical outlets in only one accessible place - on the incadescent lamps. It's for plugging in a hair dryer, toaster, that kind of stuff. Unfortunatelly, the bathroom one is also where the washing machine goes.
Since the circuit breaker is rated low, for lighting and not for high-power equipment, it trips in annoying situations. Every device plugged on its own is not enough to trip the breaker, but if you happen to be washing clothes and making toast at the same time - snap. The self-inductance at the moment the toaster or electrical water boiler stop (that's my theory anyways) manage to create a current spike that is just about enough to trip the breaker. There is no other situation in which it'll trip.
The toaster and the water boiler are very, very dumb devices, therefore I'm willing to blame it all on them. But I was wondering if there is anything I could do with the power socket, or the devices themselves, so I could avoid the on/off spikes which trip the breaker. Changing it is not an option - it's supposed to be low power and I prefer it stayed that way. Not to mention the amount of money I have to give to an electrician that knows what he's doing for a change.
That all is mostly out of curiosity, don't worry - I won't go stick a random object in the mains, just to see what happens
Apart from not knowing if safety earth is connected in all places mandated by law, my problem with the wiring is the following:
In the kitchen and bathroom, there are electrical outlets in only one accessible place - on the incadescent lamps. It's for plugging in a hair dryer, toaster, that kind of stuff. Unfortunatelly, the bathroom one is also where the washing machine goes.
Since the circuit breaker is rated low, for lighting and not for high-power equipment, it trips in annoying situations. Every device plugged on its own is not enough to trip the breaker, but if you happen to be washing clothes and making toast at the same time - snap. The self-inductance at the moment the toaster or electrical water boiler stop (that's my theory anyways) manage to create a current spike that is just about enough to trip the breaker. There is no other situation in which it'll trip.
The toaster and the water boiler are very, very dumb devices, therefore I'm willing to blame it all on them. But I was wondering if there is anything I could do with the power socket, or the devices themselves, so I could avoid the on/off spikes which trip the breaker. Changing it is not an option - it's supposed to be low power and I prefer it stayed that way. Not to mention the amount of money I have to give to an electrician that knows what he's doing for a change.
That all is mostly out of curiosity, don't worry - I won't go stick a random object in the mains, just to see what happens
Ah for the water heater I meant that little thing that boils 1-2 liters of water in under 2 minutes, not the big devices.
They might be resistive loads, but there's enough looped wire in both of them to cause a spike at the moment they switch off, isn't there? A current spike, just enough to trip the breaker, even?
I mean, normally I'd assume the device, say the toaster, is just faulty, but it's a couple of them and they work ok otherwise, so I don't think that is the case.
They might be resistive loads, but there's enough looped wire in both of them to cause a spike at the moment they switch off, isn't there? A current spike, just enough to trip the breaker, even?
I mean, normally I'd assume the device, say the toaster, is just faulty, but it's a couple of them and they work ok otherwise, so I don't think that is the case.
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