electric fence issue

[cornish wood burner]

And the remedy for this would be what, would running line out instead of the line wire be the solution also an additional earth stake knocked in I'm thinking.

 

Certainly both worth a try. I'm not familiar with the circuit but that makes sense as all the live current needs to be picked up presumably by the earth stakes otherwise you will have an inbalance between pos and neg which will as you know will trip the RCD. Assuming you have an RCD fault of course. Another thing as already suggested is a mains wiring

fault such as interchanged negative and earth.

[C.J]

I would investigate the mains side of the energiser not the high voltage output.

 

I've been thinking some more.

 

If what you think is happening , (with the bare wire and the water in the pipe) ,it should not be a problem , because the current would return to ground in the same way as an animal getting a shock.

 

But if your energiser was poorly earthed (fence earth) and the mains earth was more efficient,the current from the fence would not return via the energiser and the RCD would see an imbalance and trip.

 

How have you connected the earth terminal on the output side of the energiser ?

[farmer rod]

Is the energiser indoors or out?

[cornish wood burner]

TBH I can see an RCD not liking a fencer, all that stray voltage floating around is a recipe for tripping problems. Have you had other units on RCDs?

Do the installation changes and checks already discussed. They could solve your problem. Check for water ingress into the unit if outside as farmer rod is probably thinking.

If they normally work on protected circuits and all else fails then get an electrician in. I wouldn't want to tell him his job but I expect he will check the following.

The unit and wiring to it, presumably new?

The RCD itself could be over sensitive. They often trip too quickly

Check the negative is not floating relative to earth, or has a few volts on it. For this application it might

make a difference.

Any other appliance on the circuit, you might have tipped the balance.

I would be interested in the final solution BTW.

[NFG]

Hi,

 

You have to break it down by working out where the problem may be, for example:

 

If practical next time it trips, I would disconnect the electric fence unit & put the separate cable ends in poly bags to insulate them.

 

Then see if the trip re-sets.

 

If it dosnt the problem is on the supply cable, if it does reset OK it may not be the cable.

 

 

N

[chris1000]

It's propably connected to the lightning conductor. As soon as the rain is moistening the earth around the house, the energiser's voltage is being transported directly into the electric circuit.

[Robbyrasta]

Is the earth stakes as far away from the building as practically possible?

 

Not sure if this could cause your problems- just what I was advised to do when doing an electric fence.

[drinksloe]

U could always disconnect the feed under the gate esp on a rainy day (or go up with some buckets of water) and see wot happens.

But seen loads of farmers fences done like that and done odd 1's myself.

(would the water not be insulated inside the alky pipe?)

 

No idea about the rcd stuff way above my pay grade

[danp89zz]

Hi,

 

You have to break it down by working out where the problem may be, for example:

 

If practical next time it trips, I would disconnect the electric fence unit & put the separate cable ends in poly bags to insulate them.

 

Then see if the trip re-sets.

 

If it dosnt the problem is on the supply cable, if it does reset OK it may not be the cable.

 

 

N

 

Do this ^^

 

Id say you have some water ingress or a fault on the unit. Have a look and make sure all the connections are water tight and aren't full of water.

 

RCDs work on imbalance and detect earth faults.

 

MCBs detect shorts and over loads.

 

As for the earth stake the impedance would get lower when it rains.

 

Hope this helps

[Farmer Tom]

If the energiser's plugged into a mains socket in the house it might be worth plugging it into one of those RCDs which plug into a house socket. In my experience ( a rogue tumbledrier) they trip before the house one would.

Not a solution, but could reduce the stress on the householder while the problem is being found.

 

edit:

this sort of thing:-

http://www.screwfix.com/p/masterplug-rcd-adaptor/63731?kpid=63731&cm_mmc=Google-_-Product%20Listing%20Ads-_-Sales%20Tracking-_-sales%20tracking%20url&gclid=Cj0KEQiA9P7FBRCtoO33_LGUtPQBEiQAU_tBgOt02iZDptn80dtsJfhQKhtcjD7bgOW-7uf_aC2gUy8aAtoh8P8HAQ

 

 

 

 

 

Oh Bollox, just spotted the date of the original post.......

Edited March 8, 2017 by Farmer Tom