I am a UK resident with an overactive RCD between my electricity meter and my consumer box.
After a recent break in the electricity supply to the entire street, my RCD's started buzzing and at certain times of the day won't let me connect anything that draws any significant amount of power (fridge, cooker, kettle, etc) without tripping the supply.
Even when the RCD is in the 'off' position and all the fuses are removed from the consumer unit, the RCD continues to buzz and refuses to re-set. Surely this isn't right?
This problem is at its worst around breakfast time and in the early evening.
This morning the RCD tripped the power at the same time as the next door neighbour switched on her vacuum cleaner. This happened twice in succession. I doubt the neighbours are to blame, but I wonder - Might I have a faulty RCD? or Could this be caused by a low voltage supply? or Is the RCD just doing it's job?
I'm working on a tight budget so I'd really rather not have to call in a qualified electrician to replace the RCD if the RCD's not really faulty! So far my electricity supplier's rather unhelpfully said that the problem's up to me to fix because the RCD's downstream of my meter.
I thought I'd draw a few diagrams to see if it helps understand what I'm dealing with:
1) The basics: