pt1188

I am looking for an electrician for my house in CE and would be grateful for any current recommendations. A previous post from 2014 mentioned Matthieu who I contacted but sadly he's no longer living in the area. The source of my problem seems to be the oven which when switched on trips the whole house electricity, not just that particular RCD, so I'm not even sure if it is the oven at fault as it has worked fine in the past and does warm up a little before tripping. I have also isolated the load on that particular fuse so that nothing else is switched on but it still happens.

Any recommendations will be appreciated.

Peter
PS I am also looking to install some mosquito screens - anyone know of reliable local installers? I have contacted Ayatoldos who came round to measure but so far not much communication for almost two weeks so I'm not too impressed. Or is that quite normal in this part of Spain?

maverik

Local spanish Guy, speals a little bit English: 615887835 . Try to contact through Whatapp

maverik

Found another Eletricity guy ; 620603249 Antonio Leon

pt1188

Thanks so much Maverik, I'll Whatsapp them straightaway.

Regards

Peter

keithBT

Hi Peter, If you have the "standard" Aspes brand matching oven and hob the same as supplied to Marina Esuri, then I can guarantee that the bottom element in the oven will have failed. This means the conductor inside the element has earth leakage causing the main RCD to trip. I know because mine did it immediately after purchase of the flat. I ended up with a faulty one because Fadesa moved them around rather than fix the fault. I ordered a replacement from the electrical retailer up the side street near the petrol station on the Muelle do Portugal. Element was about 15e. Simple job to change for a diyer. HOWEVER, in my honest opinion the ovens are junk !! I bought a new hob and a new FAN oven made by Neff. Both are fantastic and save on energy. The Aspes conventional oven took half an hour to get really hot whereas the fan oven is hot in just five mins. Plus it cooks much more evenly. Hence, I would recommend replacing rather than wasting money on someone coming out to change the element. It will be two visits. One to assess and get the model number, plus a return visit to actually change it having ordered the part. I doubt you will get any change out of 70e. My new Neff one was about 180e on offer from Leroy Merlin in Huelva and my wife is delighted with it. Bonus !! NB. I used to be a qualified engineer and electrician in my working life many moons ago.

keithBT

Oooops Peter. I just realised its now five years since I bought the neff oven on offer at LM. Time has flown by. I just checked LM website and prices have gone up a lot. That said I've often seen single fan ovens on promotion there, usually on the end of an isle at the back of the store saying Offerta. The one I bought was a discontinued model. They had the new model as well but that was about 80e more expensive and the only difference was the design of the Knobs on the front panel. You might have to visit and seek out a bargain !! The offertas in store don't seem to be on the standard website offering ?

pt1188

Wow that's a comprehensive reply Keith, thanks! I'm packing my multimeter to check on the heating elements and will have a go at changing it myself it that proves to be the problem (which I suspected myself). Funny enough my original Aspes oven worked perfectly, heating up in no time at all. I've checked the model number and Amazon.es sells it for around 17e. Worth a shot a diy repair at that price.
Appreciate you sharing your experience, I'll let you know how it goes next week when I'm there.
Cheers
Peter

pt1188

Just out of interest Keith did you have to replace the hob at the same time? I've noticed that the original Aspes oven panel also controls the hob so I'm guessing that both will need replacing should I decide to change the oven

Jon-Bxl

Hi Peter

Mozzie screens were my best 'high ticket' purchase. For me personally, better than AC.

I used this company (which I have no commercial connection with) .. British guy who supports Wolves Whilst that may be questionable, his 'fly screens' are excellent quality, ours were made in Germany and I think were installed in 08/09 and take a lot of beating - as we are up high and on a corner so lots of wind. We replaced the netting on some of them a few years back, on the doors to the terrace - that are constantly being opened/closed. And they remain in perfect condition.

M2M Blinds Algarve Portugal

Another local company is Josado (but its not coming up on Google search). Maybe someone will have contact details.

Ill 'buzz off' now

Jon
PS just found this, Josado in post 5

https://britishexpats.com/forum/spain-75/mossie-blinds-768171/

https://britishexpats.com/forum/spain-75/door-screens-curtains-775008-print/

keithBT

Peter, Yes you are correct. From memory there are 4 long plastic sticks that extend from the controls to the hob. You unhook them to fully release the oven. Being OLD !........our backs didn't like the bend down to the oven in any case. Far too low. Hence at the same time I did a refurb on the kitchen with new worktops, shuffled the units around and put in a housing for an eye level oven. It's SO much easier to use.To be fair the old Aspes oven and hob still looked / worked as new, so I put an advert on milannuncios and sold them cheap with the hood as well. The Spanish guy that bought it recognised the picture of the old kitchen as a Fadesa / marina esuri kitchen. He had an apartment on another manzana and bought it for a project inland his family were doing. It seems the Spanish don't mind the conventional slow oven. I'm glad I did it five years ago - I think my body has given up now . My school teacher once said...... Youth is wasted on the young. How right he was. No fun getting old.

pt1188

Thanks Jon you're a fount of knowledge as usual! I'll check out both contacts, although the information for Josado is from 2012 and much has happened since then as we know.

pt1188

Hi Keith

We arrived last night with a plan of action, which was to identify the faulty element without actually pulling out the whole unit. First we turned the oven knob to grill only, then to top oven only and finally, holding our breath, to top and bottom heat. And guess what - nothing happened - no tripping of the electrical fuse box! Don’t know what happened between our previous short visit two weeks ago and now but an engineer friend suggested that condensation within the elements might have been the problem arising from two years of non use, and with our switching it on and warming up the oven before it tripped that might have been enough to resolve the issue.

Whatever it is the problem seems to have corrected itself (for now anyway) but I am well prepared to replace the elements if necessary should this prove to a temporary respite from my problem.

Thanks for posting some invaluable suggestions!

Peter

Ah the age old problem of aging…(pun intended) creeps up like a thief in the night. I remember bringing up the kids in my thirties many moons ago like it was yesterday but I ask myself- Would I want to go through that period of life again, juggling bringing up kids and work - and the answer is no. Happily retired for 2 years before covid struck, now making up for lost time…You’re as old as you feel, unless your body begs to differ, sadly.

keithBT

Hi Peter, Your friend is correct. The insulation between the outer metal case of the element and the voltage carrying conductor inside eventually breaks down and the conductor shorts to earth tripping the rcd. It is very likely that the condensation thoughts are correct. Keep your fingers crossed that it holds up. TBH its only a 30 min job to change the element so not too bad unless its 35 degs outside. Then 30 mins seems like forever. Regarding the age thing, my saviour is daily Ibuprofen as prescribed. Big difference.

Jon-Bxl

Hi Keith wow you know this well

We have a built in Whirlpool oven 22 years old (not in CE) that trips everything. We've got a combi microwave so use the oven on that, pure laziness on my part. But reading this it looks like the problem is easily fixable. Are there certain steps I should follow to analyse the problem please? I'm ok with using a multimeter for example. Or e.g should I just check the elements directly, please?

BTW are you also able to answer a question about 3phase power, please?

Thanks in advance

Jon
PS Ibuprofen Ive also been on that for a while now, I stock up when in the UK as its cheaper than in Europe....

keithBT

Hi Jon, I doubt your whirlpool trips on everything unless the selector switch is at fault. Like Peter, set the selector to each option and see which one causes the rcd to trip. Alternatively with the rear cover removed ( Electricity OFF please) you can go on each element with a multimeter to (a) check for continuity across the two tags, ie each end of the element and (b) between one tag of each element and earth for zero continuity using the ohms range. Regarding three phase- probably best to PM me as its a bit off topic. PS, generally the element for the fan section is a circular element usually two turns of a coil and its behind the metal panel accessed inside the oven cavity where you can see the fan behind the metal grille. Apart from removing the rear cover to access the wiring and retaining screws you have to remove the internal panel to actually swop over the element.. Sometimes the screws are a bit gunged up and need care to remove. Good luck Jon !!