just returned from a weekend away in the 'van and on arrival, after plugging in the kettle, noticed a weird smell coming from the electric consumer unit . Nothing had tripped on the unit - had a word with the site warden who had a look and didn't really have any ideas what it could be. We spoke with a caravan engineer over the phone (he couldn't come out to the site as he was on holiday himself!) but said it sounded like the battery charging unit. We limited the use of the electric the rest of the weekend, i.e just using the fridge and lights and everything was fine. However, when we started to pack up to come home we noticed the same smell coming from the fridge vent on the outside of the 'van. It's not necessarily a burning smell but definitely electrical. We are arranging for an engineer to come out and have a look now we are home but just wondered whether anybody had any ideas what it could be or whether anybody else had come across this before? Thanks
A loose connection is the most likely. You will get arcing through a loose connection which will give intense localized heat and will burn the metal contacts away. From a safety point this is very dangerous as it can cause a fire and from an economic point it will be burning contacts away so the sooner it is sorted the better. Personally, I would not risk plugging the EHU in until it is sorted. If you know what you are doing then open the consumer unit and check the terminals but unplug the EHU first. It seems unlikely that the same fault would occur at the consumer unit and the fridge, could the smell be getting drawn to the fridge vent? Is the consumer near the fridge? The only other option is that the wire to the fridge is breaking down but that seems unlikely. Is the fridge working?
My husband did take the front of the consumer unit off to check for any signs of burning or whether there was a build up of dust but everything was fine and all the contacts are ok. I too agree that the smell is being drawn to the fridge vent although they are not directly next to each other. The fridge is working fine.
As mentioned in my original post it isn't a "burning" smell nor an acid smell - the smell resembles the kind of smell you have when you plug in a new appliance for the first time (although we have no new appliances).
We have arranged for a caravan engineer to come out and take a look and we won't be using the van until we know it is all sorted . Thanks
Are you sure its not the battery itself. We had a similar experience - an awful electrical / bad egg type smell and realised the battery had cooked - worth checking out the battery.
No bad egg smell and can't hear anything crackling. The wires themselves are not getting hot either. Also, has anyone ever noticed the fan in the unit is noisy? Our van is a 2005 Bailey Pageant Champagne and the consumer unit is located under one of the front settees. Just wondered whether the noisy fan was usual in Bailey's or whether it is just ours and, if so, could this be connected to our problem?
We had a Bailey Vendee which probably has the same unit. The fan in the unit was very quiet in operation. There was no smell.
I suspect there is a fault in it.
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Topic: Smell from consumer unit
