Had a Arlec Power Block go faulty on me a few weeks back while on our current travels. We were feeling a bit cold at Exmouth, plus rain, and seeing we were unfortunately in a powered site in a caravan park I plugged the heater in. After a few minutes the heater stopped working and the switch on the power block had seized. Plugged the heater into one of the other outlets and the same happened. Took the block apart and saw that the inside of the switches had melted. The block was several years old, but I wondered why the trip did not work on the block. So I sent an email to Arlec asking that question. Gentleman there replied, part of what he said was, ‘The RCD will not trip unless the Active current is different from the Neutral current by more than 30mA so unless there is another path for the current to travel it will not be unballanced and trip, the overcurrent cutout can sustain around 13 Amps for a prolonged period.’
But he also said that if we could send the unit to them, they will pay for the post and he will send a new one to us, also details of where and when we bought it and a purchase receipt if possible. I replied saying I will send the old block, but it is a few years old and I am travelling and would not have the receipt. He replied that he would still like to send a new one. Which he did, sent to the Post Office at Karratha and I picked it up yesterday. Now that is very good service! Well done Arlec.
Kevin (PS, I had chucked that old heater and bought a new one.)
