{"id":97,"date":"2013-07-18T13:46:47","date_gmt":"2013-07-18T12:46:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/77.104.130.18\/~instrote\/blog\/?p=97"},"modified":"2016-09-12T13:54:02","modified_gmt":"2016-09-12T12:54:02","slug":"why-does-my-seaward-primetest-100-fail-3-phase-appliances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/instrotech.com\/blog\/why-does-my-seaward-primetest-100-fail-3-phase-appliances\/","title":{"rendered":"Why does my Seaward Primetest 100 fail 3 Phase Appliances?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Question<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Everytime we PAT test any of our 3 phase 415v motors with the Primetest 100, it shows up as Failed Test even on a new motor.<\/p>\n<p>We are using a short lead with a 32 amp 4 pin, socket and a 3 pin 13amp plug other end. The screen display shows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>RPE = OK<\/li>\n<li>RISO = OK<\/li>\n<li>I Leak = FAIL<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Here is what we get: We have tested 3 different electric motors.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>1. I Leak = 1.98 ma Motor has a lead length of 4.4 metres<\/li>\n<li>2. I Leak = 2.34 ma Motor has a lead length of 4.7 metres<\/li>\n<li>3. I Leak = 2.35 ma Motor has a lead length of 2.3 metres<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Answer<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The reason for the fails here is due to the type of PAT Tester and the test settings. The <a href=\"http:\/\/instrotech.com\/seaward-primetest-100-p-481.html\">Primetest 100<\/a> is a basic unit, primarily designed for carrying out tests on standard 240V appliances.<\/p>\n<p>The &#8220;one-button&#8221; style operation means that the tester must have pre-programmed Pass thresholds in order to determine a pass or fail. These thresholds are as follows:<\/p>\n<p><b>Class I Tests<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Earth Continuity: 0.2ohm<\/li>\n<li>Insulation Resistance: 1Mohm<\/li>\n<li>Substitute Leakage: 0.75mA<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Class II Tests<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Insulation Resistance: 2Mohm<\/li>\n<li>Substitute Leakage: 0.25mA<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The problem with this type of tester is that you have no control over these Pass limits. For Class I equipment, there are several Pass limits:<\/p>\n<p><b>Portable or hand-held Class I Equipment<\/b><\/p>\n<p>0.75mA<\/p>\n<p><b>Class I Heating Appliances<\/b><\/p>\n<p>0.75mA or 0.75mA per kW, whichever is greater, with a maximum of 5mA.<\/p>\n<p><b>Other Class I Equipment<\/b><\/p>\n<p>3.5mA<\/p>\n<p>The three phase motors in this case would come under the &#8220;Other Class I Equipment&#8221; classification, with a maximum limit of 3.5mA. Whilst the Primetest 100 is indicating a fail, it is basing this on the lower of the two Pass limits, therefore you must take the reading into account instead. All your results are within the 3.5mA limit, therefore all your motors have actually passed.<\/p>\n<p>There are PAT testers that allow you to adjust the Pass limits, therefore ensuring you get consistent results. In addition the <a href=\"http:\/\/instrotech.com\/seaward-primetest-250-plus-p-2214.html\">Seaward Primetest 250<\/a> can carry out a powered 3 phase leakage test, with the use of a special adaptor.<\/p>\n<p>It is also worth noting that the leakage test is not a required test when it comes to PAT.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of our customers experienced a series of fails when carrying out PAT tests on three phase equipment with the Seaward Primetest 100. We explain the limitations of the tester, why they were getting the results and the correct interpretation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":244,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"twitterCardType":"","cardImageID":0,"cardImage":"","cardTitle":"","cardDesc":"","cardImageAlt":"","cardPlayer":"","cardPlayerWidth":0,"cardPlayerHeight":0,"cardPlayerStream":"","cardPlayerCodec":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faq"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/instrotech.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Seaward_primetest_100.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7Siyi-1z","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/instrotech.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/instrotech.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/instrotech.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/instrotech.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/instrotech.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/instrotech.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":245,"href":"https:\/\/instrotech.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97\/revisions\/245"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/instrotech.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/instrotech.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/instrotech.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/instrotech.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}