Marcelnl wrote:I'd skip investing in a Fluke in the hope to find the issue unless you have one or happen to know someone who has one (and likely knows how to use it ), and get the specialists to find out...whatever the issue is it needs to be fixed too...
Why not be pragmatic and test at a neighbor to see if it's house specific and hand it over to the utility company/Electrician depending on what the problem is?

Yep this is the plan. Being new to the area we don't really know the neighbours all too well yet but what a great icebreaker! Also given our work schedules it's been difficult to catch them at a reasonable time but plan to do so on the weekend.

I definitely intend to hand to the right people to sort it out but nobody has a real clue so far so just finding out who that will be will be a mission in of itself. I don't plan on buying a fluke gauge as they are quite expensive and not necessary for the tinkering I'll be doing long term.

Will be 100% ruling out the appliances and testing if it is isolated to the house over the weekend. Will let you know how I get on. The electricity company will supposedly start their monitoring and potentially check it's not a floating or loose neutral so I was told yesterday.

Cheers for all the help. I'm sure many will be interested to hear the outcome. I know many people I've told are very keen.

No, dad wasn't really a hobbyist. He was an engineer by profession. Was on the team at Litton that built the worlds first patient monitoring system and designed power supplies for Theodore Maiman's lasers at Korad.

Ira

It's a great icebreaker and I am sure your neighbors will like you a lot when they learn what great espresso a GS3 can make Perhaps you should lug that with you when you go knocking on their door...

Hi Guys,

So there's been a fair bit of progress and movement on this side so though it was worth an update.

1. I tried running an extension lead from the neighbours today and the appliances all exhibited the same symptoms. The stag made the ek pulse- the GS3 made the EK pulse, and it appeared to also make its own pump do it (although I must admit the pulsing of the GS3 pump when its own PID element is operating seems less obvious than the impact on the grinder).
2. I took my EK43 and Stagg kettle back to my old residence. Note at this residence I never ran the stagg and the EK together- I only ever had the EK43 and the GS3 together at this premises and never noticed issues previously (however I wasn't listening out for it like I am now I guess!). Outcome here was that the stagg had the same impact on the EK43 however to a much lesser degree- however still there when you listen and feel for it.
3. So where does this leave me? I am now going to go to my friends place next weekend who has a GS3, EK43 and stagg and take both my stagg and EK43 (the GS3 is too cumbersome to carry everywhere) to look at this side by side.

My question is this: Could I run a higher gauge wire (say 4mm2 instead of 2.5mm2) to my outlet with a separate circuit and a higher amperage breaker in the hope that the higher capacity and lesser resistance of the line/circuit could potentially give enough juice to power these devices? Or is the 2.5mm2 cable already providing more than enough amps and hence won't change anything? I just struggle to believe that both my GS3 and stagg kettle both have the same issue and are in some way to blame for all this- too much of a coincidence?

Any further help or support/advice is much appreciated guys!

Cheers,
Javed

That is very interesting. I still think checking the current draw and the voltage while doing your testing is necessary to figure out what is going on.

Switching from 2.5 to 4mm will help. I run 4mm to my cooktop but it is 12.5kW. My GS3 is on 2.5mm with the grinder.

My bet is a bad contact somewhere. So replacing the wire will reseat the screws and probably solve the problem.

To measure you probably want an RMS meter and preferably a logging one. Those are expensive. Even better is a power quality analyzer. But a regular DMM may still work.

Take a DMM, put it into the power strip. Note the voltage and turn the cold GS3 on. See what the new voltage is. For it to be audible I assume it will be more than 1volt change. So a 4.5 digit DMM should be okay.

jav_au wrote: My question is this: Could I run a higher gauge wire (say 4mm2 instead of 2.5mm2) to my outlet with a separate circuit and a higher amperage breaker in the hope that the higher capacity and lesser resistance of the line/circuit could potentially give enough juice to power these devices? Or is the 2.5mm2 cable already providing more than enough amps and hence won't change anything? I just struggle to believe that both my GS3 and stagg kettle both have the same issue and are in some way to blame for all this- too much of a coincidence?

I think we're back to where we started. But yes! If you create a dedicated, higher-amperage circuit for each appliance they will affect each other so much less that it may not be noticed. They will affect their own pumps less, but probably will still be noticeable if you're looking for it. You wouldn't need the higher amp breaker, it won't be of less resistance, but it would be good form for the upgraded circuit.

I agree with AssafL, which is pretty much what I've previously stated in this thread.

I also agree with JRising.

The only other 'New' input I can add to possibly rectify your situation would be that in addition to increasing the gauge wire running to your coffee equipment but not increasing the capacity of the breaker beyond its requirement, would be to double the electrical capacity coming into your home from the utility pole.

That would be a very expensive option!

BTW: Is any of the wiring in your home Aluminum?

I agree with AssafL, it somehow has to be a resistance that is higher than usual. Typically the capability of the line from the grid to the house is much higher than what you normally need, if a GS3 and a grinder are enough to max it out that investment is worthwhile anyway...I doubt that the bottleneck is located there.

Aluminium wiring in a house? Where is that normal, I only know of high tension wire made from aluminium?

edit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminum_building_wiring
wow....I'm speechless.

I spent years working on EMI issues and find it hard to believe that the PID is causing interference. As several others have noted, you need to find out if you have an IR drop problem (often called voltage drop, where the voltage sags when the circuit is loaded). All circuits do this. Long circuits or circuits with poor connections will do it worse. I suggest you do this:
-Measure the no-load voltage at the receptacle. You don't need a fancy meter; a DMM will do.
-Plug in a large load of known size, preferably one that will load the circuit to the maximum without tripping the breaker, and measure the voltage again. You might have to pug in several irons, kettles, toasters or such to achieve this. You also need to know the current drawn, but this takes a meter that most folks don't have. You can estimate the current by reading the nomenclature plate on the device(s) and applying the formula Watts=Volts X amperes.
-Subtract the two voltages.
-Measure or estimate the length of the wire from the load centre to the receptacle.
-Get a wire table or go to a website such as this one https://www.calculator.net/voltage-drop ... &x=49&y=25 and calculate what the IR drop for your particular case.
-Compare the two IR drop figures.

If there is a big discrepancy, then there is a high probability of a bad connection somewhere. You need to find this, not just to solve the annoyance you are experiencing, but to preclude a possible overheating and electrical fire issue. If you have a poor connection, the solution is to follow the circuit from the load centre to all the receptacles and tighten all the connections. This is particularly important with aluminium wire, as has been questioned already, because it tends to migrate over time, loosening the joint.

BTW, running your equipment on a long extension cord, as you did from your neighbour's house, will only exacerbate the problem, as the additional wire will create an additional IR drop in the circuit. Taking your equipment to another house, as you've mentioned, is a good idea. I especially like the idea of going to where someone has the same or similar equipment.

Good luck! Sometimes finding this sort of problem is like trying to nail jelly to a wall...just when you think you've got it, you don't