TROUBLESHOOTING: FUSION PROFESSIONAL ELECTRICAL AND PLUMBING SERVICE

Have the wall or ceiling lights gone out? Is a socket or appliance not working? See Fusion Electrician and Plumber Services advice below.

Wall or ceiling light not working

If your wall or ceiling light are not working it will be due to either a bulb that has blown or a problem with the circuit. To find out whether it is just a bulb that has blown check to see if the lights in other rooms are working. If it is a circuit problem then all the lights in one or more rooms will not be working.
Blown bulb - switch the light switch to the off position and wait for the bulb to cool down.
Take out the blown bulb from the light fitting and insert a new bulb.
Circuit - find and open the cover on your consumer unit (fusebox). Most homes have two lighting circuits, one for upstairs and one for downstairs. Check if one of the circuit breakers has tripped (turned off). If it has, reset it by switching it back on, the lights should now work.
Note: most modern circuit breakers are sensitive devices and a bulb blowing can easily cause them to trip.

If resetting the circuit breaker does not work, call Fusion Electrician and Plumber Services.

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Socket not working

Check that it definitely is the socket that is not working by plugging a different appliance into the socket. Also try other sockets to see whether the problem is with one or, as will probably be the case, several sockets.
Appliance - if it is the appliance, check the plug and try replacing the fuse. If this does not work then the appliance may need to be repaired or replaced.
Socket - find and open your consumer unit (fusebox) and check the circuit breaker for the particular socket outlet circuit. You will also need to check the residual current device (RCD).
The circuit breaker and/or the RCD may have tripped (turned off) due to a faulty appliance being plugged into a socket. You will not be able to reset either of the devices until the faulty item has been unplugged from the circuit.

If you are not sure which appliance has caused the problem, unplug all appliances, reset the circuit breaker and/or RCD by switching back on. Plug each appliance back in, one by one, until the faulty item (which trips the circuit) is found.

If you cannot reset the circuit breaker and/or RCD even with all the appliances disconnected, call Fusion Electrician and Plumber Services.

For large appliances that are wired into a circuit such as a cooker or immersion heater, check whether the circuit breaker has tripped and try to reset it. If this does not work, call Fusion Electrician and Plumber Services.

Source: Electrical Safety Council.

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Your fusebox

A consumer unit or fusebox is used to control and distribute electricity around our homes.
They usually contain:
A) Mains switch
B) Fuses or Circuit Breakers
C) Residual Current Device
Mains Switch
The mains switch allows you to turn off the electricity supply to your electrical installation. Some electrical installations have more than one mains switch, for example, if your home is heated by electric storage heaters, you may have a separate consumer unit (fuse box) for them. The consumer unit should be easy to get to, so find out where the mains switch is to turn the electricity off in an emergency.
Fuses
Rewirable fuses have a piece of special fuse wire running between two screws. When a fault or overload current flows through the fuse wire, it will become hot, and melt when the current goes above an acceptable level. The melted fuse breaks the circuit, disconnecting the faulty circuit.
Circuit Breakers
Circuit breakers are automatic protection devices fitted in the consumer unit which switch off a circuit if there is a fault. Circuit breakers are similar in size to fuseholders, but give more precise protection than fuses. When they ‘trip’, you can simply reset the switch. However, you first need to find and correct the fault.
Residual Current Devices
An RCD is a switching device that trips a circuit under certain conditions, and disconnects the electricity supply. If your electrical installation includes one or more RCDs, test them regularly. You can do this by following the instruction label, which should be near the RCD. The label should read as follows: ‘This installation, or part of it, is protected by a device which automatically switches off the supply if an earth fault develops. Test quarterly (every three months) by pressing the button marked ‘T’ or ‘Test’.’ The device should switch off the supply. You should then switch it back on to restore the supply. If the device does not switch off the supply when you press the button, contact an electrician. Testing the button every three months is important. However, do not hold the test button for a long period if the device does not trip. If the RCD does not switch off the supply when you press the test button, get advice from a Napit registered electrician.
If your fusebox has a wooden back, cast iron switches, or a haphazard mixture of fuses it is likely that it dates back to before the 1960s and will need to be replaced.

Source: Electrical Safety Council.

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