threefiftyz Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 Help needed from some sparkies pls Yesterday evening I decided it was about time to have an early spring clean before going to play footy, dusted, shredded, everything all sorted (even managed to organised sky plus!). Last task, hoover, so ther I am hoovering next minute the power cuts, so I head off to the trip box, as I imagined the trip has kicked in, so flick the switch back to on but it didn't stay and automatically switched back to the off position, went back and unplugged the hoover, back to the trip box same thing happens, however this time I in frustration I kept pushing it back to the on position, randomly the switch stayed in the on position, back to the hoover still no power nor to anything else connected via plug sockets Could it be that I've broke the circuit breaker in the trip box by continuously pushing it back to the on position? advice appreciated Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beavis Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 Firstly in most cases the main ELCB (Earth leakage circuit breaker) will cut power to most circuits in your property unless on a split consumer unit. It should certainly cut power to the sockets. My advice when this happens is always to switch off all mcb (minature circuit breakers) that are fed via the elcb, this makes it easier to reset the elcb. When this is done switch back on all the mcb'c back on one at a time. Have you checked to see if all the mcb's are back on? Normally sockets are protected via a 32A mcb or fuse this may be tripped that inturn took out the elcb I am assuming your circuits are individually protected by mcb's and not fuses? How is the socket circuit protected? I am assuming all other circuits work ok after resetting the elcb? :edit: if the circuit breaker to the sockets is tripped then i would not use the hoover again and get it checked over by a qualified electrician. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beavis Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 Or are you just trying to reset the mcb to the sockets? If thats the case and you have unplugged the hoover then you have problems elsewhere. And yes you may have damaged the mcb if you continually keep switching it on to a fault condition and if so you will need a electrician to sort. :edit: I would also unplug everything else thats plugged in to the sockets as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
threefiftyz Posted November 11, 2011 Author Share Posted November 11, 2011 Have you checked to see if all the mcb's are back on? Normally sockets are protected via a 32A mcb or fuse this may be tripped that inturn took out the elcb I am assuming your circuits are individually protected by mcb's and not fuses? How is the socket circuit protected? I am assuming all other circuits work ok after resetting the elcb? :edit: if the circuit breaker to the sockets is tripped then i would not use the hoover again and get it checked over by a qualified electrician. The circuits are protected by mcb's, all the other circuits are working fine (lights, downstairs plugs etc), I don't think it is the hoover, as its pretty new, also I used a extension lead to finish hoovering without any probs, what maybe worth mentioning is the power initially cut when hoovering near my tv/amp/ps3/ etc etc etc all these plug into one of those 6 into 1 extensions, unplugged all these without any joy just to note its only the upstairs plugs that don't work the downstairs ones are fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK350Z Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 Sounds like you need to get a man in with some test gear tbh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
threefiftyz Posted November 11, 2011 Author Share Posted November 11, 2011 Or are you just trying to reset the mcb to the sockets? If thats the case and you have unplugged the hoover then you have problems elsewhere. And yes you may have damaged the mcb if you continually keep switching it on to a fault condition and if so you will need a electrician to sort. :edit: I would also unplug everything else thats plugged in to the sockets as well. great help bang on how difficult is it for me to change the mcb myself? if its not too difficult then I could take it out, get down to b&q and replace......or should I leave it to the pros? dont wanna blow myself up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris`I Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 If its just the MCB then its dead easy to change, just kill power at the master switch, pull out the old one and stick in a new one (same rating of course!). BUT - does it keep happening? The MCB may well be fine, you need to find whats tripping it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
threefiftyz Posted November 11, 2011 Author Share Posted November 11, 2011 Just to update on this, came home from work, tried switching the mcb and strangely it stayed on and the sockets all have power Decided to bin a crappy old 6 into 1 extension lead and gonna get a decent surge protector one, still dont understand why it didn't work last night but decided to today anyways thanks for the advice guys, as always very helpful bunch we have here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.