how do i get gas and electric working in new house?

jacqui_green

i know there are similar threads going but, they are old.

we finally got the keys to our new reposessed house yesterday, the gas electric and water is all off as we knew, we managed to turn the water on to the taps and the electric is on but we can only get the lights to work but not the plug sockets!-any suggestions? we have looked in the box outside and there is a clear box screwed in with a switch saying off but we are a bit scared to unscrew it in case its unsafe! we dont seem to have a ny gas where would the tap for that be>? if any one has any advice we would really appreciate it

kindest regards

paintpot

Until someone else posts, a couple of things to look at.

You need to find your electric fuse box and check non of the fuses have tripped for the sockets or fuses blown depending on the type of box. All the trip switches should be labelled e.g upstairs lights, downstairs sockets blah blah and they all need to be in the "on" position.

I won't suggest unscrewing anything but as you have lights then you must have a supply to the property.

Re the gas, there is usally a lever ( a big handle) or something similar next to the gas meter. Tun it the opposite direction to what it is now.

Hope that helps for now until someone else comes along if it isn' that.

PasturesNew

If it were me I'd not be touching a thing. I'd order a CORGI engineer to come in, turn the gas on, fill the heating system and give all the gas things a service and test. Then I'd be having an electrician come in and check the whole system out too.

poppysarah

EDIT:I know it's not a council house and was making the comparison with what the council do to ensure a property is safe before they let people move in. END EDIT

A check on the gas and electric would be what the council would do prior to reletting a property - so it's probably a wise move just to ensure that nothing dodgy has been done by exiting upset people.

You can combine the gas with a service and that way you know it's all safe.

Peace of mind is priceless.

Premier_2

poppysarah wrote: »

A check on the gas and electric would be what the council would do prior to reletting a property - so it's probably a wise move just to ensure that nothing dodgy has been done by exiting upset people.

You can combine the gas with a service and that way you know it's all safe.

Peace of mind is priceless.

This is a private house. The OP has purchased it. It is not let and the council won't be interested.

Premier_2

jacqui_green wrote: »

i know there are similar threads going but, they are old.

we finally got the keys to our new reposessed house yesterday, the gas electric and water is all off as we knew, we managed to turn the water on to the taps and the electric is on but we can only get the lights to work but not the plug sockets!-any suggestions? we have looked in the box outside and there is a clear box screwed in with a switch saying off but we are a bit scared to unscrew it in case its unsafe! we dont seem to have a ny gas where would the tap for that be>? if any one has any advice we would really appreciate it

kindest regards

As paintpot says, regarding the electricity, it sounds like one of the trips needs resetting that controls the ring main circuit to the sockets.
This shouldn't be in the box outside, but there should be a distribution board somewhere inside the property which has the main isolator switch together with the trips (or fuses if an older style board). However I'm not sure what that switch marked off is - could you post a photo?

Regarding the gas, the isolator is usually close to the meter, located just before the gas enters the meter, and is a large handle. If it is at right angles to the supply pipe, then if needs to be moved so that it is in line with the supply pipe to open the isolator valve.

poppysarah

Premier wrote: »

This is a private house. The OP has purchased it. It is not let and the council won't be interested.

Yes I know. I was making a comparison with council procedures - basic safety checks before you move in make good sense.

besonders1

Interesting thread.

I have looked at repos and all of them have the services cut off. I thought legally you would need to phone the water board and lecky broard to turn them back on.

If you wanted to turn back the water on would you just look for the stop tap under the sink or would there be a tap outside on the pavement?

poppysarah

They cut the services off to ensure the property doesn't flood if the boiler gets nicked. Or the pipes don't freeze.

Premier_2

besonders1 wrote: »

Interesting thread.

I have looked at repos and all of them have the services cut off. I thought legally you would need to phone the water board and lecky broard to turn them back on.

If you wanted to turn back the water on would you just look for the stop tap under the sink or would there be a tap outside on the pavement?

Normally, in non-difficult cases, the utilities are just switched off at the isolators within the property. So the water would be just turned off at the stopcock that is typically under the sink. Any of these can be turned back on by the new legal owner and that is what the respective suppliers would advise to try first.

If the water has been turned off in the street, the owner should really call the water company who'll typically charge about £35+vat to come out and turn it on. But the water companies don't usually have any specific record of how the water was turned off, so with an appropriate socket an owner could turn it back on saving that charge.

A new owner should call all their utility suppliers to set up new accounts in their name.

jacqui_green

i would just like to say thanks to all the people who replied this was my first post! some good tips i will definately follow up

kindest regards:beer: