Home electrical problem -sockets tripping

Poppy9

Today all the power tripped off in the house. OH went through the fuse box and found it was downstairs sockets tripping. Everything unplugged but if we switch on sockets downstairs trips all the electrics.

OH unscrewed and checked each socket to look for loose wires but found none. Our electrician is on holiday so we will have to find someone else but don't want to be ripped off by a cowboy. Any ideas as to the problem?

Thanks

zax47

Sorry, but you need an electrician now. There's a circuit fault which will need tracing and fixing - not really the domain of the DIYer. Where in the UK are you?

Find a qualified and certified electrician here

macman

Is it switching on one particular socket (assuming all apliances are off and unplugged) that does it? Or a general fault on the entire downstairs ring main?
If the circuit has an RCD on it, have you tested that with the test button?
Could be a fault in the circuit, could be a faulty RCD or MCB.

Poppy9

No it's all the sockets because when you flick the switch back up for the downstairs sockets on the main board it trips off all the household electrics. We have an electrician coming tomorrow afternoon, a friend just recommended so fingers crossed.

macman

So as zax47 says it's most likely a general fault on the ring main, that's tripping and causing your main RCD to trip.
It could just be a faulty MCB, if you want to test it then swap it for the one (same rating, should be 32A) that controls the upstairs ring main.
But don't do this unless you know what you're doing and have turned the main switch off first.

Poppy9

macman wrote: »

f you want to test it then swap it for the one (same rating, should be 32A) that controls the upstairs ring main.
But don't do this unless you know what you're doing and have turned the main switch off first.

OH contemplated this but decided against risking it as we currently have an extension lead from upstairs plugged into fridge/freezer. Don't want to risk no sockets at all.

House rewired just under 15 years ago and there has been no messing with it since so hopefully it will be something quite straight forward.

macman

Then you could just go and buy another 32A MCB to fit. Cost about £2.50-cheaper than a sparky call out if that's all it is. If the fault trips the RCD then you only need to reset it to get all the other circuits back.

Ebe_Scrooge

Just one thought that may be worth checking. You said you've unplugged everything from the downstairs sockets. But do you have anything like a dishwasher or washing machine that's "hardwired" into the ring main with a remote switch above the worktop, rather than being plugged into a conventional socket ? Make sure you've switched these off as well - it may, for instance, be a fault within your washing machine that's tripping it. Just a thought.

Poppy9

Yes my washer/dishwasher and tumble dryer are plugged into sockets under the work top with switches on top but we unplugged everything. Plugged washing machine into extension lead to finish the load and that worked no problem, then put dishwasher on and that's ok. Talking to OH now about the switching of MCB but think he's in peed off mood now as our fuse box is under the stairs and awkard to get to !!!

ktuludays

^^^ are they ever in a nice comfy area to allow work on them?!

sparky883

Boiler?? Powered off ring main,Hardwired into spur,BTW "macman" could you get me about 100 of the MCB's you can get for £2-50.