Electric problem in kitchen

drovers85

Hi

We have just got the keys to our first house today but we are fed up already .

We couldn't turn the washing machine off so someone suggested turning the mains for the kitchen off, so we did. Not sure what happened but after flicking the switch for the kitchen sockets back on they failed to work :mad: so now we have now power in the kitchen.

Could someone tell me if this is a common problem and easy to fix?

We are calling someone out to look at the electrics tomorrow but we don't really want to be told it's a major thing to fix

Many thanks

totalsolutions

The washing m/c would have an independent isolator switch nearby. You may have a faulty circuit breaker in the distribution board.

drovers85

totalsolutions wrote: »

The washing m/c would have an independent isolator switch nearby. You may have a faulty circuit breaker in the distribution board.

Thanks for the reply.

Would this be expensive to fix?

And can i be dim and ask what an independent isolator switch looks like?

Colour_Republic

what sort of fuse box do you have? you sure it isn't just a fuse wire blown?

drovers85

Colour_Republic wrote: »

what sort of fuse box do you have? you sure it isn't just a fuse wire blown?

I think we have a miniature circuit breaker, does that sound right or am i talking about something else?

Colour_Republic

does you fuse board look like this



or like this

drovers85

It looks like the white one with the flick switches.

booty40uk

Make sure you push the breaker in question fully into the off position and then turn it to the on position.

macman

Have you isolated the washing machine as advised in post 2? There was no need to turn off the circuit to the whole kitchen if the problem is just on that FCU.

zax47

macman, who says it's on an FCU? Unless the house is pretty new or recently re-wired there's no reason it has to be, it's a comparatively recent requirement. Probably 80% of the kitchens I go to have no separate"above counter" isolation for the white goods, just sockets.

drovers85 - you often find that MCBs (yes, that's what you have) can get "lazy" or "sticky" and won't reset/latch on if they trip. As was said before, try to turn it off & on a couple of times - does it latch in the "on" position?

Replacing it is not a big job, I recently had a knock from a neighbour one evening - he turned his lights off to change a fitting and now the MCB wouldn't latch on. Took me 10 minutes - including hunting around for a suitable one in my big box of spare breakers! The breaker wouldn't latch in the ON position at all, even out of use. Gave it a bang on the bench and - tada - it latched, the mechanism had got "sticky" with age. One for the bin! The breaker itself should be less than £10 or he's ripping you off.

Be aware that any electrician coming to to this job will want to do some checks/tests to ensure that the cause of the tripping MCB is found & isolated/repaired, if he just swaps the breaker then he isn't doing a proper or thorough job.

macman

zax47 wrote: »

macman, who says it's on an FCU? Unless the house is pretty new or recently re-wired there's no reason it has to be, it's a comparatively recent requirement. Probably 80% of the kitchens I go to have no separate"above counter" isolation for the white goods, just sockets.

drovers85 - you often find that MCBs (yes, that's what you have) can get "lazy" or "sticky" and won't reset/latch on if they trip. As was said before, try to turn it off & on a couple of times - does it latch in the "on" position?

Replacing it is not a big job, I recently had a knock from a neighbour one evening - he turned his lights off to change a fitting and now the MCB wouldn't latch on. Took me 10 minutes - including hunting around for a suitable one in my big box of spare breakers! The breaker wouldn't latch in the ON position at all, even out of use. Gave it a bang on the bench and - tada - it latched, the mechanism had got "sticky" with age. One for the bin! The breaker itself should be less than £10 or he's ripping you off.

Be aware that any electrician coming to to this job will want to do some checks/tests to ensure that the cause of the tripping MCB is found & isolated/repaired, if he just swaps the breaker then he isn't doing a proper or thorough job.

Because the OP says they 'couldn't switch the washing machine off'. If there's a visible plug, then presumably they would have just unplugged it rather than turned off the circuit at the CU. Which leads me to conclude that they may have an FCU that is concealed behind the machine.