Ceiling lights blown even though switched in Fuse box are all 'ON' ??

lancslass2008

Hi all

My knowledge of electrics is zilch, so
I'm hoping someone can help me here.!

Turned the light on in the downstairs dining room (Extension) and the lights flickered and went off. The light is one of those Chrome bars with 4 bulbs on it. So, we just assumed one of the bulbs was faulty and I went to the fuse box and pushed the switch on. However, the light still doesn't work. Now we've just discovered that none of the lights work in the upstairs extension, although the Sockets are fine. On checking the fuse box all the switches are on. So, what could be the cause of the lights not working, even though the Switches in the fuse box are all 'On'

Hope someone can help.

Thanks all xxxx

1984ReturnsForReal_2

Is it a fuse box or a consumer unit with MCBs / RCD/s

lancslass2008

Don't know what type it is. It is a White box with a clear lid. It is made by chint. There are Blue switches that you push up and down. Written on the largest of the switches it says chint
NL1
80A
On the smaller switches it says
NB1
B32 on some, B16 on some & B6 on others.

Any help please ????

muckybutt

lancslass2008 wrote: »

Don't know what type it is. It is a White box with a clear lid. It is made by chint. There are Blue switches that you push up and down. Written on the largest of the switches it says chint
NL1
80A
On the smaller switches it says
NB1
B32 on some, B16 on some & B6 on others.

Any help please ????

The numbers on the mcb's are just what size they are in Amps. If you say all the mcbs are on and the rcd is on if there is one, then it sounds like the permanent live or neutral has some how been lost. Depending on how its wired the fault could either be in the switch or at a light fitting, either way I would strongly suggest you seek professional advice from a registered electrician.

diable

I'd start by taking a look at the switch and if you have 240v there and all the screws are done up tightly and the light fitting still doesn't work then I'd just attach a pendant to the incoming cable in the light fitting to see if it then works make sure you turn the circuit off before dealing with any cables or "live" ends.

As mentioned previously if you are not capable of doing this then get a professional in to look at it.


Just to add it could be a duff switch as well so you could join the live and the switch line together and see if the fitting lights up.

spark_deals

diable wrote: »

make sure you turn the circuit off before dealing with any cables or "live" ends.

As mentioned previously if you are not capable of doing this then get a professional in to look at it.

Electric Kills. Buy an inexpensive tester to check the live is absent before going ahead.
As Diable suggests, draft in a electrician than get electric shock.
HTH
Spark

Ben84

lancslass2008 wrote: »

Hi all

My knowledge of electrics is zilch, so
I'm hoping someone can help me here.!

Turned the light on in the downstairs dining room (Extension) and the lights flickered and went off. The light is one of those Chrome bars with 4 bulbs on it. So, we just assumed one of the bulbs was faulty and I went to the fuse box and pushed the switch on. However, the light still doesn't work. Now we've just discovered that none of the lights work in the upstairs extension, although the Sockets are fine. On checking the fuse box all the switches are on. So, what could be the cause of the lights not working, even though the Switches in the fuse box are all 'On'

Hope someone can help.

Thanks all xxxx

A possible explanation for your fault is that when you switched the lights on and they flickered and tripped the breaker, somehow the live wire had connected with the neutral, which would overload the circuit quickly and as it should caused the breaker to cut the power. This type of fault tends to generate a lot of heat, which could melt the wire at the fault causing the connection it made originally to the live/neutral to break. This is likely to be why you can now turn the power back on and it doesn't trip the breaker again (no connection to overload it), but also there is no power to the lighting either. I'd assume at this point that you very likely have a stray live wire somewhere in the circuit and would advise turning off the breaker to it as it could still do something dangerous, and would leave it off until an electrician can come to sort it out. You should also consider that with the possibility of a lose live wire somewhere that when the breaker is turned on other parts of the circuit, including exposed parts such as metal light fixtures and switches may also have become accidentally live and could be dangerous to touch.

In the meantime, the sockets will be on their own circuit and unless they're doing anything strange it should be safe to use some table lamps until the electrician arrives.

hethmar

When this happened to me, one of the bulbs had blown May be there is something wrong with the actual light fitting.