Electricity question

LindsayT

A couple of weeks ago, lights and sockets went off in my kitchen and light in hallway and living room was also off, TV was on. Couldn't see the fuse box due to no light, so my neighbour came in with a torch. She tried putting up the fallen switches but they kept falling again. She phoned the man who had been fitting her kitchen, he came round, got my downstairs lights and sockets on but there is still a fallen switch which won't stay up and it's the upstairs sockets. He said he would come back to fix it but is pretty well booked up, so hasn't come back yet. Wondered if anyone has any ideas about this? Also, I still haven't found out what caused the kitchen etc. to go off.

Mickey666

Not really enough information.
Do you know if the ‘fallen switches’ are MCBs, RCDs, RCCDs?
Have you unplugged everything from all the upstairs sockets?
A photo of the consumer unit might help.

AskAsk

there is a fault with the upstairs socket circuit.  i had one for my downstairs and the electrician says he thinks it is a problem with a cable or the junction box under the floor.  as the house had laminate wood flooring throughout, he said it would be expensive to lift the floors so he put in new circuit for the downstairs sockets.

LindsayT

Not able to take a photo. Checked after reading your reply, the fallen switch is MCB. There was only a phone plugged in upstairs at the time, which I unplugged.

tacpot12

The fault isn't in the MCB that won't stay switched on, it is in the wiring that supplies the sockets upstairs. You say you only have a phone plugged in, but there might be other electrical equipment that is connected to the circuit via fused connection units. If there has been no DIY or other building work done in your home, then other equipment connected to the circuit is the most likely cause of failure. 

You are going to need an electrician to come to investigate the cause, unless you can find the other equipment.

LindsayT

there might be other electrical equipment that is connected to the circuit via fused connection units.
Sorry, I don't understand this. Is there any way you can simplify for me please?

EssexExile

LindsayT said:

there might be other electrical equipment that is connected to the circuit via fused connection units.
Sorry, I don't understand this. Is there any way you can simplify for me please?

Not everything is connected to the circuit by a plug and socket, some things are wired in permanently. As it's upstairs that's the problem it could be something to do with the heating system or an immersion heater. Those are just guesses though.

LindsayT

Thanks for clarifying that. I understand now. Don't have an immersion heater.

Robin9

@EssexExile When houses are wired at brand new everything is a it should be  - there will dedicated things for lighting upstairs, lighting downstairs, cooker  etc.   Over the years some bits of DIY get done and there are some lash ups.

It's not uncommon for a fault say on your upstairs to cause MCB's other than the one with fault to result in others failing. 

At least you've got your kitchen and lights working now - wait for an electrician to see what he can find.

DiddyDavies

Do you have a cat? and if so, has it ever sprayed whilst in the house?
I used to have one that had a very annoying habit of spraying directly onto electrical sockets (luckily these were all protected with an RCD) and this often caused the same problem that you are having.

TELLIT01

To be honest there is little to be gained by guessing beyond the fact that there is a fault in a circuit (stating the obvious).  It needs an electrician with the necessary kit to identify and fix the fault.