What is wrong with this wall socket (Tester results included)

JenP85

Hello there.
A wall socket has sadly stopped working in the house and it is quite a vital one. We borrowed a socket Tester off a friend and all our other sockets work fine except this one. It's coming up with No lights and it says L/fuse fault. 

How easy is this to fix? I have changed sockets before (many, many years ago). If I can't fix it how much would it cost to repair? Thank you.

 

ciderboy2009

That looks like the socket is possibly not getting any power.  Presumably you've checked the relevant fuse?

If that's ok then it's possibly something as simple as a wire having become disconnected or a problem with the socket itself.  It could however be a problem with the actual wiring.

Is it on the ring or just a spur?  Also, was anything going on when it failed (i.e. drilling, doing something else with the electrics etc).

JenP85

Ty for your reply! It's on the ring as far as I'm aware. No work going on but when we first noticed a problem we plugged an electric heater in which worked for about 5-10mins but just went off. 

I may do a socket change then and see if it helps/works. So fingers crossed! Ty for the help:)

Section62

JenP85 said:

Ty for your reply! It's on the ring as far as I'm aware. No work going on but when we first noticed a problem we plugged an electric heater in which worked for about 5-10mins but just went off. 

I may do a socket change then and see if it helps/works. So fingers crossed! Ty for the help:)

There's nothing much in a socket to cause this kind of fault, so don't change the socket just yet.

A single socket, plus a delay of 5 to 10 mins before the power goes off (with no problems elsewhere) would suggest to me the socket is likely to be on a fuse-protected spur.  Have a careful look around the area (including adjacent rooms) for anything which could be a fused spur unit. Something like either of these -

jbainbridge

I would start by changing the socket for a new one. Cheap and easy to do. 

Obviously - if you do feel competent enough to do it yourself - get someone in.

molerat

It's coming up with No lights and it says L/fuse fault.

A convoluted way of saying the socket is dead, it either has no power going to it or the contacts inside have failed.

subjecttocontract

Presumably you did check the fuse fitted to the heater that stopped working and have plugged another item into the socket to check if it works ?

Otherwise I agree there is likely to be a fused protected spur for the socket.

Section62

jbainbridge said:

I would start by changing the socket for a new one. Cheap and easy to do. 

Obviously - if you do feel competent enough to do it yourself - get someone in.

But pointless if the fault is a simple blown fuse.

Changing the socket also risks introducing new problems - such as damaging the wires while removing/replacing the socket - so shouldn't be the first step before other things have been ruled out.

chris_n

Unless you have a multimeter or similar you have no way of knowing if it is dead or not when you remove the socket. If you find a loose wire is it really dead. I'm with @Section62 sounds like it is fed from a fused spur probably fused at 3A so it's even possible it is fed from a lighting circuit.

JenP85

Section62 said:

JenP85 said:

Ty for your reply! It's on the ring as far as I'm aware. No work going on but when we first noticed a problem we plugged an electric heater in which worked for about 5-10mins but just went off. 

I may do a socket change then and see if it helps/works. So fingers crossed! Ty for the help:)

There's nothing much in a socket to cause this kind of fault, so don't change the socket just yet.

A single socket, plus a delay of 5 to 10 mins before the power goes off (with no problems elsewhere) would suggest to me the socket is likely to be on a fuse-protected spur.  Have a careful look around the area (including adjacent rooms) for anything which could be a fused spur unit. Something like either of these -

Omg thank you so much!! I did this and it works again lol. Thank you so much just saved me prob £100. I will still change the socket as we're slowly changing them over in the house but at least I don't need to do it today. Thank you once again!!

Risteard

JenP85 said:

Section62 said:

JenP85 said:

Ty for your reply! It's on the ring as far as I'm aware. No work going on but when we first noticed a problem we plugged an electric heater in which worked for about 5-10mins but just went off. 

I may do a socket change then and see if it helps/works. So fingers crossed! Ty for the help:)

There's nothing much in a socket to cause this kind of fault, so don't change the socket just yet.

A single socket, plus a delay of 5 to 10 mins before the power goes off (with no problems elsewhere) would suggest to me the socket is likely to be on a fuse-protected spur.  Have a careful look around the area (including adjacent rooms) for anything which could be a fused spur unit. Something like either of these -

Omg thank you so much!! I did this and it works again lol. Thank you so much just saved me prob £100. I will still change the socket as we're slowly changing them over in the house but at least I don't need to do it today. Thank you once again!!

What rating was the ruptured fuse?