Any electricians on here? (1 Viewer)

So the fusebox is saying everything is on? Could be the actual fusebox / board.

I'm not a spark, but I'm an Engineer & have re-wired a house before. That is a weird one. maybe worth trying to establish which circuit breaker actually activates the bits you do have working.

In theory, you should have a separate CB for each ring main (mains sockets) & a separate CB for each lighting circuit. You should have a 2 x CB's for ring mains (1 up & 1 downstairs) + 2 for lights (up & down) plus a separate one for the oven/hob assuming its electric.

Lighting CB's are the lower rated ones (usually 6Amp) & the ring mains are usually 16,20 or 32A depending on configuration.

If your ring main CB activates your lights, or your lighting CB activates the socket, then you've got cowboy wiring.

If the main RCD keeps tripping, then you've got an earth fault.

My guess from your brief description is either a) cowboy wiring or b) mice.

Im a spark it sounds like you may have a looses connection either in the board on the meter or on the incoming fuse.? try not to use any heavy load appliances untill its all been checked..it could be something else i.e mouse ate a cable somewhere in the circuit hard to tell without seeing it. Hope it gets sorted

chiefdave said:

Sure you're all waiting to find out the cause. Where the main feed comes into the fuse box it splits into two for the two parts of the fusebox (I'm guessing two circuits). On one part the screw had come loose, that had caused a arc which had burnt out connection.

He's patched it up temporarily for tonight and is putting a new RCB (I think) in tomorrow.

Looks like one of the labels is wrong. The way its labelled one side had way more load than the other so he thinks the upstairs sockets got swapped with the upstairs lights at some point to try and balance it up a bit but the labels weren't moved. That would make sense as it would mean everything that wasn't working was on the damaged side.

Click to expand...

Glad its sorted......sounds like a bit of a dogs dinner of an installation in the first place.......make sure you get a copy of the test certificate when its all fixed (Landlord/Agent liable for all costs)

Glad you got it sorted out Chief

A general question to cmoncity if I may - I've never had a problem with my electrics. House was built in the 30s and though the cabling must have been done at some point (before we moved in) as its grey, not the old style black rubber...however, the fusebox is one those old big plug in wire holder types.

Are these still generally safe? I know most houses have trip switches, circuit breakers etc, and you'd never get away with installing anything like this anymore, just wondered if I have some kind of legal obligation to get it updated. If there was ever a fire caused by a dodgy fuseboard or wiring, dare say the insurance would use that as an excuse not to cough up.

TIA