Electrical Problem

abadref

Hi.

I am working in an apt where two lights in the sitting room area wont work. All other lights are working fine. The fuse box's switches are all in correct 'up' position.

Is it possible for one of these 'up' switches to be broken and need to be replaced?

DublinDilbert

abadref wrote: »

Hi.

I am working in an apt where two lights in the sitting room area wont work. All other lights are working fine. The fuse box's switches are all in correct 'up' position.

Is it possible for one of these 'up' switches to be broken and need to be replaced?

The fuse box "switches" are actually miniature circuit breakers, and based on what you've said i would say they are all working fine...

All of the lights would typically be on the same circuit breaker, so if some of the lights in your sitting room work and some don't the fault lies else where.

What type of lights are they? What sort of bulbs? Have you checked the bulbs?

Could be any number of reasons, but if you can answer the above questions we might be able to help you narrow it down?

davelerave

more than likely a local problem (switch or light).get a sparkie to take a look

abadref

Two normal 40 w bulbs in sitting room area.
They are the only liights in the sitting room.
Problem seemed to happen when the painters were in.
If their was aproblem with one of the 'mini' circuit breakers and say the painter switched it to the up position would it stay at the up position?

I can't see how it could be a problem with light fitting or switch as they seem to be fine and wires fitted perfectly.

Is it possible to know if one of the 'mini' circuit breakers is damaged like it is with a fuse and can these be replaced easily.

Thanks very much for your time.

Kind regards.
ABR

DublinDilbert

abadref wrote: »

Two normal 40 w bulbs in sitting room area.
They are the only liights in the sitting room.
Problem seemed to happen when the painters were in.
If their was aproblem with one of the 'mini' circuit breakers and say the painter switched it to the up position would it stay at the up position?

I can't see how it could be a problem with light fitting or switch as they seem to be fine and wires fitted perfectly.

Is it possible to know if one of the 'mini' circuit breakers is damaged like it is with a fuse and can these be replaced easily.

Thanks very much for your time.

Kind regards.
ABR

The two lights in the sitting room would not be on their own circuit breaker, hence if all other lights are fine, chances are the circuit breakers are grand.

You'll need to get someone to have a look, probably a very simple fault. Could even be a loose terminal in the switch / fitting...

Greenman

Hello,

Came back from the xmas hols and the power had tripped out.

Localised it to a lighting circuit. So for the moment the breaker is in the off position and all is fine just less light in the livingroom.

If I engage the lighting breaker it trips within an hour.

Any ideas?

davelerave

when you say 'localised it to lighting mcb' what do you mean?
the lighting mcb doesn't normally bring anything else down unless fed through rcd for ground lights or similar.
could be a fault on a feed outside .try to narrow it down anyhow

Greenman

davelerave wrote: »

when you say 'localised it to lighting mcb' what do you mean?
the lighting mcb doesn't normally bring anything else down unless fed through rcd for ground lights or similar.
could be a fault on a feed outside .try to narrow it down anyhow

Thanks for the feedback.

What I mean is when this particular MCB is in the off mode we have a fault free system, if I put this MCB in the on position we have power for say an hour, then it all drops so at the moment the lighting MCB is off.

The MCB setup is around 3 years old. Can a MCB go faulty?

Whats a RCD?

brightspark

Hi Greenman

Does the MCB also feed an outside light?

I've seen outside lights full of water that only tripped the MCB after a period of time.

davelerave

i'm still puzzled as to whether it's a simple lighting 'mcb' that's tripping or whether the house is maybe hooked up through an rcd that's tripping(could even be TT,is it belgium or ireland?)
when you say 'it all drops' do you mean total blackout?

Greenman

davelerave wrote: »

i'm still puzzled as to whether it's a simple lighting 'mcb' that's tripping or whether the house is maybe hooked up through an rcd that's tripping(could even be TT,is it belgium or ireland?)
when you say 'it all drops' do you mean total blackout?

Hi Dave,
Thanks for your interest.

Its Belgium not Ireland.

Yes "it all drops" means total blackout.

Anyway we're foxxed so I've called in an expert, he comes tomorrow, I'll keep the thread updated.

BTW A pal at work who is an electrician said it might be an earthing issue maybe dampness has leaked in somewhere.

Regards JD:)

Greenman

brightspark wrote: »

Hi Greenman

Does the MCB also feed an outside light?

I've seen outside lights full of water that only tripped the MCB after a period of time.

Just saw this!!!! I think you might be on to something. But even when the outside lights were disconnected it trips after say an hours time.

As said the pro comes tomorrow.

Thanks

Greenman

Greenman wrote: »

As said the pro comes tomorrow.

The pro has been and went, problem sorted.

It was a lenght of wire in our old extension doing nothing, it seems that someone in the past had snipped it and just left it lie there.

We were in that extension attic following another wire and I heard buzzing. The wire has been isolated so all sorted and he's coming back to tidy up the circuit board. Its a house of 60 years that we are modernising slowly but surely.

Thanks for your input.

JD:)