1) My trip switch is faulty, it won’t turn on!
This is a common phrase we hear when people call us in a panic. They have discovered that a switch in their consumer unit will not turn on and have called in a panic. There are a number of reasons why a switch in the fuse box or consumer unit will not turn on or why it has gone faulty.
There is a fault on the circuit that the switch controls
There is a problem with the circuit breaker / trip switch itself
The circuit breaker / trip switch has been reset too many times and has broken
Just because the circuit breaker or trip switch will not turn back on does not necessarily mean that you have a FAULTY TRIP SWITCH , often there is an issue further into the electrical installation. There are some things you may be able to do yourself if you have a look in our help sheets section, have a read through and see if these solve anything for you.
2) Your help sheets didn’t help what else can we do?
Absolutely nothing now. That’s it. We wrote down every helpful thing we could think of in the help sheets section. If they were no help then that’s it, you are beyond help.
Only kidding.
So, if the help sheets have not resolved anything for you then you really do need to give us a call for a quick chat. It might be necessary for us to come out and investigate the issue for you. There are times when an electrician visit is absolutely necessary and if you have tried everything on the help sheets then we will likely have to visit you to see what the problem is.
3) How much is a visit going to cost?
Well, that depends on when we are coming. If we are coming as an emergency as soon as possible then it will be our standard emergency call out rate which covers our attendance and up to the first hour dealing with this problem. Out of hours rate is a little higher.
If your problem is not an emergency then we can offer our minimum charge rate and arrange to come on a mutually convenient time and date. Our charges can be found on our website here: https://www.electricalfaultsfixed.co.uk/helpsheet/how-much-is-it%3F
Please note that the charges will not necessarily cover the cost of any parts that are needed to complete any work. These parts will be at extra cost and will only be known once we begin your job.
4) My trip switch is hot, is this bad?
Hot? Bad? Yes!
Warm? Bad? Not necessarily.
Warm or hot does not mean a FAULTY TRIP SWITCH
A trip switch is designed to work in one of two ways. A MCB (circuit breaker) has two different ways in which it will trip and disconnect power to sockets, lights, shower and so on.
Firstly, it has the ability to monitor how much electricity you are using for appliances like washing machine, dishwasher, kettle, toaster and so on. If it detects that too much power is being used it will eventually turn off the circuit when there could be damage being done to the wires in your walls.
Secondly, it has the ability to disconnect a circuit very quickly indeed (fractions of a second) when it senses that there is a massive amount of power being used such as a damaged cable or appliance causing a short circuit. When there is a short circuit created there is a very LARGE fault current that flows through a circuit that can cause fire and damage to cabling so the circuit breaker disconnects more quickly.
During the normal operation of an electrical circuit there is a certain amount of heat created. If we think about using washing machines, dishwasher, kettles, ovens and so on there is a lot of power being used. As the circuit is used the cabling warms up. The circuit breaker will also warm up. This is normal.
A HOT circuit breaker indicates there is a problem. Please turn it off and call us immediately.
5) What will you do with a hot circuit breaker?
There are a number of things that we can do when we attend your property to check the problem for you. We can test to see if the circuit breaker is faulty.
Thermal camera and temperature measuring equipment to see if there is excessive heat coming from the circuit breaker beyond its normal operating temperature
Measure the amount of electricity that is being used on the circuit that the circuit breaker protects and see if this is causing a problem
Check the electrical connections at the consumer unit / fuse box to see if there is anything loose, tighten to the manufacturers recommended torque settings
Examine the circuit and perform other testing to check for dangers of faults on the circuit.
6) My trip switch goes off at strange times of the day, why?
Good question. That is because at certain times of the day there are problems that the circuit breaker detects then operates to disconnect the circuit. 😊 Not helpful? Well, read on.
There can be a variety of reasons that circuit breaker will go off at various times of day and night. When faults such as these occur, it is not always guaranteed that we will be able to pin them down immediately. Intermittent faults are difficult to find although sometimes there will be traces in the circuit of the fault that we are able to detect. In these instances, it is often worthwhile having us out for an initial attendance to check things out for you. If we cannot detect any issues then we will let you know, we will have a chat regarding what happens and when. It may be for instance that you have a timer for something in the house that only comes on at 11pm for example which coincides with when the circuit breaker trips?
Whatever the problem you are having with a suspected FAULTY TRIP SWITCH give us a call and see how we could help you.
