Any electricians out there?

[batnurse]

Help! I'm sitting here in the dark as the fuse for my lights keeps flicking off. I've tried turning it back on again but it just keeps turning itself off again. Is this something I can sort out myself or do I have to get an electrician in tomorrow? :what:

[Isis]

Just leave it a while and try again.

This happened to me once. The main fuse went out and kept flicking off when I tried to put it back on. I tried unplugging all my appliances but still no joy. Phoned Scottish Power who told me to phone an emergency electrician. The minute he arrived, it just clicked back on no problem. Needless to say he didn't believe that I had already tried that and acted as if I was the stupidest woman in the world :rolleyes:

[Chef]

Help! I'm sitting here in the dark as the fuse for my lights keeps flicking off. I've tried turning it back on again but it just keeps turning itself off again. Is this something I can sort out myself or do I have to get an electrician in tomorrow? :what:

From what you say it sounds like you have a circuit breaker rather than a fuse (because you can reset it - a fuse would need to be replaced).

If the wall sockets are still live then you will need to plug in some bedside lights (or any lights that plug into the wall) to give you some light to move around the house.

Circuit breakers are nicely sensitive and something like an incandesant bulb burning out can often trigger them but once that has happened you can ususally reset them. So if the fault persists it MAY indicate a more serious fault.

If you want to try one last thing (assuming you have some light available) try removing all the bulbs, resetting the circiut breaker (if it pops back out at this point then leave it alone, go to bed and call a professional in the morning), othewise try replacing the light bulbs one by one (checking the light bulbs by listening for the rattle of a burnt out filament before you do so) and ensuring that he circuit breaker stays in when you turn each light on one by one. If a new or working bulb in a light socket causes the breaker to pop out then leave it alone, you have done all you can, call a professional.

Hope this helps

[Keefy]

Have you tried turning off individual lights? I have seen a bulb blow in a manner that took out a fuse, if you can trace the problem to one light then try chainging the bulb?

[batnurse]

Thank everyone. One bulb did blow and when I changed it the new one didn't work either so I guess that's where it all started. I have got sockets working, so not sitting in the dark anymore, although the fuse went when I'd just got in the bath earlier :blush:
I'll try the whole bulb thingy tomorrow, I'm off to bed now - the electric blanket is still working :clap:

[ducasi]

Sounds like there's either a problem with the new bulb or the socket it is in.

Try another bulb, then do a visual inspection of the socket. Then if you can't get it to work, call an electrician.

[StokeBloke]

It's a shame Barry isn't there with you, from what I have seen of your comments the sun shines out of his.........

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

[martingold]

electrican to the rescue (albeit industrial but the basics are the same)
it could be what we call a lazy trip ie one that has tripped many times in the past they get to a stage when a small (or even no) fault will trip them these trips work on heat generated by too much current passing through a bi metal strip(two bits of metal with different heat expansion rates welded together so they bend when heated) which weakens when tripped a lot of times
So firstly as others have said on here give it time to cool down then turn off any circuit which is on the trip that will tell you if it could be a bulb or not (if a light is switched of then the bulb will not be connected to the trip) if this all fails call an electrician problem is without seeing it or asking a whole raft of questions its very dificult to diagnose this type of problem

[kiwi_clay]

electrican to the rescue (albeit industrial but the basics are the same)
it could be what we call a lazy trip ie one that has tripped many times in the past they get to a stage when a small (or even no) fault will trip them these trips work on heat generated by too much current passing through a bi metal strip(two bits of metal with different heat expansion rates welded together so they bend when heated) which weakens when tripped a lot of times
So firstly as others have said on here give it time to cool down then turn off any circuit which is on the trip that will tell you if it could be a bulb or not (if a light is switched of then the bulb will not be connected to the trip) if this all fails call an electrician problem is without seeing it or asking a whole raft of questions its very dificult to diagnose this type of problem

Not an Electrician, but..
To check the suggestion above if you have removable circuit breakers you could swap one OF IDENTICAL RATING into the circuit and see if that helps (of course make sure this is not the one your fridge is on)

[dave the scaffolder]

Try taking the bulb out its socket wet your finger and turn on the lights, stick wet finger into socket and see what happens.

I actually did this when I was a young child and was flung across the room.

A burnt finger and a good hiding later i decided being a sparky was not the career path for me.

DTS Dave XXX XXX

[martingold]

Not an Electrician, but..
To check the suggestion above if you have removable circuit breakers you could swap one OF IDENTICAL RATING into the circuit and see if that helps (of course make sure this is not the one your fridge is on)
it wont be if its the lighting circuit it should probably only be about 6 amps whereas the fridge will be on a circuit rated at 32 amps

I was taking her to the stage where she should get an electrician in
as i said i am an industrial electrician same basic stuff but completely different rules


Try taking the bulb out its socket wet your finger and turn on the lights, stick wet finger into socket and see what happens.

I actually did this when I was a young child and was flung across the room.

A burnt finger and a good hiding later i decided being a sparky was not the career path for me.

DTS Dave XXX XXX
I play with lots more volts than the ones you get in your home believe me it hurts more as well :blush:

[Isis]

The other week I had a power cut. Since then my water heater won't work.

I switched off the electricity to check the fuse and my Sky wouldn't come back on after that! The lights are working on the box but I keep getting a message that no satellite signal is being received.

Anyone any ideas how I could fix these things myself before I call in the Cavalry. (And just in case, can anyone recommend a good electrician in Glasgow?)

[Astro]

I play with lots more volts than the ones you get in your home believe me it hurts more as well :blush:

My Dad was an spark and it goes with the job.

He always wore rubber soled boots. I expect you know that though Martin.:blush:

Now he has Alzheimers he had to stop working. If he hadn't he'd still be working in his 70's. He loved his job and would have worked Xmas Day if folks would have had him in their house.

[Petal]

I had the same problem with my sky box. The instructions on their website tell you to, switch the box off, carefully disconnect the two cables at the back of the box, leave them for 30 mins, then reconnect the cables carefully, making sure you don't bend the middle wire (i think its call a coaxal or something), then switch it back on, and it should work, mine did. The other thing is to remove the card from the front of the box then replace it in the box.

[Isis]

I had the same problem with my sky box. The instructions on their website tell you to, switch the box off, carefully disconnect the two cables at the back of the box, leave them for 30 mins, then reconnect the cables carefully, making sure you don't bend the middle wire (i think its call a coaxal or something), then switch it back on, and it should work, mine did. The other thing is to remove the card from the front of the box then replace it in the box.

It didn't work. :sad:

Tried all the other instructions on the website and they didn't work. :sad:

Phoned Sky technical support and couldn't understand a word the guy was saying and was put on hold for ever. :sad:

While I was waiting I put the error message into Google and came up with this:

press services
press 4
quickly press 0, 1 and then select

this will give you the installer setup menu.

press 2
this will give you the default transponder menu. now, my frequency was wrong so all i had to do was press red to reset it and it now reads 11.778 and all is well with my sky+ again

and it worked. :clap:

So for future reference, if anyone gets a message "No satellite signal being received" with number 29 being displayed, try the above. :flower:

One problem down, one to go. Boiling kettles for hot water is getting annoying. :sad:

[philsmove]

One problem down, one to go. Boiling kettles for hot water is getting annoying. :sad:

some imersion heaters have a thernal cut out, a red thingy, that need to be reset

[Isis]

some imersion heaters have a thernal cut out, a red thingy, that need to be reset

Thanks, will go and search for a red thingy. :flower: