DavidAshton Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 (edited) Hopefully someone can point me in the right direction with this before I have to get elbow deep in Google. Basically the wife switched the room lights on earlier and boom bang flash all the downstairs lights go off. Man duty time! Into the garage I go to the electric box, I don't know the technical name yet? I see the downstairs light breaker is now in the off position, normally flick it back up and everything comes back on, brownie points earned and crack on........only today none of the lights came back on! This is my electric box: After flicking everything off and on a few times still no downstairs lights! I am guessing something has blown in here? Either way I thought I would take a look inside, can't be that difficult right? Looks like this........hmmmmmm? Quite a few warning stickers at this stage, me and my trusty screw driver decided not to poke any further without consulting someone who knows a bit about electrics? Is it a case of disconnecting the breaker for the downstairs lights and putting a new one back in of the same spec? Any input much appreciated, a beer at Japfest if anyone gives me a full breakdown of what to do?!?! Edited April 10, 2013 by DavidAshton Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Lew91 Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 (edited) Pull the light fuse out and test it with an amp/volt metre, make sure all the powers of first tho obviously. If nothing comes up its fooked.Edit: I'm not an electrician it's just what I did with mine and it needed replacing. I take no responsibility if you kill yourself lol Edited April 10, 2013 by Lew91 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
russ78 Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 (edited) if you have power except for the lights bud and you can swich the rcd on and nothing happens chances are you've blown the rcd,it will need replacing check the amps and get over to screwfix and buy another but bear in mind theres obviously a reason its blown in the first place when replacing the rcd make sure main breaker(twin red rcd) is off and switch off all the lights*********replace at your own risk buddy don't touch any bear wires ****** Edited April 10, 2013 by russ78 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Roachy1994 Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 alright mate before you go buying a mcb if you want mail me your address etc and i can post you a 6 amp mcb from work if you want as we use hager mcb's all the time when you replace the mcb make sure the main switch is off the furthest one on the right and then you unscrew the screw at the bottom to loosen it from the buzz bar and then unscrew the cable side then hope this helps Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Roachy1994 Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 but for it to blow you must have a short circuit some were for the current to flow alot higher than the 6 amp Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TurboTobz Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 Consumer unit/distribution board is the box and miniature circuit breaker is the flicky switch, test it but does sound like you have a dead short there. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MARC MOSS Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 If you don't even know what the board Is called why the fuck did u open it dude, call a spark in and have him look... Electric shocks hurt I was put in hospital thanks to inexperience 20 years ago with burns to my hand and arm Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DavidAshton Posted April 11, 2013 Author Share Posted April 11, 2013 If you don't even know what the board Is called why the fuck did u open it dude, call a spark in and have him look... Electric shocks hurt I was put in hospital thanks to inexperience 20 years ago with burns to my hand and arm Lol, I am not totally retarded, I shit myself just looking at it, I would never poke it or start messing with it without being sure of what's what. I like to know a bit about things and learn / do as much as I can around my house, plus I don't know any sparks so I would risk being ripped off due to me not knowing anything. Anyway I have been told I may just need to reset the RCD by pushing in the blue button, does that sound right, make sense? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TurboTobz Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 Press the RCD yeah, sorry should have mentioned that Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Neil69 Posted April 13, 2013 Share Posted April 13, 2013 The lights are not on the rcd side . If the rcd had tripped you would loose sockets as well. Unlikely it is the mcb. It is more likely the light you turned on when it switched off is the problem. Ensure all downstairs lights are off. Try and reset mcb. If that fails still turn off double red switch far right and remove the single wire from the mcb that is tripping out. Power it backup and see if it stays on. If it dosent then mcb is knackered. If it does then a wiring fault in the house somewhere. But I will also say you should not be in the consumer unit with no knowledge. It can kill. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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