RESETTING
A TRIP SWITCH
- General Advice
- You Need
- What To Do
General Advice
- Modern electric circuits are fitted with a circuit breaker
fuse system. If a fault develops, a switch is tripped and the
circuit is broken.
- All of the fuses and trip switches are located in the consumer
unit. The consumer unit may be next to the electricity meter
(unless the meter is in an outside cupboard).
- Trip switches usually operate because:
- a circuit has been overloaded. Often too many appliances being used
at the same time
- an appliance is faulty or misused
- a kettle has been over-filled
- a toaster hasn't been cleaned
- a light bulb has blown
- an immersion heater is faulty.
- If an appliance is faulty, leave it unplugged and
get a qualified electrician or service engineer to check it.
- If a wall or ceiling light is faulty, keep it switched
off (put some tape over the switch) and contact us.
- NEVER TAMPER WITH THE ELECTRICITY COMPANY’S FUSE AND
SEALS.
You Need
- Torch
- Screwdriver
- Step ladder
What To Do
- Open the cover on the consumer unit to expose the trip switches.
- Check which switches have tripped to OFF position.
- Put these switches back to ON position.
If the trip goes again, it is probably being caused
by a faulty appliance. You need to identify which circuit is being affected
and which appliance on that circuit is causing the problem.
To identify the problem appliance
- Check all the rooms in the house and note which set of lights or
sockets (circuit) is not working.
- Unplug all appliances on that circuit and switch off the immersion
heater.
- Switch the ‘tripped’ switch to ON position.
- Plug in appliances and switch on lights one at a time until it trips
again.
- Do not use double adaptors when testing appliances. Test one appliance
per socket, until the trip goes.
General Advice | You Need
| What To Do
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