Upstairs Sockets Not Working

[Gethin130698]

Hi, am hoping someone out there can help me.

Have woken up this morning and all upstairs sockets are not working apart from a single random socket serving the TV in the main bedroom. All other sockets are not working.

After reviewing the fuse board, the MCB serving the sockets seems to be working as it serves the downstairs sockets as well.

It was working yesterday morning and no single event seems to have caused the sockets not to work.

Am thinking that the random upstairs working socket is connected to a separate ring circuit to the other sockets as all sockets downstairs are working.

Is this purely a disconnection somewhere on the upstairs ring circuit? If it is, where would that be? Could something plugged in downstairs be affecting the sockets upstairs?

Thanks in advance for any advice. Just thought I'd ask a few questions before calling an electrician to have a look.

Gethin

 

[Diyisfun]

If upstairs is on a radial not ring circuit, you could have a cable that's been chewed through or disconnected. As you say the socket that is working could be on another circuit or it could be the 1st on the radial.
Find out if the socket that is working is from another circuit, by removing fuses.
I am not an electrician.
They are either working or not up yet, Mmmm they could be playing golf..

 

[Gethin130698]

Thanks for the advice.

It turns out that there is an incorrectly labelled MCB in the fuse board.

After a bit of playing around with different fuses it turns out that the one labelled Immersion heater is actually the upstairs sockets. How random!

All solved now and many thanks.

Gethin

 

[JohnW2]

It turns out that there is an incorrectly labelled MCB in the fuse board. ... After a bit of playing around with different fuses it turns out that the one labelled Immersion heater is actually the upstairs sockets. How random!

After you have corrected that labelling, you might also want to consider sticking a warning note on/near the CU indicating that the one of the upstairs sockets is not on that circuit - otherwise someone might one day get a nasty surprise, or worse.

Kind Regards, John

 

[Gethin130698]

Ah yes! That's a very good idea. Will do that to ensure nobody gets a bad shock or worse, as you say.

No idea why there is a single socket wired from the downstairs circuit?

Thanks again

 

[knowall]

Hi, I would be more concerned as to the reason for the circuit tripping during the night.

regards,

NA

 

[Taylortwocities]

No idea why there is a single socket wired from the downstairs circuit?

It was probably an easy way to get a socket into that room without pulling up carpets & floors etc.

Not ideal, but not unusual!

 

[JohnW2]

No idea why there is a single socket wired from the downstairs circuit?

'Convenience' (when one wants to add an additional socket) is the usual reason. Is it perhaps not very close to other sockets in the bedroom?

As has been said, the outstanding question is why the (mislabelled) MCB tripped.

One thought. If the upstairs sockets circuit MCB was labelled 'immersion heater', what circuit is now supply the immersion heater (if you still have one) - or, put another way, is it possible that the circuit (MCB) is supplying both the immersion and upstairs sockets - which might open up the possibility of 'overloads' which could trip an MCB. What size/rating is this MCB (16A, 20A, 32A or what)?

Kind Regards, John