Extremely loud bang near fusebox.

Joined
18 Aug 2026
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
Country
United Kingdom
I have a problem which I have already ran past various electricians, without success.

I have an old-style fusebox next to my gas meter. Yesterday morning, began an extremely loud, single, metallic-sounding explosive bang from this same general area. It was frightening.

Roughly once every one to two hours. There was no buzzing, crackling, flash or smell. Nothing tripped. It seemed completely random. I was sitting at home alone, with no appliances being switched on or off. Nothing affected.

After contacting numerous emergency electricians without finding anyone immediately available, I eventually found an electrician through a friend. He isolated six existing sockets at the sockets themselves.

The banging stopped and has not returned.

Respectfully, I wasn't confident in the electrician's ability to establish the cause, as he seemed somewhat out of his depth. So I would like someone more experienced to investigate it properly.

At the time of calling around for an emergency electrician I took the opportunity to ask each of them what might have been causing the bang, and they were mystified.

There are green/yellow wires clamped to the gas pipe near the gas meter, and I have wondered whether the sound could have been coming from there. Although the proximity of the gas and electricity meters made it impossible to source the sound, the nature of the sound has made me somewhat convinced that the noise was from here. But I should be open minded I guess.

Has anyone any thoughts on what might cause this?

I’m certainly not looking to do anything myself - I just want to understand the possibilities well enough to help me hire someone competent.
 
Wouldn't know what to suggest, you need someone else to take a look.

Usually with a loud bang a fuse blows or something similar.
 
A stripped wire occasionally making contact live- neutral.
I had the same problem before rewiring and I traced it to a wire that had been partially chewed by mice.
The rewireable fuses didn't break.
 
A stripped wire occasionally making contact live- neutral.
I had the same problem before rewiring and I traced it to a wire that had been partially chewed by mice.
The rewireable fuses didn't break.
Whats banging if the fuse wire didn't blow?
 
The arching.
We were going mad trying to identify the exact spot where the bang came from.
Eventually we found the problem and soon after we renovated the whole ground floor, so we rewired the lot.
Now you've sais that I did have a faulty main switch once that was making a banging noise but no fuses went.
 
That's so helpful, and makes sense. Thank you.

Would the general location of the bang be a good indicator for the location of the stripped/damaged wire?
 
I wonder if photos would help? If the banging has stopped, I doubt it’ll be the earth bonding (the green/yellow cable) you mentioned. Perhaps a cheap plug in tester or an electrician with one to maybe pinpoint the faulty circuit? If you say where you’re roughly based, maybe someone on here can assist?
 

If you need to find a tradesperson to get your job done, please try our local search below, or if you are doing it yourself you can find suppliers local to you.

Select the supplier or trade you require, enter your location to begin your search.


Are you a trade or supplier? You can create your listing free at DIYnot Local

 
Back
Top