Garage power

Pretty sure I've seen newer MCBs fitted to those old MEM boards, but I wouldnt advise it. TBH I would look at getting the funds together to replace that board. It has a single point of failure for your entire house (that RCD). Nowadays we individually RCD protect circuits so there is no single point of failure. If a circuit trips, only that circuit looses power.

Does the garage consumer unit contain an RCD main switch? Take a picture of the whole thing.
 
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And yes, its relatively common to have an unused MCB where alterations have occured in the past. Its also relatively common to have mislabelled MCBs - you may find that MCB feeds another socket circuit.
 
Thanks,

Yes we had the whole lot tested and had the lighting circuit in the entire house rewired 6 years ago.

The garage has it's own fuse box. Last weekend, we had rather a lot running off the garage plugs (outdoor heaters, sound system).

The power suddenly went off in the garage. Both the lighting and the plugs (2 sepearte circuit breakers in the garage fuse box).

Nothing tripped. No burning smell or anything. Tried resetting by turning the power off and on
The question 'Oldbutnotdead' was asking: Have you had anything tested since the fail?
 
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Garage fuse board. Swapped over the un used one in the main fb but nothing still
 

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So. You need a multimeter at the very least to determine where the fault is. A voltstick or neon screwdriver isn't suitable for proving dead, nor are they particularly useful for faultfinding (if a neutral has gone astray you'll get some very odd indications).
When testing, assume everything is live (and thus hazardous if touched) until you have PROVED with a known good test device using a PROVED good earth that it is in fact not live.
 
Garage fuse board. Swapped over the un used one in the main fb but nothing still

Ok, nothing obvious in the garage then.

As said, you need a 2 probe voltage tester, which will tell you which parts of the wiring have 230v, and which parts don't have 230v.

Do you think there may be a switch or isolator somewhere between the house consumer unit and the garage consumer unit?
 
No, don't think there is an isolation switch anywhere. All other power working fine.

Have to bite the bullet and get an electrician. Doh
 
You don't fancy having a go with a voltage tester then? A £10 Wilko Special would do the job.

I should think it's a very simple fault.
 
I have a voltage testing pen but not sure what I'm meant to be testing
If you feel you can safely test, where the power leaves the house at the MCB serving the Garage would be the first point. Then where it enters/terminated in the garage. Can you report back you findings with a few pics? May be something simple like a loose connection.
 
As @chivers67 . You were running a fairly heavy electrical load (the heaters). It was fine for a while then it stopped working- which indicates something in the circuit was overloaded, got hot and failed. So you need to test the circuit, starting from the house. Your voltstick could give you a guide- if it is still glowing at the garage end of the cable then you have a neutral fault somewhere.
Bottom line though -if you don't feel confident (and crucially don't know how to work safely with electricity) then yes, get someone in. Mistakes can easily be fatal.
 

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