L/Earth Reverse Issue

[chappers17]

Hi, Im in need of some help and advice.

Had a fit of rage yesterday after dinner went wrong and slammed the microwave door shut, this the blew it and now does not work. The socket it was connected to does not work (but live) and also another 5 sockets that are linked have all stopped working.

I have changed the face plates on all but they still do not work. I have checked other sockets in the house and these appear to work fine.

Plugged a socket tester in and it shows only 1 light (far right of three) which indicates "L&Earth Reverse", this socket is the main feed of power and then splits off to others and also a junction box.
All other sockets have no lights on but again have power going to them.

Very confused as to why this is, can anyone please share some light as to why this has happened, what I can do or check to try and fix it first without calling in an electrician??

Your help is very much appreciated.

Thanks

 

[martinxxxxxx]

Hi

I am almost scared to help you..

Has the kitchen been refurbed at some recent time. If it has I am guessing (and it is a really wild one at that) that the whole kitchen has been connected to one circuit (another wild guess - the old cooker circuit) and that the seismic wave of energy from your temper has dislodged the neutral out of some hidden bodge under the work top or in the back of the initial socket (but as you have change the faceplate on this it is already checked?)

Martin

 

[chappers17]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply,
The kitchen was referbished about 3 years ago, but had no issues up until now.
I think the sockets that are linked and not working are all fed off the main circuit but not fed back to make a loop. I put a meter on all the sockets and Power is certainly there, and I have checked all the connections and faceplates. Wonder if the fault feeds back to a junction box up in the ceiling

 

[ricicle]

What type of 'meter' did you use to test for them being live ?

 

[sparkticus]

I have changed the face plates on all but they still do not work. I have checked other sockets in the house and these appear to work fine.

Changing things without evidence of needing to do so is likely to introduce additional faults and complicate what should have been a simple situation.

Plugged a socket tester in and it shows only 1 light (far right of three) which indicates "L&Earth Reverse", this socket is the main feed of power and then splits off to others and also a junction box.
All other sockets have no lights on but again have power going to them.

You must try to be very clear in these forums. There is only your written words to base any diagnostics on and it is somewhat confusing at the moment.

Go to the socket that was damaged. Use a MultiMeter to check that you have Live - Neutral and Earth.

Live - Neutral = approximately 230 volts
Live - Earth = approximately 230 volts

Also look carefully for loose connections in the back of that socket.

To be frank, this wiring sounds like a mess. If this is a ring final circuit (what you might call a ring main) then it sounds like it has a spur with multiple sockets connected which is not permitted or safe because it may abnormally load the ring circuit.

Very confused as to why this is, can anyone please share some light as to why this has happened, what I can do or check to try and fix it first without calling in an electrician??

You may need to do that anyway.

 

[Adam_151]

Sounds like somehow you've got an open circuit on the neutral.

This will often show up and L-E reverse. genuine L-E reverses don't normally suddenly occur in the way other faults do, they generally require a colourblind g** to cause them...