Lost all electric

[hopeful and expectant]

Hi, my house is a 1940's built council property which i purchased last week, upon fitting my electric freestanding cooker i found that the cooker switch was no longer wired. I fitted 6mm twin and earth to the cooker using blue as neutral, brown as live, and green yellow as earth. At this point i have not connected the cooker and inadvertantly swithched the cooker switch, resulting in a loud bang and the house in darkness. I switched off the power at the consumer unit which is old looking with 6 wired fuses. i checked all 3 - 30amp fuses all ok, 2 - 15 amp fuses all ok, and one 5 amp fuse ok. All the fuses ok yet no power anywhere in the house. This is the only fuseboard in the house and i have checked in the meter outside and it isnt moving, no red light, and all that is in the cupbord is the meter, and a 60 amp fuse sealed with wire twists either end of its housing.
If anyone can advise me of what has happened, i know the cause which was the cooker wire ends shorting out yet no blown fuses, but what is the damage? why have i got no power and what shall i do about it? I have limited cash because i am a first time home buyer and xmas is around the corner!
Any advice and rough costs would be very much appreciated thanks all!

 

[jdm]

If all of your fuses are ok as you said, then I could only assume that the 60 amp main fuse has blown. You need to speak to the supplier to replace it. Don't know about costs though.

 

[johnny_t]

Two quick additional points:

1) If your switch has nothing on the 'out' side of it, and flicking it caused such a huge failure then there is something very wrong with your switch and it will need replacing.

2) If you have really blown your service fuse, then you need to investigate how the cooker switch is wired in. Blowing this main fuse implies that it is not wired through any of the others...

 

[slippyr4]

are you able to take a photo of the entire fusebox-meter installation? In the (probably quite small chance) that there's something else other than the service fuse gone bang, someone here may spot it for you.

 

[JohnD]

I expect by that by now you have called your electricity supplier, they are usually very quick to replace main fuses.

You say that you have rewirable fuses (ugh!) with fusewire in them; sometimes when they fail you can't see the burnt out bit, it might be inside the porcelain or plastic holder, but they are not considered very accurate and sometimes people rewire them with incorrect sized wire. Have a look at the fusebox and tell us what makers name is on it, you can get plug-in MCB replacements for the commonest brand which are safer.

As you have just moved in, take out the fuses one at a time, see what goes off, and put some clear labels on the fusebox.

BTW it would have been a good idea to take out the cooker fuse and verify that the circuit was dead before starting work.

Good luck...

 

[Spark123]

As a final check, make sure there is the correct size fuse wire in the fuse holders, I have known some people to shove anything they can lay their hand on at the time in them.

 

[JohnD]

As a final check, make sure there is the correct size fuse wire in the fuse holders, I have known some people to shove anything they can lay their hand on at the time in them.

Two-inch nail, 500A slow-blow

 

[Spark123]

M8 bolt

 

[ban-all-sheds]

http://safetycenter.navy.mil/photo/archive/photo178.htm

 

[andy]

and a 60 amp fuse sealed with

never stopped to think that you could have blown the 60A fuse?

but since the 30A fuse did not blow, you need to check that it is the right rating and not a nail or something replacing it

 

[JohnD]

H&E, with a bit of luck, your old consumer unit will be one of these Wylexes. Opinions differ on how good they are, but I believe there were about 20 million of them installed over the last 30 years, and the good thing is (they are still made) that you can buy modern MCBs that will plug straight in like your fusefolders, and bring you up to a fairly modern standard. that's why i asked you to look for the make or show us a picture.

Consumer unit

and a plug-in MCB same size as old fuse

the older ones are often brown.

How are you getting on, by the way?

 

[Steve]

How are you getting on, by the way?

he cant tell us until he's fixed it duh oh, wait, how did he post in the first place . . . doh perhaps he has run an extension lead to a friendly neighbour, so he can use his cooker

 

[hopeful and expectant]

Thank you all for you help, electric board came and replaced the 60amp fuse all ok, and thanks for the advice on the consumer unit, mine is exactly the same as the pic but brown so i am going to use mcb's as soon as i find a good supplier.
Thanks again

 

[JohnD]

Delighted to hear it! Wylex "Standard" MCBs are what you want, they are available from Screwfix (mail order) for £7.25 inc VAT each, any Electrical supplier will have them, but screwfix are usually a good price.

Make sure you get the "Standard" type, because the later ones are thinner and will not fit your CU. They are available at 6Amp, 16Amp and 32Amp which will replace your old 5, 15 and 30 fuses. If you're really short of money do the power circuits first.

Have a look at http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro.jsp?id=34544&ts=77565

 

[slippyr4]

Great to hear you're back in power...

...but please do heed the advise from above, and work out why it came down to the supply fuse to disconnect the suppy. Something with a lower rating should have blown before the electricity company fuse; something is amiss with your wiring which is probably quite dangerous.