Power Lost!!!

[brianoakes]

Hi guys,

was welding in my shed and the welder started losing power, then the whole lot just went out, lights, sockets, everything.

Checked all trip switches and all were up (not tripped) and then checked fusebox beside house which was fine.

Power is still in the house but the sheds have no power

Can someone Help me please!!!!

Thanks,
Brian

 

[Steve]

What is the supply arrangement for the shed?

What you've asked is like "My car wont move, whats wrong with it?"

We need more info on the supply.

What is the power rating of the welder (copy the data plate here or show us a clear photo if you dont understand it)

 

[ColJack]

welder started losing power

.....

sounds to me like you've melted a cable or a terminal somewhere..

if it had just gone out then i'd say a breaker or fuse etc, but as it sounds like it "faded" out then that's indicative of the CSA of the cable reducing and therefore causing more volts drop, as it melted...

 

[ban-all-sheds]

the welder started losing power, then the whole lot just went out, lights, sockets, everything.

Sounds like something came loose, or broke, or melted.

Any protective device operating would cut the supply instantly - if yours gradually dropped off then it was due to relatively gradual damage.

[edit]Doh![/edit]

 

[brianoakes]

Shed is running on domestic wiring, on a different circuit to the house.

welder has no plates, borrowed it from a lad down the road, its very..very old! Best description...big dirty farmer welder! it was on the lowest setting as i was welding an exhaust I think it was on setting 25...
yeah it was gradual failure so yeah something is melted somewhere but there is huge amounts of wiring around the whole yard...like a needle in a hay stack.

the whole yard went out, but the house is grand

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Then you have 2 choices.

1) Carry on with no electricity to the yard.

2) Start looking for that needle.

 

[rebuke]

If everything is out, then that helps you narrow it down - start at the first point you have power (the house by the sound of it), and visually inspect all the connections along the way to your shed - if you have a multimeter you can also test for power at each point.

Note that once you've found the problem, don't stop looking, as if one point has melted it's possible that another point further along might have as well - you don't want to miss something that could then be likely to cause a fire later.

Additionally, even if you find the problem yourself, you should probably get an electrician in to check the type of breakers being used in relation to the cable sizes, as if they were matched then in theory the breaker should have tripped before the cable melted.