(Socket) not working (Ed.)

[Daniel3103]

How about some photos, of this panel, extra equipment, and the 'board where the trip switches' are?

Do you have access to a 'none contact voltage tester pen'/ volt stick?

Here is a photo. The X marks the point where the cable goes through the wall to the conservatory, the socket being on the other side of that same wall. Where the cable is visible, I have marked lines alongside it. The interruption between the bottom line and the top one corresponds to the length of cable running behind the orange-painted panel. (The cable I refer to is, of course, the one between the faulty socket and the electrical board.)

And no, I don’t have access to a tester pen or volt stick. Are they reasonably cheap to get, and are they reasonably easy to learn to use and safe
in use?

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Are they reasonably cheap to get, and are they reasonably easy to learn to use and safe
in use?

Yes, yes, and yes - very safe.

How have you traced that blue marked cable? If you have tugged at the lower end, and the upper end moves, then that suggests there is no hidden FCU behind that panel.

Additionally, no one in their right mind, would attempt to disturb any of that, mounted on the panel, or the panel, to fit one behind it. Nor should you make any attempt to disturb the panel, it would be extremely dangerous.

Now - we are fairly certain, that socket is fed directly (no FCU) from that consumer unit - the large box at the upper part of your photo, bearing the words CAUTION.

Your first check should be to make absolutely sure, nothing has tripped, in the CU (consumer unit). Open the flap, and post a photo of what you can see.

 

[Daniel3103]

Your first check should be to make absolutely sure, nothing has tripped, in the CU (consumer unit). Open the flap, and post a photo of what you can see.

Thank you for that suggestion!

I have now found what the problem was. Something had tripped in the consumer unit.

I didn’t realize it, but the electrician who installed my socket appears to have wired it to its own circuit from the consumer unit. When he came, there were two circuits covering my bungalow, as I have mentioned. That left a few trip switches free in the consumer unit, and the electrician seems to have wired the new socket to one of them, on its own circuit that doesn’t cover anything else. I actioned one of the switches that I thought was free, and that made my socket work again.

So, problem solved!

 

[securespark]

Excellent!

 

[Scally-Ho]

Just as a matter of interest, what was the ampere rating of the 'trip switch' as you call it that was feeding the dead socket?

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

That left a few trip switches free in the consumer unit, and the electrician seems to have wired the new socket to one of them, on its own circuit that doesn’t cover anything else. I actioned one of the switches that I thought was free, and that made my socket work again.

Well done, got there in the end - now would be a good time to label that MCB.

 

[Daniel3103]

Just as a matter of interest, what was the ampere rating of the 'trip switch' as you call it that was feeding the dead socket?

It’s a B16. Is that the information you were asking for? Maybe that was too low for the landscapers’ equipment in my garden, and that’s why the switch tripped.

 

[Daniel3103]

Now would be a good time to label that MCB.

Yes, that’s a good idea!

 

[Scally-Ho]

It’s a B16. Is that the information you were asking for? Maybe that was too low for the landscapers’ equipment in my garden, and that’s why the switch tripped.

Yes, I was just curious as to the rating as I was wondering what overload took out the circuit MCB or other protective device. I'm guessing it was around 25amp plus to kill the circuit, so now I ask do you know what the loading was when the circuit failed?

 

[Jurassicspark]

It’s a B16. Is that the information you were asking for? Maybe that was too low for the landscapers’ equipment in my garden, and that’s why the switch tripped.

I doubt it tripped from an overload as there is only one socket connected to it. Just a question, do you know what tools were plugged in to the socket?

A faulty device must have been plugged in causing it to trip.

 

[pete01]

I doubt it tripped from an overload as there is only one socket connected to it. Just a question, do you know what tools were plugged in to the socket?

A faulty device must have been plugged in causing it to trip.

Might of been a 110v transformer B16s dont like those

 

[Jurassicspark]

Might of

Might have.

 

[pete01]

Might have.

Damn it

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

It’s a B16. Is that the information you were asking for? Maybe that was too low for the landscapers’ equipment in my garden, and that’s why the switch tripped.

Nope, it should have been fine, if their equipment was designed to work on a 13amp plug. Often it is not, they have changed the plug to a 13amp. A B16, will often trip, before a 13amp plug fuse blows, in response to a fault.

A B16 or a B20, is absolutely fine..

 

[Daniel3103]

In response to recent questions and comments, I don’t know what the overload was on the circuit when it tripped and I can’t remember what equipment was being used, but it was heavy equipment and, at the time, the workers using it told me they were not surprised it made the circuit tripped. There might well have been a transformer involved - in my experience, contractors doing outdoor work at my place have often used one.
After the tripping, we plugged the equipment into one of my other sockets in my bungalow, and it worked fine. All the other sockets are on a circuit connected to a B32 trip switch in the consumer unit.