Upstairs lights switch on fuse box wont work

[PULLMYFINGER]

Hi,

Just went to switch a light on upstairs but there was nothing so tried another light still nothing, so tried the plug sockets all fine.

Looked at my consumer unit and the switch for the upstairs light had tripped but when i try to switch it back on it just springs back off again.

Any help would be great

Normally when a bulb goes it trips then change the bulb and hey-presto switch it back on again. Could this just be a bulb thats gone and i need to find out which one or is it something else?

Thanks

 

[mikhailfaradayski]

Why don't you remove all the lamps that are connected to the problem circuit and try the mcb again?

have you done any other work recently?

 

[bongos]

Does it "spring to off" with a flash and a bang? Or will it just not stay in the on position?

If it won't stay on but there is no sign of any arcing or similar then it could be that the MCB is knackered, although this isn't really that common. Otherwise you may still have a L>N fault present on that circuit.

OOI, is the MCB on a RCD protected circuit? If so, it might be worth turning the RCD off and trying to switch the MCB back on. If it still won't stay in the on postion then I think it will have given up on life and will need replacing. If it will stay in the on postion but trips as soon as you switch the RCD back on then you have a fault somewhere.

The above experiment should also work if you switch the CU off via the main isolator switch, if you have no RCD.