What am I missing?

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I've been called out to a house where half the lights are out but the circuit breaker has not tripped
This happened after a couple of bulbs blew and only affects the extension that was put on 10 years ago
I've checked all lights and switches ,no loose connections, all lives and neutral are looped through switch boxes but there doesn't seem to be a connection between old and new part of the house
Going back to check for junction box above the ceiling but its not boarded just insulation between joists.
Any thoughts
Steve
 
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I have been to a couple of sites where the lighting feed to the new part is fed from a ring final, through an FCU with a 5A fuse in it.
Bulb blows, fuse pops, no lights anymore.
Have a hunt for one of those fcus that nobody knows what they are for.
 
I have been to a couple of sites where the lighting feed to the new part is fed from a ring final, through an FCU with a 5A fuse in it.
Bulb blows, fuse pops, no lights anymore.
Have a hunt for one of those fcus that nobody knows what they are for.

Yes, my money is on hidden FCU:)

DS
 
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I've checked them all today ,nothing found.
on a hunch ,I checked the sockets ,in the new part of the upstairs bed room the sockets are fed from the downstairs ring so there are 2 circuits feeding the room so I think the lights are the same.
Going to start cutting holes in walls
 
Unlikely to be a cable fault. Check all switches , sockets and the elusive FCU for loose connections first
 
These aren't low voltage jobbies with a transformer or something like in the circuit are they? (Just a thought :) ). Might be worth taking sockets off the walls near the extension and look for unexplained extra cables in the back boxes- sounds like a bit of a lashup.
 
Oh let him hack his poor customer's walls to pieces.

The damage to his wallet and his reputation will be a very effective learning exercise.
 
I've been called out to a house where half the lights are out but the circuit breaker has not tripped
This happened after a couple of bulbs blew and only affects the extension that was put on 10 years ago
I've checked all lights and switches ,no loose connections, all lives and neutral are looped through switch boxes but there doesn't seem to be a connection between old and new part of the house
Going back to check for junction box above the ceiling but its not boarded just insulation between joists.
Any thoughts
Steve

I don't know who you are, if you actually are an electrician, how experienced you are, but Bloody Hell.

You are going about this the wrong way.

Now it's very easy for me to say this, as I'm not there - but you need a more methodical approach.

For instance - are you missing live, neutral or both? And is the earth intact?

This alone will help to find out what may have gone wrong.

The FCU theory is my first thought too, but of course it could be anything.

I don't care much for this 'MAY be a junction box' idea. You don't want to be making holes unless you're very certain.

Chances are it's something very simple.

Send pics if you can, I'm sure we'll enjoy those...
 
I would quess the bulbs blowing is more a clue rather than the cause, id be looking at them points in more detail,
as per sparkwright id be checking N and E continuity, if present you can break down the circuit and find both source and destination of the supply cable
 
What test have actually been carried out? As it sounds like you do not know where the circuit is distributed from, so how have you established of failed to established if a conductor is out?
Is there a possibility that the new extension circuit has been fitted/terminated in the same device as the previous existing lighting circuit and become loose there?
 

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