Reply With QuoteIf all the trips are on and you don't have power you possibly have 2 DBs?
Is the board you are checking marked DB1 anywhere?
Any electricians here by any chance?
About 8am lost light and power in the kitchen. Assumed it was a tripped circuit breaker, or a power cut.
Turns out it's neither
We have normal lights and sockets working in half the downstairs, and upstairs.
But kitchen, utility, dining room, loft conversion top floor and garage, all out!
Have reset all the trip switches all to no avail.
Anything else I can try before getting the sparky out next week?
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If all the trips are on and you don't have power you possibly have 2 DBs?
Is the board you are checking marked DB1 anywhere?
Or twin RCBs? Presumably you would have noticed if one of the two RCBs had tripped?
There is a small DB in the garage and another one in the shed.
On the main board the switches are all marked, so can see clearly that they are on but circuits not working.
Annoying to say the least!
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If all MCBs show "on" yet half the circuits have no power, you have answered your own question in the first post.
Get a sparks.
If I were you I would start saving up!
But I would be interested in hearing what the problem turns out to be, so keep us posted please.
Have you looked in the meter cupboard (on the side of the house)? We found a small DB tucked in there to split out to 2 DBs.
If it is a fairly new to you house I would try to find some sort of missing DB if you know the house well then electrician job.
As mentioned be interesting to hear the problem when it is diagnosed.
Seems like you are saying that some RCD-MCBs had tripped? Or did you just switch off and switch them back on (i.e they didn't trip previously - you just cycled them?)
It sounds like you have a bit of a bastardised system and who knows if the circuits are even marked correctly.
Reckon you will need an electrician in, and as well as remedial work - get him to identify and mark up every MCB.
If your fridge/freezer is now without power - run it from an extension lead from an energised socket.
It's all reasonably marked up, I suspect it's a burnt out connection somewhere, but will be a bugger to find.
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Maybe one of the incoming fuses as 415 v suggests 3 phase setup?
Oh right, what that then?
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Last edited by xxnick1975; 2nd April 2023 at 11:43.
Marked up might not be correctly marked up, though.Originally Posted by xxnick1975
Now see you have a 3ph supply. One of your phases is down I suspect, the one with your kitchen circuit on it.
One of these fellas?
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Probably, but as you can see they are tamper-proofed, so meddle ye not!
https://www.ukpowernetworks.co.uk
You can check on here if there are issues in your area. I have had exactly the same issue as you when one of the phases went down.
Everyone is going to scream at this but if it we me I'd take the cover off the distribution board & see if all the faulty circuits are wired off the same phase. it's a good bet you've lost one of the three phases.
I suspect you'd be better off getting an electrician in though.
Well that's strange but good.
Just set up a temporary kitchen in my office and everything has come back on!
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Last edited by xxnick1975; 2nd April 2023 at 13:48.
Sounds like the network has lost a phase locally nothing to do with your systemWell that's strange up good.
Just set up a temporary kitchen in my office and everything has come back on!
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Thanks everyone for such excellent advice. I've certainly learnt a lot from this episode.
If anyone has any further advice on how to manage it ongoing I'm all ears.
Has been quite fun in a way getting everyone huddled in one room!
Now I need to go round and plug everything back in.
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My aunt had similar last week and in the end the wiring was fine in her house but something had broken nearby. She was sure she was going to have to rewire.
As she's old they came out and spotted an issue on her boundary and fixed it. An electrician wouldn't have been able to solve it.
Well either you or a sparky could open up the DB & see how the breakers are distributed across the three phases - the breaker positions are sometimes marked with red yellow & blue (old colours) to indicate which phase it's connected to. Then at least you'll be able to see the pattern if a phase goes again. You could also see about fitting indicator lights on the panel so it's obvious if the power has gone off.
Had an issue with a breaker continually tripping in and out (auto reset type for a car charger) noisily. Also lights at one end of the property kept dimming and finally going out. Then they would come back on. Electrician couldn't find a fault so had UKPN put in a voltage monitor as he suspected some kind of voltage surge. After a week they came back and said it found no problems. Still had the breaker noise and lights dimming.
Two days later the power went off when a cable 50 yards away in the road apparently literally exploded. UKPN came out dug it up and reconnected the supply.
Since then no more noisy breaker box, no more dimming lights.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
You’re very lucky to have a domestic 3phase supplyWell that's strange but good.
Just set up a temporary kitchen in my office and everything has come back on!
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Yeah, seems so. Was manageable with a couple of extension leads etc
If anyone has time could you explain what a 3 phase supply is etc
Have tried google but don't really get a very good answer
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Looks like you’‘‘ve lost L1/ brown or in old colours the red phase based on losing the kitchen sockets. I’d be going down the street and seeing who’s lights are on, if other neighbours have 3 phase might be hard to spot if they’ve got single phase supplies it might be a small proportion in darkness
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Last edited by Pennywise; 2nd April 2023 at 21:10.
Presumably everyone else’s is back on too.Looks like you’‘‘ve lost L1/ brown or in old colours the red phase based on losing the kitchen sockets. I’d be going down the street and seeing who’s lights are on, if other neighbours have 3 phase might be hard to spot if they’ve got single phase supplies it might be a small proportion in darkness
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