Hi,
My downstair sockets blew for no apparent reason. Tried to switch them back on at the main electricity meter to no avail, keep blowing. Have managed to get a couple working however, when i try to switch others on they keep blowing. I have a proteus meter, the residula current device keeps tripping. Any help would be much appreciated.

Many Thanks
Andrea

Andrea, July 2009

remove all plug tops from sockets ,so that nothing is connected to any socket outlet then switch off all spur units like, central heating,door bell,outside lights .etc
and any other things that could be connected to this circuit then reset rcd (residual current devise)
then,one by one switch everything back on this
should identify the problem

chris lec, August 2009

there is definetely a serious consequence,( in trying to repair it yourself ),by getting hurt.you should get a competent person who knows what they are doing.

miner, July 2009

You should definately get a competent person (electrician in this case) to look at this for you. To reitterate what the reply below says - Unless you clearly understand a)how to properly fault find your electrical system and b)how to work on your electrical system safely you are at best going to be guessing at the solution and at worst electrocuting yourself. And you'll probably still not solve the problem anyway!

John (NICEIC electrician), July 2009

Andrea,
I'm slightly in agreement with the other answer but I'm terribly worried that as you asked the question in the first place you have little knowledge of the safe procedure for electricity and what you might find if you were to explore.
Get a competant person, stay safe.

t.r.services, July 2009

Assuming that you have NOTHING plugged into ANY of the downstairs sockets, one (or more) of your sockets or the wring between them has a fault. You may be able to find out which by (with power OFF) carefully inspecting each socket. It may even be one of the ones that is working that is causing the problem.

T, July 2009