On Saturday night I went to switch the bedside light on and there was a bit of a bang that scared the crap out of me and the light wouldn’t work. Then we could smell a burning smell.
I turned the power socket off, pulled out the multibox and tried plugging something else into that socket, but no go… I managed to find an extension lead to I could hook up the light, clock radio and I-phone charger to the other power socket in the bedroom
Yesterday I went to vacuum the house and found that the power socket in the dining room didn’t work, so that got me thinking that I’ve blown a fuse, so I went into the garage to look at the fuses and they are all the old push in ones and 90% of them are not marked (late 1960’s house)
I don’t know how to check if the fuse is blown – do I just pull them out 1 at a time to check them individually? Will it be obvious which one is blown? Do I need to turn the main power off while I’m doing this?
I’m not electrically minded and I electrocuted myself about 12 years ago during a house reno in Chch, so I’m a little nervous…. But at the same time I don’t want to pay an electrician to come out if all they do is reset a fuse or something and it only takes 2 minutes
Does anyone know how I can check the fuses or what else I can try?
I’ll try to take a photo of the fuse board and post it later tonight
thanks in advance
snoopy221,
Nov 20, 1:07pm
Do you have a light that works near the fuse box? if so then turn the light on and pull out and put back each fuse until you identify the light fuse.(light will turn off when fuse removed). Then leave THAT fuse OUT and simply pull out each fuse and try them in that fuse holder. The ones that make the light work are okay the one that DOES NOT make the light work is the faulty one-K So fuse okay straight back where it was -K
trade_menow,
Nov 20, 1:15pm
if its a push in - just push the button . or is it a rewireable ?
gpg58,
Nov 20, 1:51pm
Suggest turn mains off as you admit a lack of electrical ability. Or call a sparky. Rewirable fuses will be obviously blown once removed, but you have to make sure you put new wire of the correct size back in, or risk a fire if too big used. Note also rewireable fuses once they have blown a few times, get black and can have dangerous conductivity to sides of fuse carrier(possible zap when touching/removing), requiring replacement. Personally i would suggest bite the bullet and get a sparky, and have fuses replaced with circuit breakers, and perhaps earth leakage installed too. Ps- Often the old white breakers with a round pushbutton will fail to reset and need replacement. The old hrc type fuses usually had an indicator to show they are blown, or test with a multimeter, or play swaps as above.
lythande1,
Nov 20, 6:34pm
Highly unlikely, Fuses never run one thing only, it would be the case where light switch in that room etc also doesn't work. I expect it would be the multi power strip. Never buy cheap ones, a non-technical way to tell is weight. Light ones are crap.
And don't overload them either, daisy chaining them is bad, and too many things connected is also bad.
macman26,
Nov 21, 3:10am
Turn off main switch first. I’ve seen a few things. Someone rewired a fuse and left a tail you could touch. Dammaged fuse wedge with live parts accessible. Trouble pulling out and accidentally touching a live part when 1/2 way out. Fault still there and a Big Bang when plugging fuse back in. So yes turn off first and usually obvious which one is gone . And yes replace with correct fuse wire. Hopefully should be marked on the base. I would also be looking at what caused the burning smell and causing the fuse to go in the first place
hammer23,
Nov 21, 9:57am
The fuse blew for a reason, maybe the multi box overloaded the circuit but as you seem lacking in confidence with electricity the best thing you should do is have the electrician check it out. Any thing could be going wrong to blow the fuse so play safe and make the call.
ryanm2,
Nov 21, 8:58pm
Obviously its just a single power circuit that has blown (bedside lamp / multibox and power point that vac was plugged into)
ryanm2,
Nov 21, 9:03pm
So, to try and answer your question - the old push in type have the coloured indicator which pushes out when blown. If you look at the others (some will be blue, yellow, green etc to indicate their current rating) they will be recessed in their active state. These old push in type are notorious for not resetting as another posted said. There is a trick to get them reset though,.
gpg58,
Nov 21, 9:23pm
True, but not always wise though, had one refuse to trip afterwards, mech must have jammed as it burnt a hole in the side of it instead of tripping, best to throw away if it will not reset normally.
elect70,
Nov 22, 2:02pm
60 s house those push button MCBs never came in until 70 s . Bet the bed light has fault the holder gets hot& eventually the wire goes brittle & it shorts out . . If unsure how too fix fuse then get sparky in . Its something you should know how to do .
mcarky,
Nov 22, 5:02pm
Overload. 1960's houses only had a valve radio, a lux vacuum, bedside lights, a stove, fridge, washing machine and B&W TV if you were rich. You could only plug one in at a time since multi-boards had not been invented. If the fuses are the old porcelain type then they were never designed for all of todays electrical devices and multi boards. Mine is 1969 house, and we have one line of power sockets that trip out if we have visitors in the spare room.
muffin2,
Nov 23, 1:12pm
Ok thanks for the replies
the 4 way power board still works - even though it's over 15 years old. the power socket at the wall does not work and that's where the burning smell appeared to come from straight afterwards. the next day I plugged the vacuum cleaner into the power socket in the dining room and found out that power socket was not working - I assumed it was connected somehow to the one in the bedroom.
looks like I'm going to have to get an electrician in as wife would like another switch put in the bedroom too
gpg58,
Nov 23, 1:37pm
Which means you will be up for an earth leakage breaker as well as extend circuit etc.
supernova2,
Nov 23, 8:09pm
Eek - just love the fuse holder at the top with no fuse in it! Hope the live wire has been removed. Someone with more knowledge than i will be able to answer this bit - Whats the "light switch" at top right for - would it have been an isolator for hot water?
I agree with others - you need an electrician as it sounds like the wall outlet has fried itself so that needs replacing and the fuse wire replaced as a minimum.
muffin2,
Nov 29, 12:17pm
ok so we got an electrician out - only took him 10 minutes to fix the problem He had some sort or screwdriver type thing and he put it on each fuse top and bottom (where the screws are) and it made a static type noise. He pulled a couple out and pushed them back in and replaced the one that was marked 'laundry' and everything was working.
We got him to install a new power socket in the bedroom and he used capping to run the cable from the existing power socket to the new one. it looks ok, but I would have preferred it if he had done it through the wall, but it's behind the bed anyway so no-one can see it.
he has given is a compliance certificate so it's all good
ryanm2,
Nov 29, 7:07pm
Capping, in a house? Really? Did he put an RCD on the board or was the circuit already rcd protected?
supernova2,
Feb 4, 12:51pm
Well there is no RCD on the board in the pic #14. Perhaps it has a RCD protected socket on the line.
Or, and probably more likely, it's not actually compliant at all.
Capping - perhaps it's a Lockwood?
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