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Trip Switches

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Scarlett | 14:33 Sat 19th Jan 2013 | How it Works
6 Answers
The plug sockets have stopped working in my house (everything else fine) and the trip switch is down. When I put it back up, it trips again. Any idea what the problem is?
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Could be crossed wires touching. It could even be a simple problem like a bulb blowing and the wires inside the bulb touching as happened to me once.
Something may be plugged in causing it to "short out".

Unplug all your devices and then plug them back in one by one and see what causes the trip.
Is it the RCD (trip at one end of the fuse-box, or one of the individual MCBs (miniature circuit breakers)?

The MCB will be 32amp.
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I wonder if damp could be the cause also? It has rained ridiculously and there are damp problems in the kitchen wall.
As The Builder alludes to, this is going to be the RCD that is tripping. It means there is an earth leakage fault, either in one of the appliances plugged into the sockets OR in the wiring of the sockets itself (perhaps induced by the damp, as you mention).
Start by removing ALL devices plugged into the socket system (yes, I mean every one - it is not sufficient that they are just 'off') then try to reset the breaker.
If it fails to reset, the fault is in the cabling to the sockets (perhaps due to damp) and you may need an electrician to investigate further.
If the breaker resets OK, progressively put back the appliances, one at a time, until you find the one that causes the breaker to trip.
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Many thanks!

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