electric socket failed...

[Oxymel of Squill]

hi

An electric socket has failed, it blew a fuse on the main board sometime last night but now I've replaced the fuse there's still no juice at the socket.

Anyone tell me what's likely to be the prob? Rat chewed through the wire in the wall.... or something more comprehensible?

thanks

Jon

[Phil Anthropist]

Is the live (red) and neutral (black) cable securely fixed in the terminals at the back of the wall socket? Are there any signs of heat damage inside the plastic wall socket? Is the live cable live?

[Palindr☻me]

In the UK, usually the sockets are on a ring and each socket is fed by two cables (there are exceptions). So a single broken wire should not stop a socket from working.

How many wires go to the back of the socket? If only one red wire goes there, then it is a spur. If two, it is on a ring.

Are there other sockets that aren't working?

If so, the new fuse has possibly blown as well. If you have another circuit with the same fuse rating, put the new fuse in that and see if that circuit works. If not, the new fuse is dead. The probable reason for that is that you have wired up the replacement socket incorrectly.

If not, then you may still have wired the replacement socket up incorrectly. If the thing you are testing for juice is double-insulated (eg has a plastic earth pin), then you may have put the red wires in the earth connection, by mistake.

If you are sure that the socket is wired up correctly, but has only one red wire going to it, the socket may be wired to a fused spur. This is sometimes done for a variety of reasons. In which case, the fuse at the spur connection point may have failed.

What you need to do is firstly put the power off and double, triple check that you have connected up the socket correctly. Then put the fuse in a different circuit and make sure it is still ok. Then restore power and see if any other sockets are dead. Then look at the possibility of the socket being connected to a fused spur and that fuse has failed..

[ARWadsworth]

Did it go bang when you plugged something into the socket? If so replace the socket. I am curious as to how you can blame one particular socket.

Adam

[Oxymel of Squill]

thanks all it's the only socket that isn't working, it has been going happily for 5 years running the pond pump and some other lights. I'm running those things off an extension lead at the mo, and all going ok as far as I can tell. It failed some time overnight while I was in bed and not plugging things in. It blew a fuse on the main board which I've replaced and which hasn't blown again. There are 3 wires to the socket but no electricity there as they don't light a tester screwdriver thingy I bought. Wires are securely fixed and no sign of burning or damage.

[Antony]

This sounds like a spur if there are just 3 wires (I presume you mean red, black, green/yellow rather than three sets of wires?).

Can you trace where this socket gets its power from? Turn the power completely off (don't assume you know which circuit feeds the socket - it could be the lighting circuit for all you know). First try to trace the circuit visually. Then use a continuity tester (i.e. the resistance test on a multimeter) to confirm where the socket gets its power from and where the break is.

You may find the spur is fed from an FCU on the main ring (a spur must have a circuit protective fuse if it can exceed the rating of the cable feeding it). If so, the fuse there may have blown (I'd then worry about why). If it comes from another socket, check the wires there are OK, and haven't detached. It could be the wire itself, but I'd have thought it unlikely (unless you do have a rodent problem - snif around for the smell of barbequed rat). It could just be the internals of the socket, but you'd almost certainly see evidence of burning in that case.

If you don't feel confident tracing the fault and replacing what's broken, get someone qualified in.

-Antony

[ARWadsworth]

If the fuse in the fuse box was inly for that socket then double check the fuse wire you replaced. If the fuse also powers other sockets then start taking those off to look for a loose connection.

Adam