Circuit Breaker Tripping - Sockets

[DaSteelMan]

Hi guys,

I'm a novice, so be gentle. Ok, I've attached a photo.

1) I've come home to find none of my sockets working. I've checked my circuit breaker box and as expected the 'Sockets' switch is off.

2) I flicked the switch back to 'On' however the main switch to the right will not go to 'On' - hence, there's a problem with that circuit.

3) I have unplugged everything out of the sockets in my house to eliminate an appliance being at fault.

All other circuits work fine, just the socket circuit.

Obviously I'm going to have to get an electrician out very soon, but here are my questions?

A) am I missing anything obvious I could check prior to an electrician coming out?

B) what are the likely repairable fault's, best case scenario & worst case scenarios?

Many thanks

 

[brianmoooore]

You are correct that there's a fault on that circuit, and it will be quite a serious fault if it tripped a 32A MCB, which will need professional attention to find and sort it. Don't keep trying to reset the MCB and RCD, as the fault is still present, and you will eventually damage them.
Serious and potentially dangerous fault, but that doesn't necessarily mean it will be difficult or expensive to fix.

 

[pc1966]

If you are lucky it will be minor damage at some accessory, such as a cable crushed in a socket back box. That can be cheap to repair. If you are unlucky it could be cable chewed somewhere by rodent(s) and that can be a more difficult and expensive repair.

But don't just keep resetting the breakers, it could make the fault worse and almost certainty will eventually damage the breakers.

 

[DaSteelMan]

You are correct that there's a fault on that circuit, and it will be quite a serious fault if it tripped a 32A MCB, which will need professional attention to find and sort it. Don't keep trying to reset the MCB and RCD, as the fault is still present, and you will eventually damage them.
Serious and potentially dangerous fault, but that doesn't necessarily mean it will be difficult or expensive to fix.

Many thanks for your swift reply. I'm not going to lie, I have been doing exactly what you've anticipated I've been doing - resetting the MCB and RCD switches many times this evening, so from now on I'll leave them alone.

Thanks for making me aware of how serious it could be - thankfully I have a circuit breaker that does its job. So I will make it my priority to get electrician out.

I'm preying the problem is easily & cheaply identified and rectified.

I know its hard to diagnose what an issue could be over the internet, but when you stated it may not be difficult to fix, do you have any examples of what the issues could be?

Once again, I'm appreciative.

 

[i=p/u]

maybe see if any spurs on the circuit that you could turn off.. after that you got to hunt it down

 

[DaSteelMan]

If you are lucky it will be minor damage at some accessory, such as a cable crushed in a socket back box. That can be cheap to repair. If you are unlucky it could be cable chewed somewhere by rodent(s) and that can be a more difficult and expensive repair.

But don't just keep resetting the breakers, it could make the fault worse and almost certainty will eventually damage the breakers.

@pc1966 ... Many thanks. I promise I won't continue to reset the breakers on the circuit breaker.

I'm guessing it will be fairly easy for a good electrician to identify the cause of the problem?

Then fingers crossed its a simple / cheap job

 

[brianmoooore]

Good, solid, hard faults, like yours, are usually easy to trace. It's the ones where the breaker only trips every three weeks when there's a 'r' in the month that take the time.

 

[DaSteelMan]

Ok guys thanks for the replies.

I'll call an electrician first thing and keep my fingers crossed.

I'll post the outcome.