Discuss Screwing a light switch back on and I assume I hit a live wire? in the Electrical Engineering Chat area at ElectriciansForums.net

Welcome to ElectriciansForums.net - The American Electrical Advice Forum
Head straight to the main forums to chat by click here:   American Electrical Advice Forum

I was screwing a lightswitch back into the wall when suddenly a bang and the lights tripped, I assume I hit a live wire? Can anyone shed some light on what happened?
Was the switch in question, attached to any sort of back box, or was a back box used? if not, and you tried screwing the switch directly into the building fabric the connections may have become in contact with some damp brickwork or plaster, without actually seeing what has been attempted, it's hard to say exactly what you have done, can you post a picture of the finished work or your attempt at it? this may highlight the problem.
 
Was the switch in question, attached to any sort of back box, or was a back box used? if not, and you tried screwing the switch directly into the building fabric the connections may have become in contact with some damp brickwork or plaster, without actually seeing what has been attempted, it's hard to say exactly what you have done, can you post a picture of the finished work or your attempt at it? this may highlight the problem.
I never touched any wiring whatsoever the lightswitch faceplate in question was simply unscrewed and rescrewed into the wall, when screwing the left hand side screw in there was a flash and a little pop a similar to the sound of a lightbulb blowing and then all the lights cut off, the lightswitch in question was off at the time also just for added information (tried to upload a pic but got the error the uploaded file was not an image as expected)
 
Turn the power off (at the fuse box / consumer unit), remove the switch from the wall, and look for the flashover marks where you have either damaged a cable with a screw, or crushed a cable, or a cable has come loose and shorted somewhere. Correct the problem.
 
I never touched any wiring whatsoever the lightswitch faceplate in question was simply unscrewed and rescrewed into the wall, when screwing the left hand side screw in there was a flash and a little pop a similar to the sound of a lightbulb blowing and then all the lights cut off, the lightswitch in question was off at the time also just for added information (tried to upload a pic but got the error the uploaded file was not an image as expected)

Hi,unless you have bluetooth connection to your fuses....this is not the case.

You may have damage to assess and correct,which will need the attention of a trained person.
 

Reply to Screwing a light switch back on and I assume I hit a live wire? in the Electrical Engineering Chat area at ElectriciansForums.net

OFFICIAL SPONSORS

Electrical Goods - Electrical Tools - Brand Names Electrician Courses Green Electrical Goods PCB Way Electrical Goods - Electrical Tools - Brand Names Pushfit Wire Connectors Electric Underfloor Heating Electrician Courses
These Official Forum Sponsors May Provide Discounts to Regular Forum Members - If you would like to sponsor us then CLICK HERE and post a thread with who you are, and we'll send you some stats etc
This website was designed, optimised and is hosted by Untold Media. Operating under the name Untold Media since 2001.
Back
Top
AdBlock Detected

We get it, advertisements are annoying!

Sure, ad-blocking software does a great job at blocking ads, but it also blocks useful features of our website. For the best site experience please disable your AdBlocker.

I've Disabled AdBlock