Main fuse keeps blowing.

[bolton1969]

I have a place in portugal in an apartment block and the power has gone off twice yesterday.The fusebox in the apartment itself is not tripping out.Next to the fusebox is an isolating switch which then goes out in to the public stairwell and connects to the meter.The meter is then attatched to another fuse,and this is the one that has blown.The national electric company came last night and replaved this fuse as we are not allowed to touch anything from the isolating switch(it has a secure tag)outwards by law.After they went it blew again when the kettle was switched on.

Any ideas what could be causing this.If it was a problem inside the apartment i would have thought the fusebox would have tripped.

Thanks in advance

 

[Jon Bridges]

Do you have all the aircon on full? My parents have a place in menorca which has a 25amp 3 phase main switch which is provided by the supplier. Theirs kept tripping once they got aircon installed. I had a look at it and everyone else on the street has 3phase but they only had single phase, so max of 25amps. They tried to upgrade to 3 phase but were politely told where to go. Basically the foreign electricity companies really struggle with demand in summer so are really restrictive on holiday homes.

My advice, turn down the aircon, tell the Mrs not to use the hairdryer and have cold drinks!

 

[Deleted member 9648]

It could be a loose connection at the fuse...the heat generated under load will sometimes blow them....if not you need to put a clamp meter on the supply and see what load is on.

 

[Albdore]

Hi. Whether it's a fault or an overload a trip should go off in the comsumer unit. I'd go with the lose connection/overheating idea. The fuses here in Portugal rearly blow, in fact in 8yrs of work here I've only had one.

 

[Deleted member 9648]

Hi. Whether it's a fault or an overload a trip should go off in the comsumer unit. I'd go with the lose connection/overheating idea. The fuses here in Portugal rearly blow, in fact in 8yrs of work here I've only had one.

.........I suspect he may have sorted this one by now....