First things first: tripping is your electrics doing their job
It's frustrating, but a trip is a safety device spotting a problem and cutting the power before it turns into something worse – a shock, a melted cable or a fire. Modern consumer units have circuit breakers that react to overloads and short circuits, and RCDs that react to electricity leaking where it shouldn't.
So the question isn't really 'how do I stop it tripping?' but 'what is it trying to tell me?'. Usually the answer is one of a handful of fairly ordinary things.
The usual suspects
In our experience of the questions people ask, these come up again and again:
- A faulty appliance – kettles, toasters, washing machines, dishwashers and old fridges are frequent culprits
- Too much on one circuit – several high-power appliances running at once
- Water where it shouldn't be – a leaking appliance, a damp outdoor socket or rain getting into a garden light
- A blown bulb, which can trip a lighting circuit as it fails
- Damaged cables – a nail or screw through a wire, or a cable chewed by rodents in the loft
- Ageing wiring whose insulation is breaking down
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Spotting the pattern
Electricians love a pattern, because it narrows down the cause quickly. Does it trip when one particular appliance switches on? Only when it rains? At night, when outdoor lights come on? When the washing machine reaches its spin cycle?
Jot down what was running and what the weather was doing each time. Note which switch on the consumer unit dropped – a single breaker or an RCD that knocks out several circuits at once. It sounds fussy, but it can save a lot of time (and money) when an electrician comes out.
When to stop resetting and call someone
Resetting once after unplugging the likely culprit is fine. Resetting again and again is not – if it keeps tripping, there's a fault that needs finding. Leave the affected circuit off and book an electrician to test it.
Call straight away if the trip came with a burning smell, a bang, scorch marks or smoke, or if anyone has had a shock. Those aren't nuisance trips.
