What exactly is an Electrical Fault? When an electrical system or appliance begins to malfunction and then operates in a way other than the electrician or manufacturer intended, we have an electrical fault.
What are the most common Electrical Faults?
As your local ELECTRICIAN IN BRISTOL we carry out a lot of emergency calls to faulty electrics. The most common faults that we find in electrical systems are:
- The Short Circuit
- Insulation Faults
- Loose Connections
- Supply problems
- Polarity Issues
- Missing Earths
These electrical faults may not mean a great deal so it is sometimes best to talk about the most common SYMPTOMS that we come across when attending electrical faults.
What are the most common Symptoms of Electrical Faults?
When electrical issues occur, there can occasionally be no outward signs of this until a secondary fault develops. The electrician then turns up, investigates the problem you called for, and tells you there are multiple problems. This is very common as wiring systems will operate to the point of almost complete destruction before the shout for help.
The most common signs of electrical distress are often:
- Flickering Lights
- Switch Tripping
- Fuses Blowing
- Sockets Not Working
- Burning Smell
- Intermittent power cuts
- Complete Power Loss
Flickering Lights
Where lights flicker, there are often loose connections, faulty equipment or failing transformers that are to blame. Whatever the reason, flickering lights is a surefire indicator of and electrical fault as the equipment is behaving other than the manufacturer intended.
Switch Tripping
When a switch in the fuse box or consumer unit trips, the homeowner will often call and tell us there is a faulty switch. This is a common misconception. Trip switches DO go faulty but usually once they have been continually reset in frustration following tripping.
The most likely reason that a switch will trip is actually an electrical fault on the sockets, lights, shower, cooker or other electrical circuit. The switches in our consumer unit are designed to protect us against fire, electric shock, and other unsavoury situations so its vital that they work properly.
Fuses Blowing
Fuses often blow with a bang. This is an indication that there is a fault with the electrical circuit that the fuse protects or the appliance where the fuse is inside a plug top. Fuses are designed to be used once and then replaced but should not be continually replaced where there is clearly and electrical fault.
Repeated blowing fuses is likely to cause damage to your fixed electrical wiring and as such, ignoring the cause could be expensive and potentially very dangerous.
Sockets Not Working
Where the sockets have failed, the actual root cause could be a loose connection somewhere on the circuit, a faulty trip switch at the consumer unit or burnt-out terminals somewhere. Whatever the issue, as your local ELECTRICIAN IN BRISTOL, we are fantastic at fault finding and can locate issues wherever they may be.
Burning Smell
Burning smells are never a good thing and I hope we all realise that. The actual cause of a burning smell is the PVC and plastics within the electrical system heating up, smouldering, or catching fire and releasing chemicals into the air. The odour is similar to a fishy smell and is not forgotten once experienced.
If you do notice a burning smell then you absolutely must call us immediately, turn off the electrics and we will offer advice before attendance to find and fix the problem.
Intermittent Power Cuts
Intermittent power cuts can be a result of mains electricity problems in the street or a sign of a failing fuse box or consumer unit. This situation is definitely an electrical emergency. Try calling the local electricity network on 105 to see if there are any issues they are aware of that might be affecting you.
If everything is ok at their end then call us out to check what is happening.
Complete Power Loss
First call 105 to see if the local electricity network is aware of any situations that might affect your supply. If there are no problems in the area then it may well be just your electrical system that is affected and in which case, call us, your local ELECTRICIAN IN BRISTOL and we will get to you as soon as possible.
