Five lights don't work

[Ian1981]

Five ceiling lights do not work upstairs in my house. Two ceiling lights upstairs do work and all the ceiling lights downstairs work. The lights that don't work are:

Master bedroom
Dressing room
Master bedroom on suite
Landing light
Second bedroom (on same side of house as master bedroom)

The lights upstairs in bedroom 3 and main bathroom (located on other side of house work).

I switched the light off in the dressing room earlier and there was an odd sound. I checked the fuse box and the switch labelled "upstairs lights" had tripped. I reset the switch, however the lights still don't work in the affected bedrooms - sockets work as normal in the affected rooms.

I took all the bulbs out of the affected lights and tried fitting a bulb that was working from bedroom 3 into each affected light, which made no difference i.e. they would not work. When putting the bulb back into the light in bedroom 3 it worked.

What could the issue be? Are there any other steps i could take before i call an electrician? would this be covered under home insurance? The house is 22 years; i have lived here 10.5 years and have had no problems.

 

[JohnD]

From your description, the most likely cause is a loose wire burnt out in one of the ceiling roses.

The way UK ceiling lights are usually wired, the supply cable enters one rose, supplies that lamp, then continues on to the next rose.

The lamps in a house are arranged in a string, not in a ring.

A bad connection at one point can cause supply to be lost to all lamps further along the string.

The fault might have been triggered when an incandescent bulb (especially a spotlight) burned out causing a momentary surge which lost connection at a weak or loose point.

If you know which room is the likely culprit, start with that (though it might be at the preceding rose).

I am assuming you have ordinary pendant lamps unless you say otherwise.

You can probably clean up the loose wire and put it back into its terminal, tightening it well. If the copper looks scorched by heat, you may have to nip off the damaged end and use fresh bright copper.

Do not disconnect any wires in a lighting circuit without marking and photographing them so you can replace each in exactly the same place. Colour is not a reliable indicator.

Lighting circuits are live even when the switch is off so you must isolate at the consumer unit before starting work.

 

[Ian1981]

Thanks. What would the likely cost be to call out an engineer? my research online is telling me £50-£150 total unless major rewiring is needed? Major rewiring is unlikely to be needed because the problem is localised i.e. only a proportion of upstairs lights are affected.

 

[ericmark]

As an electrician hard to work out what an ordinary man can do, but I would with power off, undo the ceiling rose cover, for each upstairs light, and genitally pull each wire and see if any are loose, more likely to be ceiling rose to switch as in UK we wire from rose to rose, and do test ones which are working that are on same circuit.

 

[blup]

An electrician will diagnose tne fault pretty quickly, the risk is you get one who exaggerates the problem to squeeze a bit more money out of you. A friend or neighbour might be able to make a recommendation. I would first look at the lamp/ switch that tripped, even if you dont feel up to doing the job you might be able to spot the damaged or loose wire and save the sparky - and you - time and money.

 

[Murdochcat]

Be VERY AWARE that the fault could easily be on the neutral meaning that it could be live where the lights don’t work.

Where in the uk are you - chargers very a lot by location

 

[AndyPRK]

A picture of the MCB that tripped may help. (if it really is an MCB you will probably need an electrican)

With the power off, You could also unscrew the ceiling rose in the room that you heard arcing noises and take a picture

Remove the dressing room bulb, leave it out, and test the bulb in a known good lamp holder to see if it has blown, and that may explain why the MCB has tripped

 

[Sureitsoff?]

As an electrician hard to work out what an ordinary man can do, but I would with power off, undo the ceiling rose cover, for each upstairs light, and genitally pull each wire and see if any are loose, more likely to be ceiling rose to switch as in UK we wire from rose to rose, and do test ones which are working that are on same circuit.

Well that's one way to pull a cable.......

Sorry Ericmark couldn't resist!

 

[Taylortwocities]

You could also unscrew the ceiling rose in the room that you heard arcing noises and take a picture

Sorry, maybe I missed it, but I cannot find where the OP has said that they heard arcing noises?

EDIT oh yes. But not specifically "arcing"

I switched the light off in the dressing room earlier and there was an odd sound.

Ian, where was this sound from? What sort of sound?
That location is where you need to start looking. Post a photo of those connections..

 

[AndyPRK]

an assumption from me. Could of been the lamp failing I guess. If the OP tests the lamp we will have a better idea

"I switched the light off in the dressing room earlier and there was an odd sound. I checked the fuse box and the switch labelled "upstairs lights" had tripped. "

 

[EFLImpudence]

could have

 

[Taylortwocities]

could have

one of my pet hates too

 

[Murdochcat]

With fault finding i always ask customers to tell me everything they have noticed or heard. It can really help narrow down where to look

 

[securespark]

Like the customer who said all the outside lights went off together.

Turned out they didn't. They popped one by one and she only noticed when the last one popped off and she was plunged into total darkness.

 

[Ian1981]

The electrician visited and tells me the issue is the corroded light fitting in the on suite (I was unaware it is corroded). He has bypassed the light in the on suite and now the other lights work. I was charged £75 call out for this.

The corroded light fitting now needs replacing. He tells this will cost £105 i.e. another £75 call out and £30 for the parts. Is it normal to charge a call out fee for the second visit? He tells me the first visit is to diagnose the fault and the second visit is to repair - so they are separate jobs?