Fuse Box

[buffers]

I have a main fuse box in the cupboard under the stairs, and a seperate fuse box in the converted attic. The fuse in the main fuse box which appears to override the seperate one in the attic has tripped and will only switch back on if I turn the fuse box in the attic off. Then when I try to switch the attic fuse box back on, the under-stair fuse trips! Any ideas? Might one of the fuses in the attic have blown, or is it more serious? They are both fairly new plastic clip-in fuses.

 

[alexnic]

When you say 'fairly new clip in fuses' do you mean mini circuit breakers (MCB's) which trip and to reset you push the lever up?

What you should do first is remove the fuses (or MCB's) from the attic unit, keep the main switch for it on then put them back one at a time to find out what circuit is tripping the main unit under the stairs. (flip the attic unit switch off before replacing each of the fuses)

The attic unit may well be powered from an individual fuse or MCB in the consumer unit under the stairs but if as you say... the whole unit trips then you may have what is called an RCD installed , this would have a small 'test button' on the front and would explain the whole unit tripping

When you have the problem circuit identified in the attic ... remove all appliances from the sockets(if it is the socket circuit) and if it is the lighting circuit the put all the switches off and check again.

I have sometimes come across a blown light bulb which has 'shorted' across the filament cause the same problem as you have described

good luck!