I’ve recently moved into my mothers very old fashioned house. A lightbulb blew and tripped all the lights upstairs. I went to the fuse box expecting there to be trip switches but there’s not! How can I get the light back on upstairs? Thanks.
Old Electric Meter
- Thread starter KateH1
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An electrician will be along shortly to explain. Do you have any fuse wire and a screwdriver?
That fuseboard has rewireable fuses - do you have any fusewire?
Also , I would recommend you get a plan in place to get the electrics checked and the fuseboard / consumer unit replaced
Also , I would recommend you get a plan in place to get the electrics checked and the fuseboard / consumer unit replaced
Most likely one of the fuses rated at 5A will be for the upstairs lighting.
With the power switched off, unplug the fuses from the left and see which one of them has a broken fuse wire.
If its the one for the 5A fuse then you'll need a 5 amp rated fuse wire.
With the power switched off, unplug the fuses from the left and see which one of them has a broken fuse wire.
If its the one for the 5A fuse then you'll need a 5 amp rated fuse wire.
Unusual, with fusewire, but....
Pull each of those two fuses out, with the white coloured dots out, in turn, and see if either has a thin wire in it, which has burnt out. If one has, you need to replace the wire. You need to see if you have any, stored near the fuses, or in a drawer somewhere, usually wound on a little card, with a few different sizes/gauges. Clean out all the damaged wire, thread new through, and trap at either end, under the screws, and refit.
If no fuse wire found, try local hardware shops, you might be lucky. If you are absolutely stuck, strip some thin flex, and dig out one single strand of the flex, and use that in place of the fusewire.
Long term - judging by that old consumer unit, and wire fuses, it would be worth someone qualified, having a look at your electrical installation, and considering bringing it up to date. Rewirable fusewires, have not been installed for maybe 45/50 years.
Likewise that old meter, consider having it replaced with a smart meter.
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I wouldn’t do that, but it would be easier for the OP not having to read the meters.
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Typical, the fuse wire comes on a card
the white dots 5 amp, blue dots 15 amp and red dots 30 amp. So that board could supply 3x30+1x15+2x5 = 115 amp and the main switch is rated 60 amps, so it should not have had a 100 amp fuse feeding it. In real terms unlikely to be a problem, but it points to someone not following rules, so there may well be other faults.
The later boards had cartridge fuses,
then by changing the base one could have trips with buttons
and then these
so one can simply reset them. A quick hunt shows around £23 each, and modern ones around £4.50 each, so not really worth changing, better to renew the whole fuse box.
However, the question is why did the fuse blow? Light bulbs should have built in fuses, which should rupture when the bulb fails with ionisation (the bright flash as a tungsten bulb blows) before it takes out the fuse in the fuse box. Since trips act faster, often it will trip a trip, but not rupture a fuse. If all the bulbs are the same, then it may be worth renewing one fuse for a trip see here need to turn off the main isolator to change the base, just one screw, and maybe easier than fitting new fuse wire.
If you lived near me, I have an old box full of spare fuses, not binned it yet.
The later boards had cartridge fuses,
However, the question is why did the fuse blow? Light bulbs should have built in fuses, which should rupture when the bulb fails with ionisation (the bright flash as a tungsten bulb blows) before it takes out the fuse in the fuse box. Since trips act faster, often it will trip a trip, but not rupture a fuse. If all the bulbs are the same, then it may be worth renewing one fuse for a trip see here need to turn off the main isolator to change the base, just one screw, and maybe easier than fitting new fuse wire.
If you lived near me, I have an old box full of spare fuses, not binned it yet.
However In my experience a fuse blowing has always been perfectly normal when a bulb blows.
Meter manufactured 1971 , but may not have been installed that year , have seen thousands older than that .
Not as long ago as that Harry
Just a guess. Our first rewire was 1970, when a Wylex CU was fitted, with those plug-in MCB's. Second rewire 1985, when a proper CU installed with modern, permanent MCB's.
It has an amazing 40 year certification period from the safety standards people.
Our estate was built up until about 1987. They all had rewireable fuse boxes originally
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Yes same here, I added RCD's before the Wylex boxes, and swapped fuses to MCB's, I found renewing fuse wire a fiddly job, and the fuse wire would break as one tightened the screws. There was no plate to stop the fuse wire being pulled by the screw.
Never had a fuse rupture in my own house, but with MCB's if the bulb ionised when it ruptured, it would take out the MCB.
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