Why do my electrics keep tripping?

Short answer: a trip is your fuse board doing its job. It has detected too much current or current leaking to earth, and it has switched the circuit off to protect you. The cause is usually a faulty appliance, an overloaded circuit, or damaged wiring. The first two you can often find yourself. The third needs testing.

Which switch has tripped?

Open the fuse board and look for the switch that's down. There are two kinds:

• An MCB or RCBO (usually narrow, one per circuit) trips on overload or a short. Often it's too much plugged in, or one appliance with a fault.
• An RCD (wider, with a "T" test button) trips when current leaks to earth. It usually takes several circuits off at once. Common causes are a faulty appliance, water getting in somewhere, or wiring that's breaking down.

The checks you can do safely

• Unplug everything on the affected circuit, or everything in the house if it's the RCD.
• Reset the switch. If it stays up, plug things back in one at a time, waiting a moment between each.
• If it trips when one particular appliance goes back in, that appliance is the likely culprit. Kettles, washing machines, dishwashers, immersion heaters and outdoor lights are common ones.
• If it only trips when it rains, think about outdoor sockets, lights and anything in a damp garage or shed.

What we do when we come out

We test each circuit to find where the problem is: insulation, earth faults, loose connections, damaged cable. Then we fix it and explain what it was. Resetting and hoping isn't a repair, and a switch that keeps tripping is telling you something.

Could it be the fuse board itself?

Occasionally. A worn RCD can become oversensitive, and older boards group lots of circuits on one RCD, so one small leak takes out half the house. If that's the case, we'll tell you, and a new board with individual protection per circuit usually solves it.