DIY - Troubleshooting a power trip
Imagine this – you are having a family dinner at 9 pm and suddenly the whole house is blacked out. Kids are screaming, your mom is restless as the rice is still cooking and half done while others are cranky because they are hungry.
Surely you got to do something besides turning on your phones for lights. Here are the things that you could do;
Locate your Distribution Board / Fuse Box. Open the protective cover and note the position of each circuit breaker. See if any of the breaker has tripped (lever pointing down). If no, that means the electrical fault is not caused by any appliances at home. Call building management personnels or power provider to identify the problem.
Turn OFF all circuit breakers, by pushing the lever down. Turn the circuit breaker ON one by one, starting with the Main Switch. The Main Switch is normally wider that other circuit breakers and does not have any PUSH Button.
Next, turn ON the Residual Current Device (RCD) on by pushing up the lever. You can identify the RCD by its PUSH test button.
Now turn ON all the remaining Miniature Circuit Breakers (MCB) one by one while keeping an eye on the RCD. Identify the MCB that causes the RCD to turned off and keep that MCB OFF. Repeat Steps 3 and 4 until all the remaining MCB's are turned ON (Lever in the UP position).
Now that we have identify the circuit that is causing the electrical trip, what's next??? Well, if you think all the steps you have completed before gave you a rush of blood and too intense for you, you can contact Mr. Wireman and we'll come to your rescue. If not, or you fancy digging a little bit deeper, lets move on to next step!
Now we have to check which part of your house that does not have any power. We can narrow it down by looking at the MCB that are still OFF. The rating off the MCB can gives us an idea of what type of circuit that it is related to. Look at the numbers written on the MCB for its ratings; 6,10,16 (lighting/ fan circuit), 20,32 (Socket Outlet, Heater or Air-Conditioner).
If it is lighting or fan circuit, turn off all the switches for the lighting and fan. Go back to the distribution board and turn ON the MCB.
Next, turn ON the lighting and fan switches one by one, until the MCB trips again. Identify the switch and keep that switch OFF. Repeat steps 7 & 8 until you have all the remaining switches turned ON. If none of the switches can be turned ON, there is an underlying problems that are beyond what you can do yourselves. Consult an electrician to fix the problems for you. Do not attempt to do it yourselves.
If it is Socket Outlet circuit, unplug all appliances and turn OFF all the Socket Outlet switches. Go back to the distribution board and turn ON the MCB.
Next, plug back all the appliances one by one, until the MCB trips again. Identify the appliances and socket outlet that it was connected to, and keep the appliance unplugged and socket outlet turned OFF.Repeat steps 7 & 8 until you have all the remaining appliances turned ON. If none of the socket outlets can be turned ON, there is an underlying problems that are beyond what you can do yourselves. Consult an electrician to fix the problems for you. Do not attempt to do it yourselves.
Well, that is not too hard isn't it? So now that you have narrow down the culprits, the only thing left to do is sit back, enjoy the rest of your night and gives yourselves a pat on the back. There is nothing else that you can do, except arrange an appointment with an electrician and let the pro handles the rest.
Note: Do not try to attempt any electrical repairs unless you are trained and certified to do it, leave it to the professionals.
OR you can just contact MR. WIREMAN, Your Friendly Neighbourhood Electrician, for all your electrical solution. We are an Electrical Contractor with multiple fleet of Field Service Unit lead by our own Licensed Electrician, serving Residential and Commercial customers in Kuala Lumpur. Our Super-Hero Electricians , proudly serves Ampang, Cheras, Setiawangsa, Keramat, Wangsa Maju, Melawati, Setapak, Gombak, Puchong, Bukit Jalil, Seri Petaling, Bangsar, Damansara, Petaling Jaya, Subang Jaya, Shah Alam, Kuala Lumpur City Center, and other locations in Klang Valley. We will be there anytime during the day even for any Emergency Service Call
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