Why does my fuse box keep tripping?
If your consumer unit trips out the second you reset it, something on a circuit is faulty. Here are the five usual suspects we see across Blackpool — and what's safe to check before you call us.
1. A faulty appliance
Nine times out of ten this is the culprit. Kettles, washing machines, immersion heaters and old fridges develop insulation faults as they age. Unplug everything on the affected circuit, reset the breaker, then plug appliances back in one at a time. The one that trips it is your problem.
2. Water ingress
Blackpool weather is brutal on outside sockets, garden lights and bathroom extractors. A pinhole of damp inside an outdoor fitting will trip an RCD instantly. If it only trips when it's been raining, that's your clue.
3. Overloaded ring main
Modern kitchens pull serious current — kettle, toaster, microwave, air fryer all at once can push a 32A circuit over the edge. If it trips at the same time of day (breakfast, dinner), spread the load across different sockets.
4. A failing RCD
RCDs do wear out, especially in older 2000s consumer units. If yours trips with nothing plugged in, the device itself may be the fault. This needs a NAPIT electrician — don't try to bypass it.
5. Lighting circuit faults
A blown halogen bulb or a damp downlight in an old bathroom can take the whole lighting circuit down. Switch lights off room by room, reset the breaker, then turn each back on to isolate the offender.
When to call us
If you can't find the cause in 10 minutes, stop. Repeatedly resetting a tripping breaker can damage the consumer unit and, in rare cases, mask a genuine fire risk. We cover Blackpool, Lytham, Cleveleys and Fleetwood — most fault-finding callouts are sorted same day.