Socket stopped working?

First: one socket, or several?

Plug a phone charger or a lamp into the sockets either side of the dead one. If the neighbours work, you're probably looking at a single failed socket or a loose connection behind that one faceplate. If a whole room or wall is dead, think circuit — which means your next stop is the consumer unit.

Check the consumer unit

Open the fuse box and scan for anything out of line with its neighbours:

• A tripped MCB — one switch down, often labelled "sockets" or "ring main". Reset it once. If it holds, unplug whatever was running when it went; that appliance is your prime suspect.
• A tripped RCD — the wider switch guarding a bank of circuits. Unplug everything on the affected circuits, reset it, then plug things back in one at a time until you find the culprit.
• Nothing will stay on — stop. Repeatedly resetting into a fault is dangerous. Our fuse box tripping guide explains what's happening and what to do next.

Try a known-good appliance

It sounds obvious, but the "dead socket" is often a dead appliance. Test the socket with something you know works — and check the fuse in the plug of whatever stopped. A blown 13A fuse in a kettle plug has convinced plenty of people their kitchen wiring had failed.

Switched, unswitched and half-dead doubles

Check the little rocker on the socket itself is actually on — cleaning and furniture-moving flick them off more often than you'd think. On double sockets, one outlet can die while the other keeps working; that points to a worn faceplate, and it's worth replacing before it deteriorates further.

Why sockets fail on the coast

Salt-laden air is mildly corrosive, and in seafront properties from North Shore down to Squires Gate we regularly find blackened or corroded terminals behind otherwise healthy-looking faceplates. Damp walls do the same job further inland. A corroded connection resists current, heats up, and eventually either trips the circuit or kills the socket — one reason a socket that "just died" still deserves proper investigation.

Don't forget RCD sockets and outdoor points

Garages, kitchens and gardens often have sockets with their own built-in protection — look for small "test" and "reset" buttons on the faceplate. These trip independently of the consumer unit, so the fuse box can look perfectly healthy while the socket sits dead. Press reset firmly and you may be done. The same goes for outdoor sockets fed through an RCD spur inside the house: the little switch that controls them is frequently in a cupboard nobody remembers, quietly switched off since last summer's mowing season.

What not to do

• Don't unscrew the faceplate for a look. The terminals behind it can be live even when the socket seems completely dead.
• Don't keep resetting a breaker that trips straight back off.
• Don't run the room off an extension lead from another circuit for weeks — that's how overloads start.

When it's an emergency

A burning smell, scorch marks around the socket, buzzing, or a faceplate that's warm to the touch changes everything. Switch the circuit off at the consumer unit — or the main switch if you're not sure which breaker it is — and call us on 01253 835566. That's emergency electrician territory, and our late-night cover aims to reach Blackpool addresses within 60 minutes.

What a fault-finding visit looks like

We test the circuit end to end — dead tests for continuity and insulation first, then live checks — until we've found the break, the loose terminal or the failed faceplate. Fault-finding is around £60 for the first hour, and most single-socket faults are diagnosed well within it. If the socket needs replacing, budget £60 to £100 depending on the fitting. Full details are on our fault-finding price page.