On this job I ended up crawling through a loft in Hunts Cross. We initially attended to find the reason for the lights not working upstairs which then opened up a whole can of worms with poor connections, dangerous wiring and much more.
I always try to solve electrical problems for my customers as quickly as possible to keep costs down as everyone is feeling the pinch especially these last few months! Unfortunately, a very cheap quote on a wiring job had led to all sorts of dangerous issues that needed to be fixed meaning I was there a few hours sorting the mess out.
Back to top1) Why do house lights fail?
One of the most common causes of house lighting problems is DIY light fitting installations. Our homes are divided up into different electrical circuits to prevent overloading the wiring, to enable us to use smaller cables for lights, alarms and smoke detectors and to make light fittings as small and attractive as possible.
When the light circuit fails, it is often because there is great deal of misunderstanding regarding how lights are wired up correctly. In many homes, we have several electrical wires at the ceiling position creating a wiring junction, if these wires are connected incorrectly it can lead to short circuits, earth faults or light circuit failures.
Back to top2) Damage caused by rats, mice and other rodents in the loft
Another common cause of wiring failure is down to rodents attacking the wiring in the loft area. Rodents love the PVC material that wraps our wiring and will chew this until the cables are completely destroyed. If you suspect you have unwanted visitors ANYWHERE in your home, do not attempt a DIY fix, get a professional pest control expert to check things out immediately.
Back to top3) If the trip switch trips, is it faulty?
A common misconception with trip switches is that when they trip off and won’t stay on, they must be faulty? 99% of the time this is incorrect. The job of the trip switch is to disconnect the power supply to the electrical circuit(s) to which it supplies electricity. If the trip switch trips, it is highly likely it is working just fine and doing its job.
Trip switches are designed to prevent overload, fires, short circuits, earth faults, electric shocks and more.
Back to top4) What to do if my lights have tripped off?
If your lights have tripped off then it’s important to contact an electrician who specialises in fault finding and repair. If you continually reset a trip switch or turn it back on numerous times, you not only risk the trip switch failing but also risk more severe damage to your electrical wiring. Please don’t turn a fault-finding job into an expensive repair!!
Back to top5) How much does it cost to fix “No lights working”?
Typically, anywhere from £90 for a simple fix up to £1500 for rewiring the light circuit.
An exact quote cannot be given online for repairing a faulty lighting circuit as each electrical installation may have failed in a different way, require different repairs and may differ in length, number of light fittings and so on.
The only thing I can say in my experience is that the majority of faults do not turn into hefty expensive repairs thank goodness!
Back to top6) Emergency Electrician 24 Hours a Day
If you need an emergency electrician to help in Liverpool 24/7 then get in touch with me straight away. I have many years of fault-finding experience, teaching experience and crawling through lofts and under floorboards to find faults. 😊
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