Advice for writer: forcing all lights to go off

[tuppence123]

Hello!

I'm a budding writer and need some advice: I'm wondering how a house could be forced into darkness. Somehow a fuse must blow and cause the lights in the whole house to go out. I want this to be achieved without water being involved (water can't be poured onto an exposed wire for instance). Would pushing a piece of wire into a plug socket do this (even though it's obviously dangerous)? Could plugging in a faulty appliance do this (in what way must it be faulty to work)?

Sorry for my ignorance and any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Marvo]

Are you researching for a book or are you actually trying to plunge a house into darkness?

Your answer is yes, making a large short circuit fault at a socket could likely cause the main house circuit breaker to trip (or fuse to blow) which would also result in the lights going out and staying out until the fault is cleared and breakers reset/ fuses replaced.

Same would or could be true for a faulty appliance. If for some reason there was a dead short circuit it could cause the entire supply to the premises to be disconnected.

Other things that could cause failure of the lights are surges. Usually a very local lightning strike would be the cause of such a surge. Disconnection of wiring could be another cause ie vandalism.