Power Outage Question

[jarrv]

Hi all,

I have a question that i hope someone could shed a little light on.

Last night / early there was a short power outage in my house, after a few minutes the power was restored.
However an hour or so later the same happened and again a further e or 4 times.

When the power did come back on it seemed very weak for want of a better phrase, the lights were very dim as if they were running on a battery or had been dimmed.
I unplugged all the devices around the house as a precaution, and checked all the trip switches/fuses and there was no sign of charring or any other failure (not tested them).

The power failed again just before i left for work, I have called Northern Powergrid and spoken to CS who confirmed there was a local power outage (Leeds, LS15) but it was fixed around 08:30 when i had left for work.

I will check if the power is on when i get home around 3pm, if it isn’t what is my best course of action?

Replace all the trip switches? (there are 6, 4*30a, 1*5a, 1*15a)
They appear to be the “30A Mini Trips Type B” available at wickes around £10 each.

Call an electrician to investigate?

Is it possible the whole unit has been damaged by the power outage?


Thank you for any help

Mark.

 

[telectrix]

it's not likely that there has been any damage, unless spikes have damaged any appliances. check all appliances that contain electronics. don't go down the road of replacing MCBs. if you're concerned, call in a spark to check it out.

 

[chrish_1977]

I think you need to get an electrician to look at things if you are concerned about any damage caused by the power going off, but I don't think you should worry about it, the national grid is supplied by numerous power stations and if one fails then others try and fill the gap so to speak until the failed one is restored to full working order. Unless you have real concerns for getting in an electrician I would leave that up to you.

 

[Paul.M]

Mark I dont think you have anything to worry about, it sounds like a local sub station went down for a short while. I'm in leeds and I could pop round on Saturday afternoon after finishing a job in Outwood and have a look for you free of charge, just put the kettle on.

 

[jarrv]

Thanks all, and thanks paul may take you up on the offer

i think the electrical items will be fine i wondered if the low / trickle of power was symptomatic of a fuse/switch/unit failure?

 

[Paul.M]

No mate its a supply shortage and if all your electrical appliances work I would not worry. Only thing I would b doing is a Ze test, phase rotation test and a voltage test on you incoming mains. It will take longer to drink my cuppa tea lol. If it puts your mind t rest I'll pop round as it is not far from Outwood to LS15 then home for me. As long as people are safe in their homes is all that matters to me.

 

[telectrix]

paul, next time i see the pope i'll have a quiet word on your behalf. saint paul.LOL. :thinking2:

 

[Paul.M]

Tel lol. Its not that much out of my way from the small job I'm doing Saturday morning then a quote a few miles away from where the op lives and lets face it, there's nothing wrong with his install from a sub going down. Just a few basic tests to put his mind at rest.

 

[telectrix]

agree. it's nice to help people out from time to time if it's not too far out of the way to or from a job. i try to do that with elderly od disabled clients. usually gives good feedback, but sometimes they take the p. one guy i never charge more than a tenner to, if it's just a quick visit to reset a MCB /RCD or change a lamp, has recently been pestering for me to get him a remote control for his telly, coz. he's lost it. had to tell him to contact manufacturer after 5 phone calls.

 

[Guest111]

agree. it's nice to help people out from time to time if it's not too far out of the way to or from a job. i try to do that with elderly od disabled clients. usually gives good feedback, but sometimes they take the p. one guy i never charge more than a tenner to, if it's just a quick visit to reset a MCB /RCD or change a lamp, has recently been pestering for me to get him a remote control for his telly, coz. he's lost it. had to tell him to contact manufacturer after 5 phone calls.

Why didn,t you tell him to cut open the bottom on his chair?thats where they usually end up lol

 

[jarrv]

Hi all, sorry for the slow update.

Well it turns out it was a very local fault indeed, the power cable to the house had a fault!
Northern Powergrid came out around 8pm on Thursday night and confirmed there was a fault somewhere below the street outside the house and we were the only property affected.
They returned Friday morning and dug up the street (25 foot trench) to find the fault but it was more difficult to repair than first thought, so we are currently on temporary fix with a cable running to next doors supply.

Hopefully it will be fixed in the next few days, once the bad weather and other more pressing issues have been resolved.

Thanks for all your help