random sockets stopped working

[andyc209]

Please can someone help me solve a problem in my house - basically random sockets around the house have stopped working - all in garage, one upstairs and three in the kitchen. This happened a few weeks back then two days later they all worked again. Now they have gone again although a surge protect adaptor is showing power when plugged in (green light is on) but when i turn a lamp on that i plug in it does not work. Then strangely the gas cooker ignition started working again for about 15 minutes then stopped again. I have a small fuse box with a pull out fuse for sockets, lights, cooker and heating so i assume it cannot be the fuse as all the other sockets work. Has anyone any ideas? I bought a digital multimeter from B&Q which says it can test up to 600 volts AC/DC - will this help me test each socket?
thanks for any help.

 

[malcolmsanford]

Tel was a top man! Was a real eye-opener when he found the dodgy socket right by my 4 yo's bed OMG. Still amazed though as to what you can find in a house years after moving in, shocked the dodgy extension never came up on the building report for the mortgage. Spoke to someone who knew the previous owner and he confirmed he was a builder but no electrician but he has amazed it looked like he had cut corners as he said he was a top bloke and spent ages building the place. Going to get Tel back to sort out the feed to the extension soon.

Main point is - once i had explained the 'The Boss' what the problem was its amaxing how it still is somehow my fault even though the place was built three years before we bought it and she had told me what the problem was well before Tel even set foot in the house!! Women!!

Top man andy for posting back and the thumbs up for our Tel, he is a top lad. Be nice for him , as I'm sure you will anyways, to recommend a good lad to nearest and dearest, friends and colleges, as a good lad is hard find these days, and when you do find one let others know.

Oh just to ask was he OK without the zimmer frame??:angel_smile:

 

[telectrix]

i'll get you for that, malcolm. LOL> zimmer frame my arse

 

[malcolmsanford]

i'll get you for that, malcolm. LOL> zimmer frame my arse

Listen mate whatever you and your lass get up to in the privacy of your home is your business........ but come on, on an open forum

 

[telectrix]

Lol.....

 

[steamboatwilly]

Might be wothwhile for your own peace of mind to get the tel man to do one for you make sure there are no more hidden nightmares
72-van

I'd have to agree with that....

...the PIR not the zimmer frame stuff...

 

[vaughant]

Well, fair play lads it just shows how a bit of experience and good fault finding techniques are all important.
I`ve never dabbled in domestic stuff,although I did rewire my own house and found some real horrors,like a junction box buried into the wall which left me very confused as I couldnt isolate my fridge no matter ring main I isolated ,unless I turned the whole system off by the 100a switch.
Turned out someone had decided to wire a socket in from an old lighting point when the extension was done,I`d guess that there was a wall light or something there previously and someone thought,"ohh,power!!!".
Could have been nasty as my house didn`t have earthed lighting circuits (1970`s Swansea House,pretty common by all accounts!!!) and should the fridge have an earth fault the RCD wouldn`t have tripped and could have gone live etc.
Don`t panic either,I`m 17th edition and 2391 trained!!!