Alone in the dark? You need to know this

Fuse boxes are easy: master yours in under two minutes

It all starts with ‘I’ll just charge my iPhone’ and the next thing the whole house has gone dark.

You’ve probably tripped the circuit breaker. This is a safety feature in the electrical system in all houses. It senses if there is a potentially dangerous fault and turns off the power to prevent anyone being electrocuted. It can also be known as a trip switch and is usually located on the house’s fuse board.

Things that can cause the circuit breaker to trip include:

• Faulty appliances
• Damaged cords or extension leads
• An electrical appliance coming in contact with water
• Faulty household wiring

The most common culprit that causes the breaker to trip is faulty appliances. Luckily, if the circuit breaker does switch the electricity off, it’s incredibly simple to restore power to the house.

Sam from our Selly Oak office has put together this really simple guide to checking your fuse box. Watch this short video to find out how easy it is!

What if this doesn’t work?

If you follow the same steps as Sam does in the video, but you still can’t restore the power, report it to your nearest branch, or through the maintenance portal on our website. If the appliance that is causing the switch to trip is one that has been supplied with the house, tell us and we’ll arrange to have it fixed.