Power out in part of the house? What to check

Losing power to one part of the house is usually a tripped protective device doing its job. Sometimes it's a five-second fix. Sometimes it's a warning. Here's how to tell the difference safely.

First: is it just you?

Check whether neighbours have power. If the street is out, it's a network outage and your distributor (United Energy across most of the Peninsula) is handling it. If only your place is affected, the fault is most likely property-specific — though in some cases an electrician or your distributor needs to confirm which side of the meter it's on. Either way, start with the electrician.

Stop immediately if you notice any of these

• A burning smell, or smoke
• Scorch marks or discolouration around a switch, socket or the switchboard
• Buzzing or crackling from the board or a fitting
• Anything warm to touch that shouldn't be
• Visible damaged cable, especially anywhere wet

In any of those cases, don't reset anything, turn off the main switch if it's safe to reach and call an electrician. If there's fire or a fallen powerline, call 000 first.

The safe checks

1. Look at the switchboard

Find the switch that's in the off position (or midway). Note which one. The labelling tells you which part of the house it feeds. If nothing's tripped, the fault is elsewhere.

2. Unplug everything on that circuit first

This is the step most people skip. If an appliance caused the trip, resetting with it still plugged in just trips again, and repeated resetting into a fault isn't good for the board or safe. Unplug everything on the affected circuit, then reset.

3. Reset once

Push the breaker firmly off, then on. If it holds, plug appliances back in one at a time, waiting a moment between each. The one that trips it is your culprit, commonly a kettle, toaster, old fridge or an outdoor item that's got wet.

4. If it won't reset, stop

A breaker that won't stay on with nothing plugged in means a fault in the wiring itself. That's a licensed job. Not something to keep forcing.

Common causes we actually find

• Wet outdoor powerpoints, the most common by far after rain
• A failing appliance element. Kettles, toasters, old fridges, pool pumps
• Water in a light fitting. Especially bathrooms and alfresco areas
• Rodent damage, more common in older roof spaces than people expect
• Aged safety switches. RCDs do wear out and become over-sensitive

When to call

If it won't reset, if it trips repeatedly, or if any of the warning signs are present. Call. We'll ask what's happening on the phone and often tell you straight away whether it's safe to leave until tomorrow or needs someone now.