Safety switches are life saving devices protecting you, your family and your home from disastrous electrical damage. But, what happens when these devices continually go off at random?
There are various reasons why your safety switches are frequently tripping; some easily remedied, while others not so much.
5 Reasons Why Your Safety Switch Keep Tripping
Faulty Appliances
Probably the most common cause for electrical safety switches randomly tripping is damaged and/or faulty household appliances.
Faulty appliances produce electrical current leakages, which create imbalances in the circuit.
In this situation, it is important you determine which appliance is responsible for triggering the safety mechanism.
To do this, unplug all the appliances connected to the tripped circuit. Next, turn the safety switch and the power back on and plug the appliances in one at a time until the safety switch is triggered again. This will help you identify the faulty appliance and let you know which one you probably should get rid of.
Faulty Wiring
Another common, yet inconvenient, explanation for frequent safety switch triggering is faulty wiring.
Faulty wiring can lead to electrical overload and is often caused by poor electrical work, damage to the wires during renovation, wildlife interference or simply the system being old and out of date.
If you suspect you have faulty wiring in your home, you may want to keep an eye out for the following key symptoms:
- Humming and Buzzing Sounds
- Flickering or Dimming Lights
- Burning Smells
- Smoke
- Scorch Marks
- Outlets Heating Up
Electrical Storms
Next on our list is a fault caused by electrical storms. If lightening happens to hit your home, or the power lines in your area, or even the power station, an electrical surge will occur.
To protect your home and your life from potential electrical damage, the safety switch will trigger and essentially turn the power off in your home.
It’s an important safety precaution that you do not turn the power back on until the storm has passed.
If, however, the storm has passed and you cannot switch the power back on to your home, feel free to contact us and one of our after hours licenced electricians will be more than happy to attend to your issue.
Need an Emergency Melbourne Electrician? Contact 0484 222 888
Nuisance Tripping
Nuisance tripping occurs when too many appliances are plugged into the same outlet, either through adaptors or power boards. Even if these appliances are only leaking minor currents, their aggregate load will cause a substantial change in current and trip the safety switch.
For this reason, it’s generally never a good idea to piggy back large appliances into the same outlet. Also, to avoid nuisance tripping you should unplug all appliances that aren’t currently in use, which are unnecessarily draining power or leaking current.
You Have a Faulty Safety Switch
Finally, the last reason on our list involves a fault in the actual safety switch itself.
If you have unplugged all of your appliances from the triggered circuit, and the safety switch still seems to trip by itself, you need to call a licensed professional to assess the situation.
If when you try to reset the safety switch and you see a pop, flash or a spark you need to stop what you’re doing and immediately call a licensed electrician.
Unfortunately, these problems don’t always happen during office hours and finding an electrician to help you in an emergency can be difficult. This is why we provide 24-hour electrical services helping when you need it most.
Phone an Emergency Melbourne Electrician? Contact 0484 222 888