All categories

Switchboards & safety switches

Nuisance trips, dead circuits, and board faults.

Switchboards & safety switches

Safety switch (RCD) keeps tripping at the switchboard

The safety switch trips repeatedly — instantly on reset, randomly, or when certain appliances run. It's detecting earth leakage somewhere; the job is to find where.

5 causes3 test steps
QualifiedHigh risk
Switchboards & safety switches

Safety switch won't reset

The safety switch won't stay up when you try to reset it — power can't be restored because a fault is still present (or the device/wiring is at fault).

4 causes3 test steps
QualifiedHigh risk
Switchboards & safety switches

A circuit breaker keeps tripping (domestic)

One circuit breaker keeps tripping — instantly on reset or after a load runs — and you need to tell an overload from a short or a faulty appliance.

4 causes3 test steps
ApprenticeHigh risk
Switchboards & safety switches

No power to the whole house

The entire home has no power — nothing works. Could be a supply outage, the main switch/main safety switch, or a main fault, and the first job is to tell which.

4 causes3 test steps
QualifiedHigh risk
Switchboards & safety switches

Switchboard buzzing, warm, or smells hot

The switchboard hums/buzzes, feels warm, or has a hot/burning smell — a sign of a loose connection or an overloaded device, and a genuine fire-risk warning.

4 causes2 test steps
QualifiedHigh risk
Switchboards & safety switches

Old rewireable fuse blowing repeatedly

An older home with ceramic rewireable fuses keeps blowing a fuse on one circuit — the fuse is doing its job; something is overloading or faulting that circuit.

4 causes3 test steps
QualifiedHigh risk
Switchboards & safety switches

Solar inverter dead, blank, or showing a fault

The rooftop solar has stopped generating — the inverter display is blank, or it's alive but sitting on a fault code. The owner usually notices when the power bill jumps.

5 causes4 test steps
QualifiedHigh risk
Switchboards & safety switches

Solar inverter shutting down or derating on grid overvoltage

The inverter runs, then backs off or disconnects through the middle of the day with overvoltage events in its log. Generation (and the feed-in credit) suffers — worst on bright days when everyone's exporting.

4 causes4 test steps
QualifiedMedium risk