A late-night socket fault in Beeston was traced to a wet garden socket, made safe and replaced the next morning.
A quick summary of this project
This out-of-hours emergency call-out took place in Beeston, Nottingham. The customer booked online at 10pm after their socket circuit started tripping.
Our fault-finding traced the problem to an outdoor garden socket that had let water in. We isolated the faulty socket that night to make it safe, then went back the next morning and replaced it with a new outdoor socket. The job was completed.
What the customer's situation was before we got involved
At around 10pm, the customer’s socket circuit began tripping, cutting power to the sockets on that circuit. A fault like this late at night is disruptive, because it can leave appliances, chargers and other everyday essentials without power until the cause is found.
The customer couldn’t pin down what was causing the trip, and resetting it didn’t fix the problem. Rather than leave it overnight, they booked an emergency electrician through our website so the fault could be investigated and made safe straight away.
The work carried out on this job
After the late-night online booking, we attended the property in Beeston to investigate the tripping socket circuit.
A circuit that keeps tripping is usually reacting to a fault somewhere along it, not to a problem with the protective device itself. We carried out fault-finding checks to trace where the problem was coming from.
Our investigation led to an outdoor garden socket. Water had got inside it. When moisture reaches the live parts of a socket, it can cause current to leak to earth, and the protective device switches off the circuit to prevent a shock or further damage. Outdoor sockets are especially exposed to this because of rain and the weather.
Replacing the socket that night wasn’t practical, so the priority was to make the installation safe. We isolated the faulty garden socket so it could no longer cause problems overnight.
We went back the following morning and replaced the damaged garden socket with a new outdoor socket, which completed the job.
This call-out shows how a single outdoor socket can cause problems on a whole circuit. If your sockets keep tripping, especially after wet weather, contact Urgent Electrical Services to have the cause traced and made safe.
More photos from this job
Common questions about this project
Yes. If an outdoor socket is connected to the same circuit as sockets inside, a fault in it can trip the whole circuit. Water getting into a garden socket is a common cause. On this Beeston call-out, a wet garden socket was causing the socket circuit to trip until it was isolated and later replaced.
Unplug appliances on the affected circuit and try resetting the trip once. If it trips again straight away, leave it off and don’t keep resetting it, because it’s reacting to a fault. An electrician can trace the cause and make the circuit safe. This customer booked our emergency service online at 10pm.
Outdoor sockets are exposed to rain and the weather. Water can get in through a damaged or worn cover, a failed seal, a cracked faceplate or a poorly sealed cable entry. Once moisture reaches the terminals, it can cause current to leak to earth and trip the circuit. A damaged outdoor socket usually needs replacing rather than drying out.
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