Night Train
Maker of Things
- Location
- Greater Manchester
I have checked light fittings for loose wires, but will have another look tomorrow in the daylight.
On the consumer board the downstairs lights are on the same fuse, so if it was a loose connection in there all the downstairs lights would be off?
Not always.
Depending on the quality of the electrical work a badly stripped cable could have a notch cut around it where the insulation was stripped off the conductor. When two circuits are connected to a single MCB terminal, as is sometimes done, one can snap off leaving the other cable still securely connected. A break like this could be in the phase or the neutral conductor so worth checking both.
However, if the circuit is a single radial and some lights are working and some not then it is most likely a loose or broken connection in either the phase or neutral conductor in a ceiling rose. This should be easy to spot.
But, if you have halogen down lighters or similar then the connections could be hidden in the ceiling void, either in a junction box or a ceiling rose pretending to be a junction box. This could be loose and accessible from one of the holes in the ceiling when a down lighter is removed or it could be secured to a joist and not accessible without lifting floorboards above.
It all really depends on the installation and how it has been done and if any corners have been cut.
In extreme cases I have found cables that were damaged during installation, passed an instrument test during handover, and then failed sometime later due to movement, vibration or localised heating.