Emergency power outage ?!

[Charliebear322]

I knocked over my tea down the side of my bedside table where the plug socket is and instantly everything that was plugged in in the entire room has switched itself off. The plug socket I spilt tea onto had things plugged into it, lamp and phone charger so I don’t know if it means water has gotten into the socket.
i don’t know what to do

Unplug everything, make sure it’s switched off (maybe turn the sockets off at the fuse board if you can), dry it all off as much as you can with tissues and leave it to dry out. It took a couple of days when my shower leaked and fused all the downstairs sockets, but it’s been fine, although tea might be a different matter.

This could have been prevented if the plug socket was sealed to the wall, but there is a gap between the plug socket and the wall where the tea has entered. I rent
I found my switchboard but it looks like the switch for all the plugs have been turned off automatically
ive got no lamp now
do I need to call out an electrician or something.

So it’s tripped the sockets, which is what it should do, so that’s good and means it’s safe. Don’t attempt to turn it back on for a day or so. Maybe call an electrician in the morning for a bit of advice? I know water dries out, but tea might be a bit sticky if there was milk/sugar in it.

No there was no milk or sugar in it it’s sleep tea

I just tried plugging my phone into the kitchen socket but it won’t charge. can I turn the switches back on but just not plug the charger into the socket that’s wet

Hopefully it’ll just dry out then, but you might be without power on the sockets for a day or two. When my shower leaked a huge amount of water straight into the hallway plug socket, my electrician said to leave it for a day at least before I tried to flip the trip switch and if it was still too damp, it would trip again. It took longer than a day, but that was very wet.

It’s likely that they’ll just trip again tbh as it’s a safety thing if it’s still wet. Do you not have a separate switch for kitchen sockets and the rest of the house? I think that depends how old your fuse box is though. You can try flipping the switch - it won’t let it stay on if it’s not safe.

I do but the kitchen one has switched itself off as well for some reason

You should be fine to switch that one back on. It’s probably just gone off as a precaution.

They’re all on the same circuit. When you’re sure it’s dried out you’ll need to flick the switch on the fuse board.