Worried about a potential fire

[Homebew1]

Not moved into new home yet. Nothing has been added to the electrical load in terms of any of our faulty appliances as we have nothing there so not sure what is causing the electrics to trip (apologies if I’m using wrong words!).

I’m really worried as it could be a potential fire risk. DH doesn’t care and thinks I’m as “usual stressing for no reason”. I feel so overwhelmed with taking care of kids, focusing on moving our stuff from current temporary home to new plus working. I don’t even know where to start trying to find the problem.

DH is against me getting an electrician in as he thinks I will get ripped off. Please advise me, have you had similar problem? I don’t know where to go from here.

Have you bought the new house? Didn’t the survey throw up any problems? Your husband sounds a bit thick, I wouldn’t be moving in, especially with kids until it’s been checked.

Get an electrician in.

After I bought my house, there was a ceiling light fitting with no bulb in it - bit odd but I didn't think much of it. When I put a bulb in and turned it on, it tripped the circuit. When I got an electrician in, it turned out the insulation in the roof was badly singed and we were lucky the whole place hadn't gone up in flames.

We also found some dire wiring in the kitchen; it seems that some previous owner was a wannabe electrician, before that sort of thing became illegal in the mid 90s.

You can get socket testers from Screwfix for £10+ but they don't show everything; it didn't pick up our dodgy lighting (different circuit) and it said the kitchen was fine when it was earthed but had other major problems.

Thank you for validating my thoughts. DH’s reaction again just now was there’s nothing wrong! We did do a survey and it did not pick this up.

his reaction is it’s no problem. I’m terrified of the thought of a fire with my kids in the house. We moving in next week.

Yes I had a level 3 survey done and it didn't pick up the electrical issues either! To be fair the kitchen electrics weren't visible until we started ripping out the units but they were still there!

With a bit of sleuthing you can identify the issue yourself. Could save time for the electrician.
Which socket or light switch causes the trip? Are the trips the correct rating?
But do get an electrician.

A survey doesn't look at electrics, that's a widespread misconception. You can (and we did) hey something called an EICR, which is basically an electrical survey. Would highly recommend (as do fire brigades and fire safety charities)

Try unplugging everything in a different room each day and write down when the trips occur so you can check for patterns which should lead to the problem.

Also take note if it happens at certain times like when the heating comes on (or off).

So what’s happening exactly?

Just get an electrician in - you can get a recommendation or try Trust Pilot. No reason why you would get ripped off. In fact, I would be happy to pay someone reputable good money rather then a cheap back of fag packet quote from a cowboy.

It's peace of mind and safety and that is invaluable.

And make sure you have good smoke alarms.

The Fire Service used to come round and fit them for you, don't know if they still do that.

We had ours checked by an electrician, as we thought it might need a rewire. Electrician said it didn't, the wiring was in a good condition, and just new fuse boards needed. So they didn't try to rip us off. At the same time, we had them replace pendants, replace wall lights, install dimmer switches etc. Think the electrical check was about £400

Get an electrician, when I bought my first house my dad who was an electrician found the electric shower had been wired in to the cooker ringmain, the cooker was wired in to something lethal, he had to fit a new fuse board & circuit breakers & ended up rewiring everything except the lights.

You should probably get and EICR Electrical Installation Condition Report carried out. It would probably cost £200-300 bit would indicate any issues, and find the root cause of the trip.
Can you establish which circuit trip RCD is activating. If the distribution board is correctly labeled they you could then check each of the fittings.
I'm surprised that regular testing is not mandatory every 5 years by insurance companies. It should really also be included in property sales aswell.
Electricity is the predominant cause of most house fires, so please ignore your husband and get professional advice from a registered electrician.

We've just received our survey and the surveyor mentions that he is not aware of any recent tests of the electrics so he he recommends an electrical installation condition report. His cost estimate is £500. As a surveyor he is not qualified to test electrics.

I would get the electrical inspection.

It may be that because you have plugged more heavy usage appliances into one set of plugs that this is tripping one of the breakers.

But it is best to make sure.

TBH if you are moving into a new house and it is quite old, or looks like it has had a lot of electrical work done then it is always worthwhile having the electrics checked out.

Your husband sounds like a bit of an idiot. If he has an explanation why it is tripping, or understands domestic wiring to a reasonable level then fair enough. If it's just tripping and he has no experience of electrics or understand why then he is a fool.

Ask round locally for recommendations for an electrician. I wouldn’t bother with the electrical report just get them to fix the problem

As everyone else is saying get a electric condition report done, it may be that things just need updating that’s what happened when I have had them done. Have u tried turning everything off in the house then turning on one by one to see what is tripping it, I have done this and we found out what it was.