Fuse Box Keeps Tripping? Causes, Safe Checks and When to Call an Electrician

By Tim, NICEIC registered electrician · Published 6 October 2026 · 8 min read

If your fuse box keeps tripping, look at which switch has gone down before you do anything else. A single breaker means one circuit has a problem. An RCD means something on that bank of circuits is leaking to earth, usually an appliance. If the main switch won’t stay on, or a switch trips again with everything unplugged, the fault is in the wiring or the board and you need an electrician. In Poole or Bournemouth with no power, ring Tim on 07809 680068. Emergency call-outs start at £150 and that includes the first hour.

Whole street dark? If the neighbours are off too, it’s a power cut, not your board. Ring 105 and you’ll get SSEN, who look after the network in Dorset.

Fuse box keeps tripping: what each switch means

Most people still call it a fuse box. If it’s been changed in the last 30 years or so it’s a consumer unit, and it has three kinds of switch:

On a modern RCBO board each circuit has its own protection, so a fault only knocks off that circuit. On an older split-load board one RCD looks after half the house. That’s why a dodgy kettle can take out the lights, the fridge and every socket downstairs in one go.

If you’ve still got the old rewirable fuses, nothing trips. The fuse wire just melts. Those boards give you no shock protection at all, and they’re the most common reason we end up recommending a consumer unit replacement.

Safe checks you can do yourself

None of this needs tools, and you shouldn’t take the cover off the board or any socket.

1. See which switch has dropped, using the table above.
2. Unplug everything on the circuits that went off. Switch off fixed appliances such as the oven, the immersion heater and outside lights at their isolator switches.
3. Reset the tripped switch. If it stays up with everything disconnected, the wiring is probably fine and an appliance is the cause.
4. Plug appliances back in one at a time, switching each on. When the switch drops again, the last thing you connected is the likely culprit. Stop using it.
5. If it trips again with nothing connected, or will not reset at all, the fault is in the fixed wiring or the board. Leave it off and call an electrician.

Jot down when it trips. Only when it rains? Only at night, or when the heating kicks in? That saves whoever comes out a lot of time.

RCD keeps tripping: the usual causes

An RCD watches the current going out on a circuit and coming back. If some of it is going to earth instead, it cuts the power in a fraction of a second. That leak might be through a damp fitting or a tired element. It could also be through a person, which is the whole point of having one. What we usually find:

• An appliance with a heating element. Kettles, washing machines, dishwashers, ovens and immersion heaters all leak a bit more to earth as the element ages, until one day it’s enough.
• Water. Outside sockets and garden lights mostly, or a fitting under a leaking pipe or in a bathroom. If it trips after heavy rain, start outside.
• A nail or screw through a cable, or something chewing it in the loft.
• Too much on one RCD. Every bit of electronics leaks a tiny amount. Put enough of it on one RCD and together it gets near the trip point. That’s a limit of split-load boards, not a fault as such.
• An old RCD that’s become oversensitive and trips with nothing wrong.

Those last two are why repeat RCD trips on 1990s and 2000s split-load boards so often end with a new RCBO board. Each circuit gets its own protection and one fault no longer takes out half the house.

Socket not working? Check this first

If one socket or a few sockets have gone dead, check these before you call anyone:

1. Is it switched on at the wall? It sounds obvious, but it catches people out.
2. Has anything tripped at the fuse box? Look for a breaker or RCD that’s down. If it has, follow the steps above.
3. Is there an RCD socket or a fused spur nearby? Kitchens, garages and outside sockets often have their own reset button or a fuse in a switched spur. Press the reset or check the fuse.
4. Try a different plug. Put something you know works into the socket. If that works, the fault is in the appliance or its plug fuse.

If nothing has tripped and the socket is still dead, the fault is usually a loose connection in that socket or one next to it on the same circuit. Don’t take the socket off the wall. Switch that circuit off at the fuse box, and if the socket looks scorched or smells of burning, leave it off until it’s been looked at. Planned fault finding starts from £85.

What you should never do

Don’t tape, wedge or hold a breaker or RCD up. It’s tripping for a reason.

Don’t put thicker fuse wire, or a nail, in a rewirable fuse. The wire is sized to protect the cable behind it. Make it heavier and the cable becomes the weak point and overheats instead.

Don’t keep resetting a switch that goes straight back off. You’re switching back on into a fault every time.

And if you can smell burning, hear buzzing or see scorch marks on the board or a socket, switch off at the main switch if you can safely reach it and call us.

When to call an electrician

Ring us if the switch trips again with everything unplugged or won’t reset, if it’s the main switch going, if you can smell burning, if the same circuit keeps going and you can’t pin it on one appliance, or if you’re on rewirable fuses and one keeps blowing.

No power, or a board that won’t hold, is an emergency, and Tim picks up the phone himself. If you’ve traced it to a faulty appliance, or it only goes now and then, book a planned fault-finding visit instead. It’s cheaper.

What does it cost to fix a tripping fuse box?

If it turns out the board needs replacing, you get a fixed price for that before we touch it. Everything we charge is on our prices page.

Get it sorted

Fuse box tripping now? Call Tim on 07809 680068 or message on WhatsApp with a photo of the board and which switch has dropped. We cover Poole, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Wimborne, with 24/7 emergency call-outs and planned domestic electrical work.

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