If the power keeps going off in a Hemel Hempstead house, this is the local version of what to check. Circuit tripping, power tripping and electricity tripping are the phrases people use for the same thing: a breaker or an RCD opening, and part of the house dead. The emergency electrician page for Hemel is where you book the visit. The Hemel EICR page is the later test, if you want the whole installation looked at once the urgent fault is sorted.
The general article on a circuit breaker that keeps tripping, and the one on an RCD that will not reset, go into the same faults without the Hemel detail. Lights that flicker in one room, while the breaker stays on, are a different fault. The Hemel electrician page is the main local page.
What I look for on a Hemel call-out
I am not guessing a street average. These are the causes already on the wider tripping guide, and they are what I test for in HP1, HP2 and HP3.
An overloaded circuit: a kettle, a microwave and a heater on one ring. A faulty appliance, often something with a heating element. Moisture in an outdoor socket or a garden light, which shows up as an RCD trip. A damaged cable. Less often, the breaker itself. And a consumer unit that was never meant for the load now on it. A replacement board, when that is the honest job, starts from £500.
In a New Town house the board is often in the kitchen or under the stairs, and one floor going off is usually one circuit. The rest of the house can stay on. In the Old Town the board is sometimes in a cellar or a rear lobby, and the labels are less clear, so note which switch moved before you call.
Safe checks before you call
See whether the neighbours still have power. If the street is out, call 105. That is the network, and it is not something I can switch back on at your board.
If only your house is affected, unplug everything that was in use on the dead circuit. Try the breaker once. If it stays on, plug things back one at a time. The appliance that opens it again is the one to leave unplugged.
If it trips again with everything unplugged, stop. Leave that breaker off so the rest of the house has power. Do not hold it on, and do not swap in a larger fuse if you still have an old board. A burning smell from a socket means the same thing: that circuit stays off.
When to call
Call the same day if the breaker will not stay on with everything unplugged, if it will not reset at all, if you can smell burning, or if more than one circuit is dead. Emergency call-outs in Hemel are £110 an hour. I confirm that before I set off. Call 07405 629 940.
I cover Old Town, Gadebridge and Warners End in HP1, Adeyfield, Bennetts End and Highfield in HP2, and Apsley, Boxmoor and Leverstock Green in HP3. Hemel is a base, so a genuine trip is a same-day visit.
When an EICR is the next step
Tonight's trip is fault finding. If the same circuit has been opening for weeks, or the board is original to a New Town house, an electrical safety certificate is the fuller test once the urgent fault is fixed. That is an EICR, from £80 for a one-bedroom, £130 for two beds, £180 for three beds and £230 for four beds, emailed the same day.
Book the urgent visit on the Hemel emergency page. Book the certificate on the Hemel EICR page. If the house is in Pinner rather than HP1, HP2 or HP3, the Pinner EICR page is the certificate, and the prices are the same.