Power Trip At Home
One night, you were ironing your clothes while watching your favourite Korean drama on your 4K Samsung TV.
Suddenly the television screen went blank, your air-conditioning stopped, all the house lights shut off simultaneously and the iron’s indicator light dimmed. You know there was a power trip.
You yelled at your husband to check the mains and turn them on again. You resumed your ironing and TV, but every thing went black within 5 mins again.
Frustrated, you called your local electrician.
Faulty Appliances, Faulty Switches, Faulty Circuit Breakers
Due to wear and tear, it is possible for the electronic components within our electrical appliances, switches or circuit breakers to age and their performance degrade over time.
This ageing degradation of electrical components reduces the efficiency and impairs the performance of our appliances, switches and circuit breakers, hence causing them to malfunction.
The most common cause of power trips at home is when a faulty household appliance caused the circuit breaker to trip. Identifying which switch caused the power trip is usually quite straight forward.
Turn off the switch and the circuit breaker after you have found the faulty socket.
Next you can inspect each appliance connected to this socket to check for signs of exposed wires, burnt fuses etc.
If the problem does not lie with the electrical appliance, but instead lies with a faulty circuit breaker, faulty switches or worn cables and wires, it would not be so straight forward and it is advisable to seek the help of a qualified electrician.
Power Overloaded
Yes! Power trips are getting more and more common.
Reason being the increasing number of smart gadgets in our homes, and the myriads of power-guzzling home appliances sharing the same power socket, causing it to become overloaded.
For example, in Singapore’s searing hot weather, we often set our air-conditioning to very low temperatures.
Or we plug in too many electrical devices/appliances to a particular power point. Some may even have multiple freezers, refrigerators, heaters etc in their homes.
All these “high-powered” appliances put undue strain on our home’s power supply, which results in frequent electricity trips and power failures.
Whenever the demand on an electrical circuit becomes too high, the circuit breaker trips and shuts off the electrical flow to protect the circuit from overheating and causing further damage or starting a fire.
Electrical Safety
We should be aware of the dangers of troubleshooting our electrical appliances or power trips ourselves.
The human body is capable of conducting electricity and hence there is a high possibility of being electrocuted or getting electric shocks if we are not careful.
An electric shock may cause severe burns, forceful muscular contractions or even heart attacks to the sufferer.
We strongly recommend extreme caution be taken when carrying out any electrical work.
Why take the risk?
Simply engage our experienced electricians at 9729 1059 to do it for you.
8 Electrical Safety Rules
- Inspect the extension cords and power plugs often. Discard and do not use if you notice they are worn, damaged or exceptionally hot to touch.
- Do not overload your power points by plugging too many items into the same power outlet.
- Do not disconnect your power supply by jerking at the power cord, but instead, remove the power plug head from the power outlet.
- Never use a broken 3-prong plug nor break off the third prong on a 3-prong plug. Always make sure the third prong has proper grounding.
- Do not treat extension cords as permanent wiring, but instead, use them to supply power temporarily.
- Keep extension cords and power plugs away from fire, heat, water and oil, as these can cause damage to the insulation.
- Do not touch or try to repair a loose, cracked or broken power point/outlet.
- Do not try to repair or continue to use faulty electrical appliances.