24/7 Emergency Electrician · Ireland
Electrical
emergency?
Pick the option closest to your fault. We’ll get you connected in seconds.
Pick the option closest to your fault. We’ll get you connected in seconds.
What the Fault Finder Does
Most electrical faults in a house come down to a short list of causes, and a fair number of them you can identify, and sometimes fix, without an electrician. The tool above walks through the same questions we’d ask on the phone: what stopped working, when it started, whether anything was running at the time, and what the board is doing now.
It gives you a likely cause, the safety steps that apply to it, and an honest read on whether this is something to try yourself or something to stop and ring about. It is free, there is no signup, and it does not ask for your details before showing you the result.
Narrows the cause
Circuit, appliance or supply, in a couple of minutes
Flags the unsafe ones
Tells you when to stop and turn off at the main switch
Routes you properly
Including to ESB Networks when it isn't an electrician's job
The Most Common Fault
This is the single most common thing we get called about, and the causes come in a fairly reliable order. Work down the list rather than guessing. It is faster, and most people find it before they get to the bottom.
A faulty appliance, by far the most common
Most trips are one appliance leaking a small current to earth. Kettles, washing machines, dishwashers, tumble dryers, immersion heaters and electric showers are the usual suspects, because they combine water, heat and age. The giveaway is that it trips when that appliance runs, or shortly after.
An element that has started to fail
Shower and immersion elements fail gradually rather than suddenly. Water gets past the seal, the element starts leaking to earth, and the board trips, often only when the shower runs hot or only in the morning when everything is cold. Intermittent is normal for this one, which is why people chase it for weeks.
Water where it shouldn't be
Outdoor sockets, garden lights, shed supplies and anything on an exterior wall. This is the one that tracks the weather: if the trips started after heavy rain or a cold snap, look outside before you look inside.
Several small leaks adding up
Every appliance leaks a tiny amount of current to earth. On a board where one trip switch covers half the house, enough small leaks together will cross the threshold even though no single appliance is faulty. This is why the trips seem random and why nothing you unplug fixes it. It largely disappears when the board is changed to one breaker per circuit.
A damaged cable
A nail or screw through a cable during flooring, shelving or a bathroom refit. Usually this trips immediately and permanently rather than intermittently, and it dates from whatever work happened just before it started.
The board itself
Trip switches are mechanical and they wear. A device that has been tripping for years can end up over-sensitive, or fail to reset even with the fault gone. This is the least common cause on the list, and it is worth ruling out the other five first.
Try This First
Unplug everything on the circuit that trips. Reset the switch. If it holds, plug things back in one at a time, leaving a few minutes between each and running them rather than just plugging them in. An immersion or a shower only leaks to earth once it starts heating, so a dishwasher sitting idle proves nothing. The item that trips it is your answer, and replacing or repairing that one appliance is the whole job.
If it will not reset even with everything unplugged, stop there. That means the fault is in the fixed wiring rather than something you own, and it needs testing instruments rather than trial and error. Same if it resets and trips again within seconds.
Stop and turn off at the main switch if you can smell burning, see scorch marks or discolouration around a socket or switch, feel heat on a socket, switch or the board itself, or see or hear arcing. None of those are worth diagnosing yourself. Ring us on +353 87 453 8461.
Which One Do You Need
Use the Fault Finder
Ring us instead
If the whole area has lost power it is a network fault rather than an electrician’s job. ESB Networks’ 24-hour emergency line is 1800 372 999 and it is free to call.
Who You’re Dealing With
J Cowman Electrical Contractors has been Safe Electric registered since 2021, with 5 years of certified installations behind every job we quote.
Safe Electric registered
Registration A6700
Verifiable on the public register
Public liability insurance
Up to €6.5M
Cover in place on every job
Crew size
10 electricians
Trading since 2021
Fixed-price quote
Within 48 hours
WhatsApp replies within the hour, Mon–Fri
Questions
Nearly always a single faulty appliance leaking current to earth, most often a shower, immersion, washing machine or dishwasher. The second most common cause is water in an outdoor socket or garden light, which is why trips that started after heavy rain usually have an outdoor cause. Less commonly it is several appliances each leaking a small amount that together cross the trip threshold, which produces trips that feel completely random. Working through it in order is quicker than guessing, and the tool above does exactly that.
A switch that will not reset means the fault is still live on that circuit. Do not force it or tape it up. Unplug everything on that circuit and try again. If it holds, plug items back one at a time until it goes. If it will not reset with everything unplugged, the fault is in the fixed wiring rather than an appliance, and that needs testing rather than trial and error. A switch that resets and then trips again within seconds points the same way.
Resetting once to see whether it holds is reasonable. Repeatedly resetting a switch that keeps going is not, because the device is doing its job. It is detecting a real fault and disconnecting the supply, and overriding that removes the protection. If it trips more than twice in a row, stop resetting and work out which circuit and which appliance. If you can smell burning, see scorch marks, or a socket or switch is warm to touch, turn off at the main switch and ring an electrician rather than investigating further.
Use the tool if the power has gone and you want to narrow it down before anyone comes out. It takes a couple of minutes and it often finds the answer, which can save you a call-out charge entirely. Book an inspection directly if there is no power at all and neighbours have supply, if there is any burning smell or visible scorching, or if the fault has already been chased and not found. The tool tells you which of those you are in.
Turn everything off at the board except the circuit that trips. Unplug every appliance on that circuit. Reset the switch. If it holds, plug items back in one at a time, leaving a few minutes between each, and run them normally rather than just plugging them in. An immersion or shower only leaks when it heats. The one that trips it is your answer. If nothing trips it and the fault returns later, it is likely a heating element or something outdoors, both of which are weather- and use-dependent rather than constant.
Usually not. Tripping is a symptom of one fault, not of failed wiring, and in most houses the fix is an appliance rather than the installation. Where it does point at the board is when trips are frequent and scattered across different circuits with no single cause. That often means one trip switch is covering too much of the house, which is a board upgrade rather than a rewire. Our rewire guidance explains which houses genuinely need what.
Check whether neighbours have power. If the whole area is out it is a network fault and ESB Networks are the people to ring rather than an electrician. Their emergency line is 1800 372 999 and it is free to call. If your house is the only one out and nothing on the board has tripped, check the main switch and any separate meter-side fuse. If that is not it, it is a supply-side issue and it still starts with ESB Networks.
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