Korean Job Discussion Forums

[fromtheuk]

This morning the lights in my apartment went off. I turned on the main trip switch and the lights stayed on for a short time, but then the main trip switch turned off.

The lights won't come on, without the main trip switch moving to the off position. This has never happened before in 10 months.

Call me Sherlock, or is this because of the weather?

I've never had the lights go off before or the main trip switch.

[the_beaver]

You have a short somewhere that could be caused by rain (or maybe not).

Eliminate the possibilities by unplugging stuff from one socket and flipping the main breaker back on. If it trips again, that's not where the problem is. Go to the next socket and do the same thing. If you do find the offending socket, it's probably one of the items plugged into it.

If it's not one of the sockets it could be one of the lights. Start with all of the lights off and turn them on one by one and see which one trips the breaker.

If it's not either of those, it could be something like your boiler.

If it's none of those possibilities is could be the breaker itself (I had to change one once because it kept tripping).

Finally, it could be something lurking deep in the walls that you'll never find without a sledgehammer.

[fromtheuk]

Thank you.

I tried your advice. I took all the plugs out and tried all of the lights but whenever I switch the light trip switch on, it immediately turns off the main trip switch now, whereas earlier the lights came on for a bit and then the light trip switch went off.

It's not a main trip switch problem otherwise it wouldn't stay up like now, it's only the light trip switch which causes the main trip switch to turn off.

I will have to contact the landlord, I hope he's in, I'll need to buy a lamp today.

[crescent]

Sometimes water can seep into the electrical outlets in the bathroom. When you have a shower, water can splash in.
Even high humidity can short it out.

[fromtheuk]

You're very perceptive! Because the lights went out the first time, while I was cleaning the bathroom.

In the bathroom, there is one electrical socket for shaving which has a cover on it, but while I was rinsing the wall which surrounds it, that's when the light first went off.

I thought to myself that may be the cause, but I just shrugged it off.

Now I think about it, I think that was a possible cause, or it could have been the rain.

I phoned the landlord's son who can speak some English. The landlord is apparently on his way, and should be here around 1pm.

Thanks everybody for your comments.

[blackjack]

could it have been a simple powercut?

[fromtheuk]

The landlord showed up, he got behind the trip switch and replaced some parts behind it and that didn't fix the problem.

I gestured to the socket in the bathroom, I explained to him using non-verbal communication that I suspected some water may have got under the cover which protects the socket.

So he phoned an engineer and he arrived very quickly.

He took off the cover of the socket in the bathroom. Fiddled with the wires, put on a new cover, and everything was back to normal.

It took around 45 minutes to do. I am glad the landlord lives upstairs. I initially phoned his son who speaks some English. The son arrived first, he phoned his Dad and left, and then later his Dad arrived around 1pm.