Complete Novice - all lights in the house just dimmed

[Ritchie]

Afternoon all, my apologies if this is in the wrong area, but hopefully someone can put my mind at rest. I wasn't at the house when this happened, however my tiller was, he called me to let me know that all the lights in the house (upstairs and downstairs) have all just dimmed to a very low level. We do not have any dimmers in the house and I have absolutely no idea what might have caused this. No other appliances were on, just the tiller had his radio on and the lights for the area he was working at. Any ideas as I'm bit worried this could be serious?? EDIT: I have not contacted my power supply company yet. Thanks in advance,

 

[Pete999]

Afternoon all, my apologies if this is in the wrong area, but hopefully someone can put my mind at rest. I wasn't at the house when this happened, however my tiller was, he called me to let me know that all the lights in the house (upstairs and downstairs) have all just dimmed to a very low level. We do not have any dimmers in the house and I have absolutely no idea what might have caused this. No other appliances were on, just the tiller had his radio on and the lights for the area he was working at. Any ideas as I'm bit worried this could be serious?? EDIT: I have not contacted my power supply company yet. Thanks in advance,

Has your tiler taken any switches/sockets off to tile behind?

 

[Octopus]

Has your tiler been drilling any holes?

 

[telectrix]

most tilers are pretty dim. is it a rub-off?

 

[HandySparks]

If any other houses in the road (not necessarily next door) are experiencing the same problem, get in touch with your electricity supplier. If it's just your house, call a local electrician in without delay.

 

[telectrix]

or get a plumber in. then all the lights will be off, not dim.

 

[PEG]

...A dodgy tiller can sometimes steer you in the wrong direction...get rudder one :icon12:

 

[nickblake]

In this wind its probably a fault on a supply cable switch off consumer unit and call a spark or electricity supplier they will inform you if there are any faults in your area

 

[telectrix]

not one of your sheep chewed a cable then, nick?

 

[Octopus]

In this wind its probably a fault on a supply cable switch off consumer unit and call a spark or electricity supplier they will inform you if there are any faults in your area

What wind?

 

[telectrix]

What wind?

sheep fart?

 

[Ritchie]

Thanks guys for all your responses - even the sheep fart one! As far as the tiller tells me, he had only just put the lights on and only had a radio plugged in so I don't think I can blame him just yet!! He looked outside and all other houses seemed ok. So I assume (bearing in mind I'm less than a complete novice!!) it's either the main connection to my house, which might have come loose (therefore call EDF and wait in a queue for 55 minutes listening to hold music) or my sparky needs to come out and investigate. I've just had the house renovated but they didn't really do anything to the electrics (new extension but no other units changed), so I'm not quite sure. Seems like I need to do something quickly. Could this be a serious problem???? Other question is, I laid some space blanket insulation gear in the loft last Sunday and it says don't lay on cables. I managed to lift up pretty much all of them, but a few didn't have enough slack in them to do that, anyone heard if that could cause a problem. Again, thanks in advance.

 

[HandySparks]

Could this be a serious problem???

Yes. To be honest, without testing we're just guessing here.

The sooner you get an electrician in to test the installation, the sooner you'll get it fixed. It may be that he'll say that the fault's in the supply to your house and requires the local Distribution Network Operator to fix it, but at least you'll know for sure.

 

[Ritchie]

Understood, thanks. Last update for now, tiller says the lights are working fine now. He's going to keep an eye on it and see if it dims again (they were on for about 3 hours yesterday before dimmed). Just wonder if it's the space blanket insulation in the loft that's making the wires hot? Complete guess. I have asked my sparky to come in and test the system (well I will when I get hold of him). Thanks again.

 

[Octopus]

Sounds more like a loose connection to me!