Most people ring at night because they are not sure whether they should wait. That is the right instinct — an electrical fault is hard to judge from the outside, and the consequences of getting it wrong are not proportionate to the inconvenience of asking.
Ring now, whatever the hour
- A burning smell, scorch marks, or anything warm that should not be — a socket, a switch, the consumer unit itself.
- Any sign of arcing: buzzing or crackling from a socket or the board, or a flash when something is switched on.
- Water reaching wiring, a consumer unit or a light fitting, whether from a leak, a burst or a flood.
- A shock or a tingle from an appliance, a tap, or anything metal.
- A breaker that trips again the moment it is reset, especially the main RCD.
- Damage to the incoming supply, the meter, or any cable outside the property.
Safe to leave until morning
- One light fitting or one socket dead, with everything else working normally.
- A single breaker that tripped once, reset cleanly and has stayed in since.
- A light that flickers only when a particular appliance runs.
- An extractor, an outside light or a doorbell that has stopped.
The common thread is containment. If the fault is isolated to one circuit, that circuit can be left switched off overnight and dealt with in normal hours. Turn the breaker off rather than leaving it on and hoping.
A whole-property blackout is often not your wiring
If the whole street is dark it is the network, not your installation, and an electrician cannot fix it. Report it to the distribution network operator on 105 — free, and it works from any phone in Great Britain.
If your property is dark and next door is not, that is yours. Check the consumer unit before ringing anybody: a main switch or RCD that has tripped is worth knowing about before you describe the problem.
If you are still not sure
Describe it on the phone. Someone who does this work can usually tell within a minute or two whether it will wait, and being told to leave it until morning costs nothing.
If you are unsure, it is always cheaper to ask than to guess. Give us a call and we will tell you straight.