Your lights are very useful at night and are often taken for granted. This is because, in general, one bulb blows at a time. Bulbs can be turned on and off for a limited number of times, when they reach the end of their life they blow. Of course, if one bulb blows you are not left in darkness, other lights will still work.
However, when your fuse goes it will stop power to the lighting circuit, potentially leaving you in the dark. This increases the likelihood of an accident happening as you attempt to find a torch or the fusebox.
Fortunately, there are several things you can do to resolve this issue.
Professional Help
Electricity can be dangerous, it is often a good idea to get the professionals to take a look at your system for you. This is especially true if you have a two-story house but all the lights are shutting off. There should be a lighting circuit for each level of your home. If there isn’t, your home wiring needs to be updated and you should contact a level 2 electrician as soon as possible.
Overloading
It is worth noting that that not having enough lighting circuits could be causing your light fuse to keep blowing simply because there are too many bulbs on the circuit. Splitting the circuit can be enough to resolve the issue.
Even if the circuits have been split correctly, you may find that there are too many lights on one of the circuits. If a standard size cable is used you will be allowed eight to twelve lights on one circuit and it will be rated according to the fuse size and wiring size.
If there is too much load your fuse will trip. This will become obvious as it will blow when you turn on extra lights but it doesn’t have to be the same light every time!
Bad Wiring
The other main reason for a lighting fuse to keep blowing is if the wiring is bad. This could be bad connections at the light or it may be that the wiring has been damaged. It can take time to track down the fault but it will help if you turn on different lights to see if a specific one is blowing the circuit. If that is the case you will have narrowed down where to start looking.
Of course, you need to proceed with caution as you are looking for damaged wiring and this could mean that the inner wire is exposed, increasing the likelihood of electric shocks.
Don’t forget that bad wiring increases the risk of a house fire and should be rectified as quickly as possible. This is definitely something that is better undertaken by a professional as they will locate and fix the problem much faster than you can.
If you do suspect bad wiring, avoid using the lighting circuit if possible, until it has been properly assessed and repaired.
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