This morning I woke up - I guess that is a minor miracle in itself because I had no alarm, or clock, or power. I had plenty of time to get ready - but was at a loss for what I should do. I realized that I could probably take a shower - but just one. My water heater is gas powered, but the thermostat that turns it on is electric. I called my boss to let her know that I had an interesting situation, then called April and Greg. Greg asked if my neighbors were out of power, and I couldn't tell - most were already gone for the day. He said that I should call the power cut line and report the outage. I found my bill (which only comes quarterly, so that is another miracle) and called the number. They said there were no faults in my area, and to try to reset my switchbox. (Where's my switchbox?!)
I found the circuit breaker, and pried the cover off (a cabinet has been built around it that prevents the cover from coming off without practically breaking it). I tried to reset everything. I had 2 circuits that wouldn't reset. At first I couldn't get any power - so the electric company sent and engineer. By the time the engineer arrived, I had messed with the box enough to have slightly shocked my hand and turned the lights on. However the 2 switches that wouldn't reset were for "Central Heating and Water Heater" and "Sockets". So I had no heat or hot water, and anything that plugs in wouldn't work. So pretty much I just had lights. I messed some more and found that if I just turned on the switch to the thermostat for the heat and water heater (and left of the switch to the back-up immersion heater for the water heater) the switch wouldn't fault. So now I just have a "sockets" problem. The engineer from the electric company suggested that I call an electrician. It was nearly 11am. I called my landlord, she called an electrician (her regular electrician is on holiday). She found someone who was supposed to arrive within an hour. I sat at home. I couldn't really eat anything because I didn't want to open the fridge - not that the over or micro would work... So I sat and read. And sat. And read some more. The electrician arrived at 1:30 (with this crazy Welsh accent), only to tell me that he didn't have a test kit - so he couldn't really do anything. He did pull out the stuck reset button on the sockets switch - which allowed it to be reset. So now everything works. However, he said that the switch needs to be replaced - a stuck reset button wouldn't cause a fault. But he couldn't nail down a time he'd be back with fixings. I have meetings this afternoon - so he is coming back tonight at half six (that is 6:30) and will hopefully fix everything then. The encroaching cabinet around the switchbox might slow things down a bit, but hopefully not too much. I am just hoping that the power is still feeding the sockets when I get home tonight - I turned my laptop back on and set it to charge... it will be sad to lose power again.
Just one more British adventure. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment