Fault Finding Guide

Below is a flow chart designed to assist you in rectifying your own faults when trouble strikes. Most of the time the fault is caused by an appliance. Why should you pay for an electrician when we follow these exact same steps in the early stages of fault-finding? If these steps don’t help you find the faulty appliance/electronic, then call Sage Energy. Or if you have any questions regarding switchboard faults, do not hesitate to call.

Step 1

Find your Switchboard (Fusebox) and access whether it has Fuses or Circuit breakers. Some older home will still have fuses. If yours does, call Sage Energy for a simple solution.

Step 2

Turn everything OFF and then, one at a time, turn everything back on in this exact order:

• Main Switch ON
• Safety Switches ON
• Circuit Breakers ON

Step 3

If one of your Safety Switches instantly trips you could have a faulty RCD Safety Switch. Call Sage Energy.

If one of your Circuit Breakers instantly trips the RCD Safety Switch then that is the circuit that has a fault on it. Turn it OFF and proceed to turn everything else back ON.

Step 4

If the Circuit Breaker was a Light circuit, read Step 7 next. If it was a Power circuit then you must unplug everything on that circuit. If in doubt, unplug everything inside and outside the home. Not just the outlets you can get to, everything.

Step 5

If the Circuit Breaker was a Light circuit, read Step 7 next. If it was a Power circuit then you must unplug everything on that circuit. If in doubt, unplug everything inside and outside the home. Not just the outlets you can get to, everything.

Step 6

If The Safety Switch remains ON, go back and plug everything back in and switch ON, one at a time. The faulty appliance will trip the circuit as you plug it in. Leave it unplugged and turn the circuit back ON.

Step 7

We can adapt this method to Light circuit faults too. Instead of unplugging your power points, simply turn OFF all lights/fans/dimmers and try to reset the tripped Safety Switch. If successful then turn ON all fans and lights, one at a time, until you find your fault. This method is less likely to work for lights so if you cannnot reset your Safety Switch call Sage Energy. We’ll know what to do.