Best Way to Mend a Fuse and Fitting a Plug

You’ve spent all day preparing for a wonderful dinner party, or maybe Mum’s calling around to see how you’re settling in. You’re confidently cooking a spaghetti bolognaise, with fifteen minutes to go, then – disaster! All the lights go off and you discover that the power has gone off as well.

One of the first things you should do when taking possession of any new property is to locate the position of the fuse board (or ‘consumer unit’). Check out the type of fuse board you have and familiarize yourself with the unit. The fuse board is basically a safety valve for the power and lighting circuits in your property and controls a series of ring mains, normally comprising two rings for each floor – one for lighting and one for power. The fuses should be clearly marked on the inside of the fuse board cover – 5 amp fuses for lighting circuits and 15 amp fuses for power circuits. I’ll show you how to fit a plug as well, whilst we are at it.

Here’s a very useful piece of information – always keep a torch, spare batteries, fuse wire, candles and matches as back-up in an accessible location close to the fuse board.

Mending a Fuse

Using your torch, check the fuse board master switch is in the OFF position. This will probably already be the case, as when a fuse blows, normally it will automatically throw the master switch to the OFF position. To locate the blown fuse, remove the fuses one at a time and inspect the thin fuse wire to make sure the wire is unbroken. On the card of fuse wire, select the appropriate amp fuse wire to match the blown fuse. Using a small screwdriver, carefully unscrew the two screws a little way at either end of the fuse. Remove the damaged remains of the old fuse wire and carefully thread the new wire through the center porcelain part of the fuse. Wind the wire around the first screw then the second and tighten down the screws, snipping off any excess wire. Replace the repaired fuse and then the fuse board cover. Throw the master switch to the ON position.

Fitting a Plug

Open up the plug case with a screwdriver and use wire strippers to remove the outer casing from each of the wires in the cable. Use the ends of the wire cutters or a pair of pliers to position the exposed copper ends of each colored wires in the correct terminals – brown to live, yellow and green to earth and blue to neutral.

Holding the wires carefully in place in the terminals, drive the terminal screws tightly down on top of the wires using a screwdriver. Ensure that no loose bits of wire protrude from the terminals. Finally, tighten up the screws securing the cable grip, replace the plug cover and switch on.