Loose wire

Last weekend the plug sockets above the kitchen worktop just suddenly stopped working. I was making breakfast for the guests at the time and had just boiled some water in the kettle - no problem - and then turned the toaster on and there was no power. Very odd.

I finished the breakfasts by moving the toaster and kettle and juicer to other sockets, which was incredibly inconvenient, and then took the coverplates off the sockets to see if I could find the problem. It was a loose connection - or so I thought. I re-connected, put everything back together and it worked again. I was relieved that it hadn't been a bigger issue but concerned that it should happen at all.

Some of the original bits of wiring that we had done when we first started the renovation were put in by a French based English electrician. Three years on from that and it's clear that she wasn't very good - there have been nothing but problems with the electrics that she installed - from sockets not working to reversed / mixed up phases on the fusebox. Loose connections in old wood/lathe walls are not good news because they are a major fire risk.

So imagine my surprise and my despair when, yesterday morning as I was preparing a client breakfast, the same circuit stopped working again. It was indeed deja-vu - I had just boiled the kettle and then when I turned on the toaster - nothing - spooky.

I spent at least two hours yesterday trying to work out why it wasn't working - two hours when I didn't get to do the jobs that were planned - and then another hour today, before finally I had to resort to calling Chris and asking him to come and help me.

We eventually traced the problem - and that took another hour - and it wasn't good news. We had discovered that there was power coming from the fusebox but there was no power at the socket - there had to be a connector somewhere in-between. When we finally traced it to a junction box up near the ceiling of the utility room, we found a burnt out/melted connector that can only have been caused by a loose connection.

Once we cut it out and replaced it the circuit was restored, but the big concern was the danger that it posed and whether there are any other loose fittings lurking in the network of cables fitted by that useless electrician. The only solution is to go through each and every circuit and check every connection - which is going to be very tedious - but rather that than risk a fire.

On a very different and very sad note, I have to report that the one and only remaining cutting from last years geraniums has passed away. I did everything I knew to keep it going and in fact it had become a bit of a symbolic undertaking - I hope it isn't a bad omen that it's gone.