Lawton ElectricCo.

Urgent electrical faults

Urgent Electrical Problems

Some electrical faults are a repair that can be scheduled. Others are a fire risk that is already underway. This page is about telling the two apart, and what to do first.

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If there is fire, smoke, or an immediate risk to someone, call 911 first

Flames, smoke, a burning smell that is getting stronger, or anyone who has had an electric shock: that is the fire service and emergency medical care, not an electrician. Get everyone out and away from the building. The electrical diagnosis happens afterwards, and it will still be there when the immediate danger is dealt with.

Downed power lines, a damaged utility pole, or conductors brought down onto a vehicle or fence: stay well back, keep others back, and contact the utility and 911. Assume every downed conductor is live.

Recognising it

Electrical problems that should not wait

Most electrical work is a repair that can be scheduled. These are the faults where the risk is present now rather than eventually.

  • Burning smell, smoke, or hot plastic

    A smell of burning plastic near an outlet, switch, fixture or the panel means something is overheating right now. Heat at a connection is how an electrical fault becomes an electrical fire.

  • Sparking, arcing, or a buzzing panel

    A spark that is not simply a plug making contact, a crackling or buzzing sound from the panel, or visible arcing. Arcing generates extreme localised heat.

  • An outlet, switch or panel that is hot

    Electrical equipment should be at room temperature. A faceplate or panel cover that is warm or hot to the touch indicates current going somewhere it should not.

  • Scorch marks or discoloured equipment

    Brown or black staining around an outlet's slots, a melted faceplate, or discolouration on a breaker. The damage visible outside is generally less than the damage inside.

  • Exposed or damaged wiring

    Damaged insulation, conductors visible where they should not be, or wiring exposed by storm damage, rodents or building work. Treat all of it as live.

  • A breaker that will not reset

    A breaker that trips immediately every time it is reset is reporting a short circuit or a ground fault on that circuit. Leave it off — repeated resetting puts the fault back.

  • Sudden partial power loss

    Roughly half the house losing power while the rest works is a recognisable pattern, often a lost leg of the incoming service. It can also cause uneven voltage that damages appliances.

  • Storm-damaged service equipment

    A pulled-away service mast, a damaged meter enclosure, or conductors brought down by wind or a falling limb. Stay well clear and treat downed conductors as live.

  • Water where electricity is

    A flooded basement with circuits in it, water entering a panel, or a roof leak above a fixture. Water and energised equipment is a shock risk before it is an equipment problem.

First steps

What to do while you wait

In order. The first two matter more than anything an electrician can do remotely.

Then get it looked at

When you make contact, the useful details are: what you can smell, hear, see or feel; which rooms are affected; whether a breaker has tripped and whether it resets; and whether anything changed recently — a storm, an appliance, work in the house. If you can safely photograph the outlet, fixture or the outside of the panel, do.

Do not open the panel, do not replace a breaker with a larger one, and do not use an extension lead from another circuit as a workaround — that moves the load onto a circuit that was not designed for it.

Get in touch about an urgent fault

Our after-hours arrangements are not published on this page, because we will not advertise a response time we have not committed to. Call and you will be told straight away whether someone can attend and when. If the situation involves fire, smoke or injury, 911 is the right call and it is the one to make first.

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A published phone number for urgent faults is pending — see the development notes.

Questions

About urgent electrical faults

Should I switch off the main breaker?

If the problem is confined to one circuit, switching off that circuit's breaker is enough and is the better option, because it leaves the rest of the house working. Switching off the main is reasonable if you cannot identify the circuit and the situation looks unsafe, provided you can reach the panel safely and it is not itself hot, smoking or wet. Never open the panel cover to investigate — the lugs behind it stay live with the main off.

What if the smell of burning is coming from the panel itself?

Do not open it and do not operate the breakers. Leave the area, keep others away from it, and call 911 if the smell is strong or getting worse, or if you can see smoke. A panel that is overheating internally can fail suddenly, and there is nothing useful a homeowner can do at the enclosure.

Is a tripped breaker an emergency?

Usually not, on its own. A breaker that trips once under an unusual load and then holds is the protection working as designed. It becomes urgent when it trips immediately on reset, when it is accompanied by a smell, a sound or heat, or when several circuits are tripping at once. Those are the cases where something has changed rather than something was momentarily overloaded.

The power is out — is that an electrical fault or the utility?

If neighbouring houses are also dark it is almost certainly a utility outage, and the utility is who to contact. If your house alone has lost power, or has lost part of its power while the street is fine, the fault is on the premises or at the service, and that is electrical contracting work. Damage on the utility's side of the meter remains theirs to repair.

Once the immediate risk is dealt with

Something is wrong right now

If there is fire, smoke or injury, call 911. Otherwise switch off the affected circuit and get in touch with what you can see, smell or hear.

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