This job was at a house in Upper Hermitage where the homeowner had lost power to part of the house. The property had multiple circuits protected by a single safety switch, which meant when it tripped they lost power to a large section of the home including all cooking appliances and several general power outlets.

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We isolated the circuits protected by the safety switch and tested between them to narrow down where the fault was coming from. This led us to the oven circuit. After removing the oven and investigating further we discovered a mouse inside the appliance that had shorted across the terminals, which was causing the circuit to trip.

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While checking the appliance we also found some non compliant wiring that looked like it had been modified previously. The wiring was corrected and the circuit was made safe so the homeowner could restore power to the affected areas of the house.

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Situations like this are also a good example of why having individual safety switches for each circuit is recommended. When multiple circuits are protected by a single device, a fault on one appliance can cut power to a large part of the home.

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