Electrical maintenance and fault finding

An electrical fault rarely picks a good time. The board trips every time the washing machine spins, half the lights have gone out, a machine will not start, or something smells hot. Guessing and resetting can make it worse. Bream Bay Electrical finds the actual cause, fixes it properly and makes sure it is safe before we leave.

Common faults we find

• RCDs or breakers that trip, sometimes only now and then, which is the hardest kind of fault to pin down.
• Lights, power points or whole circuits that have stopped working.
• Flickering or dimming lights, and loose connections that run hot, discolour or buzz.
• Water in outdoor fittings, junction boxes or pump wiring.
• Motors, pumps and machinery that trip, stall or will not start.
• Damage from rodents, renovations or a nail through a cable.

How we find a fault

Good fault finding is methodical. We start by asking what happened and when: what was running, whether it has happened before, whether the weather was wet. Then we isolate the circuits one by one and test them, measuring insulation resistance, continuity and the behaviour of the protection device, until the problem is narrowed down to one circuit and then one point on it. Intermittent faults can take longer, and we say so before we start. Coastal properties are hard on outdoor wiring, and moisture getting into a fitting is one of the most common causes of an RCD that trips in wet weather. Once we have found the cause we repair it, retest the circuit and explain what went wrong.

Planned maintenance for businesses and plant

For businesses and industrial sites, the cheapest fault is the one that never stops production. Scheduled maintenance means regular inspection of switchboards, connections, motors, drives and control gear, so wear and overheating are caught early and repairs can be planned. A yearly thermal imaging pass over the switchboards finds hot joints before they fail. We offer preventative maintenance schedules to suit the site, and our industrial electricians look after plant maintenance, motor control and control system fault finding in detail.

Testing and tagging

Businesses have to keep their electrical equipment in a safe condition. Testing and tagging portable appliances is one common way to show that, and WorkSafe's guidance on testing and tagging explains when it helps and why equipment used outdoors or on building sites needs checking more often than equipment in an office. Anything that fails needs repair by a registered electrical worker, which we can do on the same visit. Our test and tag service page explains what is involved.

When a fault is a warning

Sometimes a fault is telling you the installation has run out of room. A board that trips when the heat pump and the oven are on together may be overloaded, and old wiring that keeps failing may be due for replacement. We will tell you straight when the fix is a bigger job and quote it properly.

What to do before we arrive

If something is burning, sparking or smells hot, turn off the main switch at the switchboard if it is safe to reach, and call us. If an RCD has tripped and will not reset, do not keep forcing it: unplug the appliances on that circuit and try again, and tell us what you found when you ring.

Records you can use

After a fault or a maintenance visit we tell you what we found, what we did and anything that still needs attention, so you can plan for it rather than be surprised by it. For businesses that keep maintenance records for insurers, landlords or head office, that information is ready to go straight into your system.