Power surge - telly up in smoke, can I claim?!!

[Mon Ami Mate]

We've been having a series of power cuts in my street recently - three in the last week alone. Sitting working today with the test match on in the background there was a sudden power cut, a discernible death rattle from the telly and an immediate stench of burning electrics. The power's only just come back on after eight hours and the telly is well and truly stuffed. I'm feeling litigious. Who do I threaten with unpleasantness unless I am provided with a satisfactory replacement?

[GKP]

The person that wired your fusebox?

[ali_kat]

Call your electricity provider in the morning.

When this happened at my parents house, it blew the TV, laptop, monitor, stereo, microwave etc.

All of it was replaced.

[Mandat]

Claim from the maker / supplier of you surge protector. You do have one, don't you?

[saleen836]

Also might want to check the fuse rating in the tv plug as most will have a 13A which will normally blow the tv set first, when it should infact be a 3A fuse which should remove the risk of your tv set going pop from such power surges.

[Goochie]

GKP said:

The person that wired your fusebox?

The "fusebox" (Consumer unit) will normally only protect against over-current faults downstream of the board and not over-voltage coming into the property. A domestic consumer unit will not normally be equipped to deal with an over-voltage fault.

Same applies to the fuse in the plug

You need to know if it was an over-voltage or over-current fault.

Edited by Goochie on Wednesday 8th July 22:34

[Mon Ami Mate]

Goochie said:

GKP said:

The person that wired your fusebox?

The "fusebox" (Consumer unit) will normally only protect against over-current faults downstream of the board and not over-voltage coming into the property. A domestic consumer unit will not normally be equipped to deal with an over-voltage fault.

Excellent. For the benefit of the clueless, is this good thing or a bad thing?

[Goochie]

Mon Ami Mate said:

Goochie said:

GKP said:

The person that wired your fusebox?

The "fusebox" (Consumer unit) will normally only protect against over-current faults downstream of the board and not over-voltage coming into the property. A domestic consumer unit will not normally be equipped to deal with an over-voltage fault.

Excellent. For the benefit of the clueless, is this good thing or a bad thing?

If/when you cut through a cable with a hedge trimmer or drill into the wall and find your electric cables, there would be a "power surge" which could kill you. This "surge" is an over-current fault and will cause a fuse to blow or the consumer unit to turn off the power supply within a few (30 ish) milliseconds. Current is measured in Amps.

So assuming it saves you from electrocution, its a good thing.

Mains voltage in the UK can vary from 210 volts to 250 volts or more throughout the day and night, if for some reason it reached 280V (for example) this could kill your electronics in the TV and not blow a single fuse.

Edited by Goochie on Wednesday 8th July 22:45

Edited by Goochie on Wednesday 8th July 22:46

[HRG.]

ali_kat said:

Call your electricity provider in the morning.

When this happened at my parents house, it blew the TV, laptop, monitor, stereo, microwave etc.

All of it was replaced.

They're usually pretty good at telling you if there were any over or under voltage events and to what extent.

[Mon Ami Mate]

Goochie said:

Mon Ami Mate said:

Goochie said:

GKP said:

The person that wired your fusebox?

The "fusebox" (Consumer unit) will normally only protect against over-current faults downstream of the board and not over-voltage coming into the property. A domestic consumer unit will not normally be equipped to deal with an over-voltage fault.

Excellent. For the benefit of the clueless, is this good thing or a bad thing?

If/when you cut through a cable with a hedge trimmer or drill into the wall and find your electric cables, there would be a "power surge" which could kill you. This "surge" is an over-current fault and will cause a fuse to blow or the consumer unit to turn off the power supply within a few (30 ish) milliseconds. Current is measured in Amps.

So assuming it saves you from electrocution, its a good thing.

Mains voltage in the UK can vary from 210 volts to 250 volts or more throughout the day and night, if for some reason it reached 280V (for example) this could kill your electronics in the TV and not blow a single fuse.

Edited by Goochie on Wednesday 8th July 22:45

Edited by Goochie on Wednesday 8th July 22:46

Thank you, that does sound logical. Out of interest, why would it have killed the TV, but not the PC, laptop, fishtank or 100 other things I have plugged in around the house?

[Goochie]

Mon Ami Mate said:

Goochie said:

Mon Ami Mate said:

Goochie said:

GKP said:

The person that wired your fusebox?

The "fusebox" (Consumer unit) will normally only protect against over-current faults downstream of the board and not over-voltage coming into the property. A domestic consumer unit will not normally be equipped to deal with an over-voltage fault.

Excellent. For the benefit of the clueless, is this good thing or a bad thing?

If/when you cut through a cable with a hedge trimmer or drill into the wall and find your electric cables, there would be a "power surge" which could kill you. This "surge" is an over-current fault and will cause a fuse to blow or the consumer unit to turn off the power supply within a few (30 ish) milliseconds. Current is measured in Amps.

So assuming it saves you from electrocution, its a good thing.

Mains voltage in the UK can vary from 210 volts to 250 volts or more throughout the day and night, if for some reason it reached 280V (for example) this could kill your electronics in the TV and not blow a single fuse.

Edited by Goochie on Wednesday 8th July 22:45

Edited by Goochie on Wednesday 8th July 22:46

Thank you, that does sound logical. Out of interest, why would it have killed the TV, but not the PC, laptop, fishtank or 100 other things I have plugged in around the house?

Which of those things were switched on?

It could be that the TV electronics are simply less tolerant of high voltage spikes

[Mon Ami Mate]

Just come off the phone to N-Power - they have acknowledged that there was a spike in the power supply and say that several other people in my area have made claims. Apparently a customer services person will call me back later. Truth be told the telly is an old 37" Sony that has definitely seen better days. Anybody know what they are likely to offer?

[Mon Ami Mate]

For anybody interested, I've just accepted an offer of £500 from N-Power, well worth bearing in mind if you should ever find yourself in this situation. I'm way too stupidly honest to try spurious claims for anything else...

[Goochie]

Interesting - I wonder how many of your neighbours will have lost a TV, computer, iPod, mobile phone, fridge freezer (full, of course) and Blu-Ray player ??

[eldar]

Goochie said:

Interesting - I wonder how many of your neighbours will have lost a TV, computer, iPod, mobile phone, fridge freezer (full, of course) and Blu-Ray player ??

Few years ago The power company (MEB as it was) managed to cause a voltage 'spike' and power cut one night which fried everything plugged in and powered on ( as it was about 4am, happily not too much), heating controller, freezer, modem and alarm in about 8 houses. Sotred everything very quickly, no fuss at all.

They had been doing some engineering works and bypassed a transformer putting 14,000 volts or so down the wrong circuit....