OK I tried plugging in an appliance to my wall outlet and there was no electricity. it's only one of them in my house. Anybody know how to fix this or do I call an electrician.

Did you make sure the appliance was good?

Did you check the fuse in the breaker box? If it looks black in the middle, it's burned out. Make sure you replace the fuse with the same kind. (same wattage)

If you have breakers, try tripping that one.

Clare is right. First check the appliance to see that it is working. Then, see if anything that is normally plugged in and works has suddenly stopped working. If so, check that outlet. They may be on the same circuit and you may have overloaded the circuit. DO NOT put in a larger breaker or fuse just because one has burned out or keeps tripping. Either try another outlet or call an electrician. Overloading circuits is one of the main causes of house fires. There is a reason why certain fuses are in certain places.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: DorianGreyed,

Excellent advice. Adding 1 Item
If the fuse keep fusing do check the load at the socket end I think its a 2000 watt limit (going on British appliances loads) and the Fuse value is 15 Amp

Of course the US Values are Different loadings
Wheres WOW?
And if the Fuse is blowing with No load you need Attention Immediately Do Not touch it as the fitting might be Live!! Switch off the circuit at the breaker
1 further Item do not be tempted to use a high value fuse in the powercord plug either. that can overload both ways same goes for bridging the plugs blown fuse.Thats Fatal!

I figured it out, i didn't press that reset button thing in the middle of the outlet.
Thanks for your help you guys. I greatly appreciate it.

WoW is here and watching. This one came in after I signed off.

Good answers all.

It seems Ron had a GFI outlet. A good rule of thumb is to check you appliance in another outlet first to be sure it is OK.

Then take a known working light and try the outlet.

I had a friend that called an electrician because only half of the outlet worked. I'll bet you all know the answer to that.

Yep, half was on a wall switch to turn a light on when you enter the room.

Another good one is where there is more then one outlet on a GFI circuit. The rule is the any outlet within 6 feet of a waterline be on a GFI circuit. Outlets around a kitchen sink can be wired through one GFI outlet or GFI circuit breaker.

Following WoWs post
I did a bit of investigating and found this page which looks very helpful troubledhooting this problem www.naturalhandyman.com/iip/infelectrical/infgfi.html

BTW 1 power socket for the Whole property? Thats Going back to the 1950s in the UK!
Is it that Common to find these?

For the record every room(in our house) has at least 2 powerpoints So I'd guess at 23 in total
If I was to do a New build of a Property I'd insist on something like this.
They are all routed through 2 x 15 Amp circuits bar the Electric cooker circuit socket which has a 30 amp rating
Only thing I have to criticise is the only Protection is a 50 AMP fuse fitted to the Mains cable NO breaker reset on circuit box .Is an internal Thermal reset Breaker

This one turned out o.k, but we have to be cautious in trying to solve Seattle electrical problems with U.K standards. "One power point for the entire room?" question, Bedstor asks? Not very likely. We are talking different languages, here. British vs American. We call those things "receptacles" and Ron has one Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter receptacle, or GFCI receptacle, in either the kitchen or the bathroom. More than likely there are many other ordinary receptacles or outlets in other rooms and the Code calls for no outlet farther than six feet from any point on the wall in other rooms. Most receptacles now are rated at 20 amps and wired with #12AWG. Older houses, wired with #14 guage wire and limited to 15A circuits. Using a GFCI breaker, as opposed to a GFCI receptacle, means that several receptacles can be protected against ground faults on one circuit. I wouldn't attempt to answer electrical questions about standards in Europe where the standards, voltage, wire sizes, frequency, etc are different than Canada/ USA.

Great site bedstor.

You Brits have funny power. 220 is the normal to each socket, if I'm not mistaken. We have 120 as our standard. Oh we do have 240 appliances like stoves, cloths driers and air conditioners.

I need to get over there and check my ancestors. May be we can tip a few.