A socket has stopped working — what to check safely
Before you call an electrician: a dead socket is very often just a tripped breaker or an RCD that needs a press — and those you can reset in seconds without touching a single wire. Work through these safe checks in order. But there's one hard line: never open the socket or touch the wiring. That is an electrician's job, full stop.
The problem
One particular socket has gone dead: the appliance plugged into it won't run, the charger won't charge, or the lamp won't light. Sometimes it's just one socket, and sometimes every socket in the room — or a whole side of the house — has gone at once. You may have heard a 'click' and seen a breaker trip at the consumer unit just before the power went.
Likely causes
A tripped breaker or RCD
The most common cause, and the simplest. The breaker or RCD in your consumer unit is there to cut the power on an overload or an earth leak. When it trips, the circuit that socket sits on goes dead. Sometimes the trip is obvious; sometimes the breaker sits halfway (between on and off) and fools you into thinking it's still on. You reset this by hand, from the outside — a flick, nothing opened.
A faulty appliance that tripped the protection
Very often the socket is fine, but something plugged into it — an iron, a heater, a cheap charger, a water cooler — has developed a leak or an internal short, and that pulled the RCD down to protect you. If you unplug that appliance, reset, and the power holds, the appliance is the problem, not the socket. Test appliances one at a time to find the culprit.
A whole circuit or ring is dead
If it isn't one socket but every socket in the room, or a whole side of the house, gone together, then the whole circuit has likely dropped — its breaker has tripped, or there's a fault in the ring wiring itself. Knowing whether the other sockets are live or dead maps the fault for you, and saves the electrician time when you tell them exactly what's out.
An internal socket or wiring fault (an electrician's job, strictly)
If the breaker is up, the appliances are fine, and just one socket is dead, the fault is likely inside the socket itself: a loose connection, a burnt conductor, or a weak contact point that's begun to overheat. This is dangerous and can only be diagnosed by opening it — and opening a socket and inspecting the wiring is work for a licensed electrician only. Warning signs: warmth, buzzing, discolouration, or a smell. Stop and call.
Fix it — step by step
- First: check the socket by eye and smell — no touchingLook the socket over from the outside only: any scorching or yellowing around the holes? Any smoke marks or cracking? A smell of burnt plastic? With your hand held near it (without touching the metal), do you feel unusual warmth or hear a buzz? If any of these are present, do not continue with the checks and do not use the socket — go straight to an electrician. These are fire-risk signs.A warm or buzzing socket is not a 'minor thing' — it's a warning. Stop right there.
- Go to the consumer unit and check the breakers and RCDOpen your consumer unit (the main fuse board) and look at the breakers. Find one that's tripped (sitting in a different position from the rest) or stuck halfway. If one has tripped: push it fully to OFF first, then back to ON — that resets it properly. If the RCD (the wide switch that protects the whole house against leakage) has dropped, reset it the same way.All of this is done on the face of the board, with your fingers on the switches you can see. You do not open the board's inner cover and you touch no wiring — only the breaker switches in front of you.
- If the RCD trips again straight away: unplug appliances firstIf you push the RCD up and it snaps straight back down, an appliance is likely the cause. Unplug the appliances from the suspect sockets (especially irons, heaters, cheap chargers, a water cooler), then reset the RCD with them all disconnected. If it holds this time, plug the appliances back in one at a time to find which one drops it.The appliance that trips the RCD every time you plug it in is the faulty one — stop using it and get it repaired, don't keep plugging it back in.
- If the socket itself has a RESET button, press itSome sockets — especially in bathrooms, kitchens or outdoors — have built-in protection with two small buttons: TEST and RESET. If that socket is dead, press RESET firmly with your finger until you hear a 'click'. This type sometimes protects other sockets downstream, so resetting it may bring more than one socket back to life.The TEST/RESET button is on the outside of the socket and safe to press. But don't undo any screw and don't remove the plate around it.
- Test with a known-good appliance, and check the other socketsPlug a simple appliance you know works (a lamp or a phone charger you're sure is fine) into the same socket. If it runs, the socket is fine and the fault was in the first appliance. If it stays dead, go round the other sockets in the room and on that side with the same lamp: if they're all dead, the whole circuit is out; if only this one is dead and the rest work, the fault is in this socket itself — and that's where you stop and call an electrician.When you call the electrician, tell them exactly: the breaker is up, you tested with a working lamp, and socket X alone is dead (or the whole room). They'll arrive ready and save you time and a call-out.
Tools & parts you'll need
When to call a professional
Stop and call a licensed electrician immediately if: the socket is warm, buzzing, scorched or discoloured, smells of burning, or has sparked; or the RCD trips every time you reset it even after you've unplugged everything; or the breaker is up, the appliances are fine, and one socket (or a whole circuit) is still dead. Any fault inside the socket or the wiring — a loose connection, a burnt conductor, a contact point that's overheating — can only be diagnosed and fixed by a licensed electrician. Do not open the socket, do not remove its faceplate, and do not touch any wiring under any circumstances. Mains wiring can kill in an instant, and an overheating connection is a genuine fire cause — leave it to a professional.
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Only one socket is dead and the rest work — what does that mean?
If the breaker is up and a known-good lamp stays dead in it, the fault is likely inside the socket itself: a loose connection or a weak contact point. This is not something you open or fix yourself — a loose connection can overheat and become a fire cause. Call a licensed electrician to open and inspect it. Your only job is to reach the diagnosis: breaker up + working lamp + one socket dead.
The breaker trips every time I reset it — what do I do?
Unplug everything from the sockets on that circuit first, then reset the breaker with nothing connected. If it holds, plug appliances back one at a time to find the faulty one. If the breaker still trips with everything unplugged, the fault is in the wiring or the socket itself — stop and call an electrician. Never force a breaker up or hold it in place; that's extremely dangerous.
The socket is warm or smells of burnt plastic — is that normal?
No, never. A warm socket, a burning smell, or discolouration means a contact point is overheating inside — one of the most common causes of house fires. Stop using it immediately, unplug whatever is connected if you can do so safely from the outside, and never open it. Call a licensed electrician as soon as possible. This is not a 'check', it's an emergency.
Why can't I just open the socket and look at the wiring myself?
Because it's mains wiring — 220V kills with a single touch, and even with the breaker off there may be another live circuit inside the box. Inspecting and repairing connections needs someone licensed who knows how to isolate the circuit, confirm it's dead, and test every terminal. All the safe checks are from the outside: breaker, RESET, a test lamp. Anything that needs a screwdriver = an electrician.
Every socket in the room went at once — same thing?
This is usually a whole circuit that's dropped, not a single socket. Go to the consumer unit and find the circuit breaker that tripped, and reset it (OFF then ON). If it holds, you're done. If it won't reset, trips again, or everything on the board is up and the room is still dead, the fault is in the ring wiring itself — and that's an electrician's job to diagnose, not something you reach from the outside.
I can't find a RESET button on the socket — is that OK?
Perfectly normal. Not every socket has built-in protection; usually only bathroom, kitchen and outdoor ones do. If there's no button, the protection is at the board level (the main RCD), so resetting from there is enough. Don't go hunting for a 'hidden button' and don't undo anything — if there's no button visible on the outside, there isn't one.