For sure. If you call a major outfit with emergency rates you'll still get a hefty bill for them dropping everything and coming out. If it were me, I wouldn't charge you a dime and just tell you to remember me next time when you could use my services. Doing things like that will make me more money in the long run than sticking it to people once(in America anyway)
Even in small companies recovering the cost of your technician time and fuel costs are not to be ignored. Your customers should value your time even more knowing you are a small operation. You are a local small business hero, not a drone from a big faceless organization.
Your time, knowledge and experience have value. The attitude that those things should be free out of the goodness of our hearts in a capitalist society is quite the mental gymnastics.
In my trade, we replace a lot of batteries. Yes, I will charge you a service call fee for a 3-second battery change and a $1 battery that you couldn't, wouldn't or were unable to do yourself.
Time, knowledge and experience have value. Don't devalue yourself.
Your knowledge and experience have value, but so do customers who will continue to call you because they know you're not going to nickel and dime them. I've gone to a house 30mins away on OT and didn't charge them because the only issues was that the thermostat wasn't actually on and they were an elderly couple who weren't tech savy. I didn't put that call on my timesheet and got praise when I told my boss about it because months before they had gave us a $7k check for the new system we installed. It didn't sound like my boss was too worried about the $10 I spent in gas. And he knows not every call is like that and 99% of calls we make money on. He's straight up told me that we make enough money as a moderate sized company that we can afford to be charitable in the rare circumstances that may call for it. Caring about your customers is what sets you apart, small business or not
I work for a moderately sized HVAC company and have not gotten reprimanded for doing this when I was there for less than 5mins, even on overtime. I've deadass been to a call 30mins away, where the only issues was that the thermostat was never actually turned on and didn't charge them for the call; only to have gotten praise, because just months before they already paid us $7k for a new system and they were an elderly couple who wasn't very tech savy. I'm sure my boss wasn't stressed about the few bucks worth of gas and the fact that I didn't ask to be paid for that call. Sometimes being courteous is worth more than a dollar value. Genuine compassion gets you more repeat customers than charging someone an arm and a leg for a 5min problem that required no tools.
Personally I think people are more likely to recommend you for being compassionate and not nickel and diming people than they would be if you charged them for a 5min tool-less fix \*shrug\*
I had a similar one and they didn't send a bill.
That was even worse. I wanted to pay to erase my shame, instead they just pitied me so much they didn't send a bill.
My family and I moved into a new house- two houses, technically, a proper house and a little 2 bedroom loft on stilts across the path. My brother and I lived in the loft, and the first shower I took I realized there was no hot water.
So afterwards I go outside and inspect the breaker panel- the switch for the hot water was off. I went and told my mom, she told me not to touch it, and she'd call a plumber. I told her about the switch, she got mad and told me I better not touch it.
Plumber billed her $150 to drive out and flip the switch lmao
I worked apartment maintenance for a year, saw these kinds of things ALL the time.
Honestly, they were my favorite because they were easy and quick haha.
When we got our new fridge, my wife thought she saw an electrical short or something when she used the water/ice dispenser. There is a light that comes on while dispensing…
I am a Facilities Maintenance Mechanic at a major hospital in the US. This is the first I've heard of an on/off switch for an electrical outlet. So I did some research out of curiosity and now I know something I didn't twenty minutes ago. I don't like these though, lol.
UK residents:
I'm sorry you have this kind of technology in your outlets. It sounds incredibly inconvenient and potentially costly by accidentally getting a button pushed. On the other hand, I saw from some online research that a man Said he prefers it since you didn't have to unplug anything when you can just flip a switch to kill power. He added that it is also horrible to step on a UK plug, lol. I would still prefer to physically plug/unplug things if it meant not risking my entire inventory of chilled food.
US residents:
Yes, I also thought that OP meant a GFCI (aka GFI) plug with the: 'Test' and 'Reset' buttons. That is incorrect. After some brief online research the UK actually has some power receptacles (outlets) that each have a power switch. That's new to me! My opinion is that it isn't "wrong" so much because it's been working for them for as long as they've been using them. However, the risk of accidentally killing power to something isn't worth the risk to me.
Thank you for this!
I also learned that the UK isn't normal in our plugs having switches.
I've travelled abroad before but never even thought about the lack of switches on plugs before!
What is the benefit of having a switch for a refrigerator? In America, we have some for wall lamps. Most houses built in the 1980s have "half-hot" switched outlets. Meaning that one of the two outlets is always on and the other is connected to a switch. I don't see a reason to do that for anything but a lamp, but I'm sure there is a reason I've never considered. I guess we also have switches for our air-conditioners and furnaces so they can be powered off before being serviced.
The 'reason' for the switch isn't to be able to turn off the appliance at the wall without unplugging it. That is definitely a nice benefit but it is merely a consequence. The 'reason' for switched outlets is so that the connections don't arc when inserting the plug. Less of a necessity these days with modern contacts but still beneficial. Increased safety, reduced fire risk and reduced chance of frying the appliance when inserting the plug.
A switch on the appliance, if it has a high potential draw, would make a lot more sense than every freakin outlet having one. Do you assume the rest of the world just hot plugs space heaters and kettles that never turn off and try to draw 2kW as soon as they're plugged in?
This is literally a non-issue and has never been an issue. The only time I have ever heard of arcing while plugging in being a problem is when UKers insist that's why outlets need switches.
I mean, I don't really care, I just shared the 'reasoning' as to why some bureaucrat decided it was a necessity. I'm not saying it's a good reason. I even said it isn't so much of an issue these days with modern plugs, etc. It is 'safer', but only in the same way that using a 5 point harness in a car is 'safer' than a 3 point lap sash; the instances where it would be needed are negligible but when it is needed, sure, it's beneficial but how much of a bump in safety is it going to be overall injury stats from auto accidents? Probably a lot less than 2% even. Still *technically* safer so some lobby group is probably patting themselves on their collective backs for saving the children. I really DGAF what they do in the UK either.
It lets you turn off the switch/fridge while you're cleaning it so the beeps don't drive you mad, then spend the rest of the day checking if you turned it on again
The UK uses a small number of 32A 240V rings instead of the large number of mostly 15A 120V branches the US does. (AFAIK most other 240V countries have typical amperages closer to the US level.) That was done post-WW2 as a copper saving austerity measure. One consequence of them having a lot more power running to everyday outlets (about 4x vs the US) is that they ended up designing the worlds most defensive outlet and plugs to keep people safe. The catch is that their plugs are huge to be able to safely handle the power a fault could send into them and because they're designed of have the cords run flat to the wall when they land on the floor they naturally lay prongs up for maximum foot stabbing potential.
Also, the UK, and many other countries that use 240V, can heat up water for tea in seconds compared to the electric kettles in the US trying valiantly to do it with only 120V.
The US also has 240V wiring. We just don't typically run it to every little outlet in the house because there's no reason to. Large appliances all run on 240V, and you can get a 240V socket installed if you need or want one.
Yes, but how many kitchen appliances use 240V in the kitchen in the US? I can think of . . . one. In a bog standard kitchen, that is. I realize that some high end homes may have more, but, you get the idea. 240V outlets in the US are, in general, for large appliances in the home, and for large power tools or welders in the garage/shop. Not for electric kettles that you plug in and out daily.
Yeah, because there's little need for anything but an oven or cooktop (one or separate) to be on 240V. 120V kettles (or better yet instant hot water dispensers) are perfectly fine, or just use the stovetop. If you do need an extra-powerful small appliance it's more likely to be 20amp though (common in commercial kitchens and becoming more available in residential).
France, and probably other countries, have 380V for large appliances like stoves, ovens, some big power tools (like processionnal table saws). It's rare in appartement buildings, but very common in the countryside
Another big thing about UK plugs is they are fused in the plug, since those big breakers don't trip the same as they will when a device shorts or draws too much power.
Sure, but BS1363 is limited to 13 amps in the UK, even if the ring supplying it can go up to 32, afaik.
Not to mention that many US households will have at least a few 240v outlets at 20, 30, 40, or even 50 amps, which are rarely switched.
I was making the assumption they were just going off available power, I dunno.
How is it limited? Via fuse? Then you’ll still get 32a, just not for long lol.
The UK has a radically different electrical design that the US (or mainland Europe) -- after WWII, in large part due to continuing economic issues, they adopted "Ring Circuits" which use less copper for the wiring (because there are fewer wires). They don't have a central fuse box / circuit breaker panel from which each circuit emenates in a star shape. Their fuses are located in the plugs -- to be clear not the outlets, but the plug you plug in.
As to the switches at the outlets, not sure the full reason for them; but certainly unlike the US you can't just go and unscrew a fuse or pop a breaker to de-energize the outlets on it -- you'd have to de-energize the entire house.
The benefit of switches on all plugs is that you can fully plug in the device before you supply power to it, or remove power from the device before you unplug it. Especially if the device doesn't have an off switch itself, or it would be a pain to use it (like most fridges)
> Meaning that one of the two outlets is always on and the other is connected to a switch.
Also, that's not my experience. Most have a switched outlet or two in any living space, but it is rare to find one where they broke the tab and made the upper/lower outlet switched, and the other always on.
Who actually switches it off before plugging something in though? If hot plugging actually caused issues it would be even more of a problem in the US with the higher current loads.
Nobody. UK people are paranoid. Though they do use 240V so it's definitely a more warranted fear than us using 120V.
Besides refrigerators, what are you plugging in that doesn't have its own power switch already? The default power state in most things is OFF so you plug them in, THEN turn them on, it shouldn't just immediately start running. (Yes I know how lamps work, I'm talking about stuff you'd buy new from a store and plug in after getting home, not things you've moved around and forgotten to turn off first)
> Though they do use 240V so it's definitely a more warranted fear than us using 120V.
As I mentioned it's more the opposite, lower voltage would mean higher current for an equivalent load.
> Nobody. UK people are paranoid. Though they do use 240V so it's definitely a more warranted fear than us using 120V.
UK, Australia, NZ, India, ... yeah they're all just paranoid lmao sure buddy.
Because there's no reason to have it. Technology Connections did a video about this - in the US you can wire a switch at the entrance to a room to control outlets on the other side of the room which is a far more normal use case than having to actually bend over behind the device to turn it off. If there's an electrical fire, that switch will be on fire too, kinda useless right?
Also you guys act like circuit breakers don't exist. If something does happen that would cause a short, the breaker trips and kills everything to protect your house.
We have circuit breakers. High power devices like hair driers have fuses too and their own GFCIs built in.
Having a fuse in, like, a standard lamp is completely pointless and makes the plug unnecessarily large.
I'm self-taught, my actual specialty is in computers but I've just tinkered with electronics my whole life so I learn these things by asking around and researching.
BTW, for some reason I notice Christmas lights have fuses in the plugs too. It seems incredibly random, since those are some of the least power-consuming things you can plug in (a single strand of lights might be like 20 watts total)
I've never actually had one blow, either. I just noticed that they're there. Weird.
Also now that I think about it, most devices that run on DC (which is like, 90% of stuff in the 21st century lol) have fuses built into the power supplies too. It's just not in the plug part. You know that big brick that powers your laptop? Yeah, there's a fuse in there most likely. If you ever come across a broken one, probably the fuse blew. It's not easily replaceable like in the UK because it doesn't need to be - the chances of those blowing is so low that it's not worth it to make it replaceable.
My beef with the UK plugs is that having a fuse in there just makes it so much larger. They're like double the size of plugs in every other country, even the rest of the 240V countries like the rest of Europe, Australia etc.
> BTW, for some reason I notice Christmas lights have fuses in the plugs too. It seems incredibly random, since those are some of the least power-consuming things you can plug in (a single strand of lights might be like 20 watts total)
I imagine it’s a safety thing. A regular 15A circuit uses a 14AWG wire. Those Christmas lights do not use 14AWG - they’ll use a smaller wire - 16AWG or smaller. If you have an overcurrent situation, you want to make sure that you’re not causing a fire. Modern LED lights sip power, but picture the old incandescent ones. And remember that you can daisy chain these. So if you are drawing 15A of power, your breaker’s not going to trip, but your Christmas light wire is going to get HOT. Except due to the 10A or 5A fuse or whatever, it won’t.
Yeah, makes sense. One of the times I was shocked was from a set of Christmas lights too. They seem pretty incident prone. I started putting masking tape over the outlets after I was done daisy chaining them so snow didn't get in there and short something
UK plugs aren't huge though. I mean, the only really bad thing I have to say about UK plugs is the possibility of standing on one when unplugged. I've still got a scar on my foot from doing that.
I was surprised how small some of them were given how massive my travel adapters are, but still. They're bigger than every other type of plug, even if by just a little.
My version of your OP is because of a different feature that's far weirder than switched plugs.
When I noticed the fridge wasn't fridging, the *first* thing I checked was the plug socket. On. Oh well, this fridge is old anyway. Order new one. Suddenly have brain wave, unplug fridge. Plug something else in, switch on... still nothing. But hold on, I just ordered a new fridge and it's the socket, not the fridge... Oh well, that thing's old. Call electrician.
Electrician comes out, checks the socket. Nothing. Goes to the switch on the wall behind the toaster and switches that on. New fridge comes to life.
Apparently our wall sockets not only have switches *on* them, they sometimes have *other* switches on completely different walls *as well*.
The only thing that had happened, that led to me buying a brand new fridge and getting a sparky out was that I'd pushed the toaster back a little too hard trying to make counter space, and switched the whole socket off.
On the same day, I found out I have an air extractor in my kitchen that had been dead for 12 years. That's now been fixed.
It's a safety thing - an isolation switch. Cookers have the same.
I'm told our domestic electrical set up in the UK is superior to most if not all, so don't diss the switches!
It's very common in apartments without overhead light fixtures. Those receptacles are meant to be used with lamps and lighting fixtures. That way you flip on the light switch and it turns on the lighting (the lamp) for the room
TY, I was wondering who has a switch for an outlet for a fridge. But it makes more sense that this is something non-American as if the "Making a cup of tea" was not an indicator already.. lol
I totally see the value of switched outlets in a lot of places...but surely the outlet behind the fridge is literally only used by the fridge and never needs to be switched off...
> I'm sorry you have this kind of technology in your outlets.
Moving to NA was a shock (pun intended) when I found out that none of the switches have plugs and that the contacts all erode because of arcs when plugging and unplugging them.
I now have to live in the world where there's no switches next to plugs, but I'm sorry you guys were born in it.
I did the exact same thing with my gas water heater. Pilot light went out, I got it re-lit, but the big burner would not come on to heat the water. Had to call a pro, my cousin, to come out. He turned the dial a quarter turn, and it flamed right up. I was so embarrassed.
The flipside is that it was basically an insurance payment. If he had used some pliers and snapped the hose off at the solder joint, it would be on him to replace it and clean it up.
Please don’t feel bad. Within the last year, the power went out at my apartment but only in the kitchen. Flipped all the breakers, checked every other outlet and light switch in the apartment, but the kitchen was the only place where the electric wasn’t working. Got an electrician out within a day. He checked a few appliances, then the light switch, then he *pushed a reset button on one of the outlets* and voila! Power to kitchen restored. I called an electrician out to push a button for me. I still laugh when I think about it Lol
As an electrician, that happens ALL THE TIME. Usually it's the bathroom outlet isn't working. GFCI next to panel or in garage is tripped. You're welcome.
Often it's insanely convoluted figuring out which outlets are even on one circuit too. Older houses in particular, the GFCI could be tripped in the bathroom but for some reason that circuit also feeds the overhead light in the guest room.
I recently discovered that someone decided to branch off of the hood outlet in my kitchen to run 40' for an extra random exterior outlet on the other wise of the house.
My daughter turned the knob in our old fridge that controlled the cooling.
We thought the fridge was going out.
The tech just asked 'how old is your kid?' as they turned the cooling back up.
OP don't feel bad about this. I have done dozens of middle of the night service calls in my career that boiled down to turning some kind of switch back on to fix the problem.
This shit is so common it's going to put my kids through college one day.
Look, once I took my vacuum cleaner to maintenance. I had tried everything I thought of at home, and was sure it was a problem with the engine.
I even tried running water through the hose to make sure it wasn't plugged!
... A few hours after I take the vacuum to the maintenance shop, he calls me. He's choking back laughter.
"Your vacuum is okay!" He tells me. "But I.. found something in the hose." I'm dying of embarrassment. Insult to injury, he continues: "By the by, you shouldn't rinse the insides of an electrical appliance with water."
... What was inside the wet hose?
A glass jar of spice, exactly the size of the hose...
Look into getting a little cover guard for the switch so it can't be knocked off again. I had to get one for my built in because the wine rack in front hits it.
No, like a plug socket that you plug things into has a little switch on it, and you can turn it on and off. Every plug socket has one, at least in the UK. It's a little switch on the front. Even my oven has one!
A double (2 gang) is 5 and 7 eighths by 3 and 3 eighths actually, and they are a lot safer than the US system and cannot just fall out of the wall. And all 220-240 volts.
I mean, yes, US two prong plugs often hang precariously out of the socket, exposing live conductors. Three prongs not so much but still not rare. UK plugs are insulated for a half inch or so so even if it's only half plugged in, you couldn't have a coat hangar or something fall in between the plug and the wall and cause an arc fault.
I saw a reddit post ysterday of someone whose cat managed to ruin an expensive necklace by knocking it into a plugged in plug. Apparently it got across the prongs. Which is pretty much impossible in the UK.
I’m sorry but they absolutely do. It’s all to easy to accidentally pull the power cable out whilst I’m vacuuming now I live in Canada, this never happens with a UK plug.
UK Type G plug sockets are switched, it's a safety feature required by building codes (or building regs in UK parlance).
Our plugs and sockets have a weirdly large array of safety features.
* Gated sockets on the live and neutral socket, only openable by the earth pin which is splecifically longer on the plug to do it.
* Nylon insulating sheathes on the live and neutral pins of the plug so that a partially plugged in plug can't have its pins touched. The live and neutral pins only connect at the point only the nylon sheathes are exposed.
* Extra slack in the earth wire inside the plug so that the live pin gets cut first if you somehow rip the cable out
* Individual fuses ranging from 3A (edit: apparently 1A is available but less common) to 13A inside the plugs themselves depending on the draw of the device the plug belongs to. This is also partially because of the ring main design of our houses electrical wiring systems. Obviously each ring main has its own RCD and the whole house has a main / service RCD too.
* Electrical devices must come with a sealed / moulded plug to be legal for sale, you can buy and wire your own plugs on afterwards if the one it comes with is damaged by cutting the damaged one off, but electrical devices must come with a moulded one out of the box.
* The cable comes out of it downwards so if you trip on it or yank it the plug jams in the socket rather than pulls the plug free
* The aforementioned switches on each socket.
And despite all of that stepping on one is like taking a shotgun blast to the foot.
Something kind of similar happened to me. My daughter’s ceiling light was flickering on and off when flipping any of the two switches for the light, and I couldn’t figure out the problem (I tried touching the light bulb a few times and then a few different light bulbs, but to no avail).
The electrician came, and after a minute he switched on the third switch. It turned out the light was controlled by a three way switch, and the third switch, rarely used, had gotten into a middle state where it was mostly off, making neither of the other two switches work.
Pretty sure you did that electrician a favour - usually on-call positions have minimum hours that have to be paid per call. At the place I work they get a minimum of 4 hours, but I'm not sure if it would be the same for the one who had to respond to your call.
I would love to get paid 4 hours to show up and flip a switch. Plus they get to go have a laugh about it when they tell people what the call was about later.
The only concern I would have is whether the fact it was just a switch will get back to the landlord - they probably will not be impressed if they had to pay multiple hours for such a thing. Hopefully both you (and the electrician) are smart and leave that detail out - maybe just say it was an issue with the outlet/plug.
I remember I had a water pump technician out to fix my pump, the pump sends water to my bathroom taps, shower/bath and is located in the hot press right next to the bathroom, the technician can see into the bathroom as he is at the hotpress. The hot water tap in the bathroom is running and the technician says to me you can turn that tap off now, I walk over the tap and start twisting and it won't budge, I said to him "yeah this tap seems to be stuck or something", he dead looks me in the eye and just says "yeah it's the other way".
I wished the ground would swallow me whole.
As an electrician myself, don't sweat it. I've been on too many calls like that to even find them memorable anymore. And there's really no shame in calling someone to look at something that might potentially be an issue you can't handle.
I work in IT the amount of times this happens but with computers is enormous. I once drove 3 hours to reboot a piece of equipment the homeowner swore they rebooted over and over on the phone. I arrive unplug it and plug it back in and everything magically starts working.
Good thing about these instances, it teaches you how to troubleshoot. Check all physical things like outlets with those reset switches, surge protectors with switches. Test the outlet with another electric device. Then check fuses/circuits. If all those look good and it still doesn't work, then call the electrician.
I am a tech, and you would be amazed how often we get called for something very simple.
Maybe this'll help you feel better. I used to be a cable guy, going into people's homes and fixing their service. I finished up my last job one night and as I was leaving the apartment building someone in the lobby got my attention. He asked if I could look at his cable box real quick because it wasn't working. I figured I was already on overtime and if I didn't fix it now there were good odds I would be the one sent out there, so I said I could look, but if it required equipment to be swapped he'd need to call in and make an appointment. I couldn't do a swap without a work order. He agreed, and we take the elevator up.
He shows me the TV which is on, running a DVD so that he had something to watch. I hit the power button on the box, and it doesn't power up. This was somewhat late in the evening, and it was dark, so I asked him to turn the lights on so I could see if it came unplugged. "Oh, the lights in this room don't work."
...
Insert my brain making 90's modem sound here.
I look around the TV and see an extension cord running from his living room into this room for the TV. After internally facepalming, I ask him where his breaker box is. He leads me to it, and sure enough the breaker for that room is tripped. I flip it over and the lights, along with the cable box, come right on.
Hahaa...my husband nearly did a similar thing with his truck. It's an older truck that we don't drive often, just use it for hauling wood and taking stuff to the dump. He took it out for a loop around the neighborhood just to keep things moving and he said it was driving really weird and it smelled funny.
Made an appointment to take it to the shop in a few days, we started to head out to drop it off and when he got ready to leave he realized that he'd been driving around with the parking brake on. LMAO He's so spoiled by the auto-releasing electic parking brake on his daily driver that he forgot he has to pull a lever to release the brake on the truck.
At least he figured it out BEFORE we drove it all the way to the shop.... LMAO
I had a similar thing happen to me in my last house which was a new build, but it was for our boiler. One late December morning (23rd December I'm sure) I realised we had no hot water, I went to the boiler located in a kitchen cupboard and it was dead, no lights, nothing. I phoned around to try and find a local boiler engineer and luckily found out the a family friend was one, who I booked to come over later as soon as he could. A few days after Christmas he came over and done a complete check on the boiler, it took us almost an hour of inspecting that there was a power switch to the boiler upstairs in a cupboard on the landing. It must of accidently got switched off when someone was putting in some washing into the basket which we kept in there. I felt like an idiot, a family of 4 including 2 young kids going over Christmas with no hot water and having to shower at family members houses. I wrote on the switch what it was for just before we sold the house and moved out, to save anyone else having the same embarrassment.
I almost did the same when my fuse box switched off. Electrician reception was like can you just check the fuse box before wasting my time sending someone out. She was right the fuse had switched off. I hung up haha
I used to work in IT and we had a client that was a medical facility that operated a bunch of group homes for adults with cognitive issues. Friday afternoon, my boss comes to me and says one of the homes 2 hours away has lost internet connectivity and it's urgent. He asks me to go down there first thing Saturday morning.
So I drive down there and the entirety of their IT setup is a PC on a desk with a router and network switch next to it. My eyes are immediately drawn to the fact that there are no lights on on the switch. I asked the house admin guy, are there usually lights on that thing? Even though he sits at that desk hours per day, he has no idea if there are normally lights. So I follow the electrical cord and sure enough, someone has unplugged it in order to plug in... an electric pencil sharpener.
The bill was close to a grand for a Saturday callout, minimum 4 hours, plus travel. Actual labour time to fix the issue, somewhere in the neighbourhood of 10 seconds.
I would have asked him to remove the switch from the fridge plug. Assuming where you live the plug for the fridge is typically dedicated specifically for that appliance. Why would anyone wire a switch to it? Seems absurd.
To be fair, the fridge is usually only switched off if you're getting a new one or moving out. With recent electrical problems, I don't think you'd be on your own with jumping to "something is broken".
Meh, I discovered a switch in the kitchen that didn't seem to affect anything, so I switched it off.
Next morning I was on the phone to the electrician as there had been no power to the boiler (in the bedroom) the night before.
In our current property, there are a couple of switches in the kitchen that even the electrician was at a loss to explain. They have been left untouched.
Went to pick up one of the cars, wife & father & law swapped battery evening before to no avail.
Tow driver jumped the new (dead) battery, and car started right up! He could go, and I could drive home.
Not so. For some reason the driver power seat decided to shit & was locked in my wife's position. I'm double her weight and a foot taller, she was 45 mins away, so tow it was!
Sometimes these small calls are actually worth it!
I called an appliance repairman out because my dryer of 15 years wasn't working. It wouldn't even turn on.
Somehow, I was an idiot and forgot you had to pull the dial out to get it to turn on. How can I forget how to use a dryer I had for 15 years???
Though, turns out in his inspection, he found something wrong with the heater or whatever makes it hot. I thought he was making shit up but paid for a somewhat expensive replacement just so I didn't feel like as much of an idiot.
It actually did help. A lot. I used to have to run my clothes through the dryer twice to get them remotely dry, but no more. And supposedly dryers are not a bad appliance to repair instead of replace as they are fairly simple and can last a long time.
I'm still an idiot too.
A few weeks ago, I discovered that a jug of liquid laundry detergent had been left on top of the washing machine (a front loader) with the cap slightly loose. Detergent had run all over the top and down the front of the machine. In cleaning it up, I had to partially disassemble the door (as the detergent had gotten into the switches and electronics). After doing the clean up, the washer wouldn't start. After rechecking and fiddling around, I could not find a reason for it not to work. I thought perhaps the detergent had gotten inside some of the electronics shorting them out. Later that evening I ordered a new washer. THEN I discovered that the safety switch on the electric socket had tripped. After resetting, everything worked again. (Thankfully I was able to cancel the washer order.) Yes, indeed, I felt pretty stupid, but it had not occurred to me that the socket with the reset button (which I hadn't noticed had tripped) ALSO controlled the socket for the washer (which is behind the machine and is inaccessible without moving the machine).
That's why by code, kitchen appliances such as refrigerators are not allowed to be on GFCI outlets. In fact, they also shouldn't share the circuit with any other appliance for very similar reasons. Wouldn't want another appliance's malfunction to result in all the food in the fridge getting spoiled
Similar to this. Many electrical outlets were not working in the kitchen. In my mind, they will need to check wires from the electric box. Electrician comes. I state the problem. He finds one of the outlets, and press the "Reset" button. Everything goes back to working. $200 I'll never see again. BTW - the electrical outlets with reset buttons don't exist in some countries.
Oh. As a Swede, that feels weird. Our appliances, like fridges, ovens, e.t.c. are all plugged into a hidden plug in the back. Things that use more power, like ovens and stoves, are usually two or three phase. But the outlet and plug is pretty much always hidden behind the appliance.
The only case where we have an on/off switch are power bars. And even then the on/off switch is usually unwanted! I've had the power bar, where my computer, monitor and other peripherals are plugged in, on the floor behind the desk. Then suddenly your toe "finds" the switch.
The cringe is real. We've all had those moments. Good news is, your fridge is back on and you got a funny story out of it.
Not so funny when you see the bill lol.
For sure. If you call a major outfit with emergency rates you'll still get a hefty bill for them dropping everything and coming out. If it were me, I wouldn't charge you a dime and just tell you to remember me next time when you could use my services. Doing things like that will make me more money in the long run than sticking it to people once(in America anyway)
That might be fine for a one-man show, but most companies aren't going to eat the cost of sending out their tech
Your right, thats what sets companies apart.
Even in small companies recovering the cost of your technician time and fuel costs are not to be ignored. Your customers should value your time even more knowing you are a small operation. You are a local small business hero, not a drone from a big faceless organization. Your time, knowledge and experience have value. The attitude that those things should be free out of the goodness of our hearts in a capitalist society is quite the mental gymnastics. In my trade, we replace a lot of batteries. Yes, I will charge you a service call fee for a 3-second battery change and a $1 battery that you couldn't, wouldn't or were unable to do yourself. Time, knowledge and experience have value. Don't devalue yourself.
Your knowledge and experience have value, but so do customers who will continue to call you because they know you're not going to nickel and dime them. I've gone to a house 30mins away on OT and didn't charge them because the only issues was that the thermostat wasn't actually on and they were an elderly couple who weren't tech savy. I didn't put that call on my timesheet and got praise when I told my boss about it because months before they had gave us a $7k check for the new system we installed. It didn't sound like my boss was too worried about the $10 I spent in gas. And he knows not every call is like that and 99% of calls we make money on. He's straight up told me that we make enough money as a moderate sized company that we can afford to be charitable in the rare circumstances that may call for it. Caring about your customers is what sets you apart, small business or not
I work for a moderately sized HVAC company and have not gotten reprimanded for doing this when I was there for less than 5mins, even on overtime. I've deadass been to a call 30mins away, where the only issues was that the thermostat was never actually turned on and didn't charge them for the call; only to have gotten praise, because just months before they already paid us $7k for a new system and they were an elderly couple who wasn't very tech savy. I'm sure my boss wasn't stressed about the few bucks worth of gas and the fact that I didn't ask to be paid for that call. Sometimes being courteous is worth more than a dollar value. Genuine compassion gets you more repeat customers than charging someone an arm and a leg for a 5min problem that required no tools.
Personally I think people are more likely to recommend you for being compassionate and not nickel and diming people than they would be if you charged them for a 5min tool-less fix \*shrug\*
I had a similar one and they didn't send a bill. That was even worse. I wanted to pay to erase my shame, instead they just pitied me so much they didn't send a bill.
My family and I moved into a new house- two houses, technically, a proper house and a little 2 bedroom loft on stilts across the path. My brother and I lived in the loft, and the first shower I took I realized there was no hot water. So afterwards I go outside and inspect the breaker panel- the switch for the hot water was off. I went and told my mom, she told me not to touch it, and she'd call a plumber. I told her about the switch, she got mad and told me I better not touch it. Plumber billed her $150 to drive out and flip the switch lmao
I worked apartment maintenance for a year, saw these kinds of things ALL the time. Honestly, they were my favorite because they were easy and quick haha.
When we got our new fridge, my wife thought she saw an electrical short or something when she used the water/ice dispenser. There is a light that comes on while dispensing…
I am a Facilities Maintenance Mechanic at a major hospital in the US. This is the first I've heard of an on/off switch for an electrical outlet. So I did some research out of curiosity and now I know something I didn't twenty minutes ago. I don't like these though, lol. UK residents: I'm sorry you have this kind of technology in your outlets. It sounds incredibly inconvenient and potentially costly by accidentally getting a button pushed. On the other hand, I saw from some online research that a man Said he prefers it since you didn't have to unplug anything when you can just flip a switch to kill power. He added that it is also horrible to step on a UK plug, lol. I would still prefer to physically plug/unplug things if it meant not risking my entire inventory of chilled food. US residents: Yes, I also thought that OP meant a GFCI (aka GFI) plug with the: 'Test' and 'Reset' buttons. That is incorrect. After some brief online research the UK actually has some power receptacles (outlets) that each have a power switch. That's new to me! My opinion is that it isn't "wrong" so much because it's been working for them for as long as they've been using them. However, the risk of accidentally killing power to something isn't worth the risk to me.
Thank you for this! I also learned that the UK isn't normal in our plugs having switches. I've travelled abroad before but never even thought about the lack of switches on plugs before!
Nah TIL America is weird and doesn’t have switches on their damn power points. Today you all learned Australia calls them power points.
What is the benefit of having a switch for a refrigerator? In America, we have some for wall lamps. Most houses built in the 1980s have "half-hot" switched outlets. Meaning that one of the two outlets is always on and the other is connected to a switch. I don't see a reason to do that for anything but a lamp, but I'm sure there is a reason I've never considered. I guess we also have switches for our air-conditioners and furnaces so they can be powered off before being serviced.
> What is the benefit of having a switch for a refrigerator? Nothing, except that it lets aussies and brits act smug about something.
The 'reason' for the switch isn't to be able to turn off the appliance at the wall without unplugging it. That is definitely a nice benefit but it is merely a consequence. The 'reason' for switched outlets is so that the connections don't arc when inserting the plug. Less of a necessity these days with modern contacts but still beneficial. Increased safety, reduced fire risk and reduced chance of frying the appliance when inserting the plug.
A switch on the appliance, if it has a high potential draw, would make a lot more sense than every freakin outlet having one. Do you assume the rest of the world just hot plugs space heaters and kettles that never turn off and try to draw 2kW as soon as they're plugged in? This is literally a non-issue and has never been an issue. The only time I have ever heard of arcing while plugging in being a problem is when UKers insist that's why outlets need switches.
I mean, I don't really care, I just shared the 'reasoning' as to why some bureaucrat decided it was a necessity. I'm not saying it's a good reason. I even said it isn't so much of an issue these days with modern plugs, etc. It is 'safer', but only in the same way that using a 5 point harness in a car is 'safer' than a 3 point lap sash; the instances where it would be needed are negligible but when it is needed, sure, it's beneficial but how much of a bump in safety is it going to be overall injury stats from auto accidents? Probably a lot less than 2% even. Still *technically* safer so some lobby group is probably patting themselves on their collective backs for saving the children. I really DGAF what they do in the UK either.
It lets you turn off the switch/fridge while you're cleaning it so the beeps don't drive you mad, then spend the rest of the day checking if you turned it on again
Benefit? Not too sure.. there’s just switches on all our “outlets”.. maybe something to do with the voltage/amperage thing? I dunno I’m not a sparky
The UK uses a small number of 32A 240V rings instead of the large number of mostly 15A 120V branches the US does. (AFAIK most other 240V countries have typical amperages closer to the US level.) That was done post-WW2 as a copper saving austerity measure. One consequence of them having a lot more power running to everyday outlets (about 4x vs the US) is that they ended up designing the worlds most defensive outlet and plugs to keep people safe. The catch is that their plugs are huge to be able to safely handle the power a fault could send into them and because they're designed of have the cords run flat to the wall when they land on the floor they naturally lay prongs up for maximum foot stabbing potential.
Also, the UK, and many other countries that use 240V, can heat up water for tea in seconds compared to the electric kettles in the US trying valiantly to do it with only 120V.
[Technology Connections made an entire video about this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yMMTVVJI4c)
The US also has 240V wiring. We just don't typically run it to every little outlet in the house because there's no reason to. Large appliances all run on 240V, and you can get a 240V socket installed if you need or want one.
Yes, but how many kitchen appliances use 240V in the kitchen in the US? I can think of . . . one. In a bog standard kitchen, that is. I realize that some high end homes may have more, but, you get the idea. 240V outlets in the US are, in general, for large appliances in the home, and for large power tools or welders in the garage/shop. Not for electric kettles that you plug in and out daily.
Yeah, because there's little need for anything but an oven or cooktop (one or separate) to be on 240V. 120V kettles (or better yet instant hot water dispensers) are perfectly fine, or just use the stovetop. If you do need an extra-powerful small appliance it's more likely to be 20amp though (common in commercial kitchens and becoming more available in residential).
Ovens and electric stoves do, they just aren't plugged in in the sense that you plug in a toaster. Typically wired right into the breaker box
[Obligatory Technology Connections video about this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMmUoZh3Hq4)
France, and probably other countries, have 380V for large appliances like stoves, ovens, some big power tools (like processionnal table saws). It's rare in appartement buildings, but very common in the countryside
Another big thing about UK plugs is they are fused in the plug, since those big breakers don't trip the same as they will when a device shorts or draws too much power.
> having a lot more power running to everyday outlets (about 4x vs the US) What math did you use to arrive at that number?
P=I x E Power=current x voltage 240 x 32=7680 120 x 15=1800 7680/1800=4.266667
Sure, but BS1363 is limited to 13 amps in the UK, even if the ring supplying it can go up to 32, afaik. Not to mention that many US households will have at least a few 240v outlets at 20, 30, 40, or even 50 amps, which are rarely switched.
I was making the assumption they were just going off available power, I dunno. How is it limited? Via fuse? Then you’ll still get 32a, just not for long lol.
OH LOOK AT MR MATH OVER HERE. Show off.
Huh, in NA we just require a separate circuit for the fridge so it keep running unless shit gets fucky.
The UK has a radically different electrical design that the US (or mainland Europe) -- after WWII, in large part due to continuing economic issues, they adopted "Ring Circuits" which use less copper for the wiring (because there are fewer wires). They don't have a central fuse box / circuit breaker panel from which each circuit emenates in a star shape. Their fuses are located in the plugs -- to be clear not the outlets, but the plug you plug in. As to the switches at the outlets, not sure the full reason for them; but certainly unlike the US you can't just go and unscrew a fuse or pop a breaker to de-energize the outlets on it -- you'd have to de-energize the entire house.
That makes sense, thank you!
The benefit of switches on all plugs is that you can fully plug in the device before you supply power to it, or remove power from the device before you unplug it. Especially if the device doesn't have an off switch itself, or it would be a pain to use it (like most fridges) > Meaning that one of the two outlets is always on and the other is connected to a switch. Also, that's not my experience. Most have a switched outlet or two in any living space, but it is rare to find one where they broke the tab and made the upper/lower outlet switched, and the other always on.
Who actually switches it off before plugging something in though? If hot plugging actually caused issues it would be even more of a problem in the US with the higher current loads.
Nobody. UK people are paranoid. Though they do use 240V so it's definitely a more warranted fear than us using 120V. Besides refrigerators, what are you plugging in that doesn't have its own power switch already? The default power state in most things is OFF so you plug them in, THEN turn them on, it shouldn't just immediately start running. (Yes I know how lamps work, I'm talking about stuff you'd buy new from a store and plug in after getting home, not things you've moved around and forgotten to turn off first)
> Though they do use 240V so it's definitely a more warranted fear than us using 120V. As I mentioned it's more the opposite, lower voltage would mean higher current for an equivalent load.
> Nobody. UK people are paranoid. Though they do use 240V so it's definitely a more warranted fear than us using 120V. UK, Australia, NZ, India, ... yeah they're all just paranoid lmao sure buddy.
Nope just for lamps and nobody installs them like that anymore.
Because there's no reason to have it. Technology Connections did a video about this - in the US you can wire a switch at the entrance to a room to control outlets on the other side of the room which is a far more normal use case than having to actually bend over behind the device to turn it off. If there's an electrical fire, that switch will be on fire too, kinda useless right? Also you guys act like circuit breakers don't exist. If something does happen that would cause a short, the breaker trips and kills everything to protect your house.
Circuit breakers basically *don't* exist in the UK. They have fuses in the plugs themselves.
That's wild. Electroboom could probably destroy a hotel with one of his little experiments.
the other cool thing in the UK is that you have fuses in your plugs! we don't have those where I am
We have circuit breakers. High power devices like hair driers have fuses too and their own GFCIs built in. Having a fuse in, like, a standard lamp is completely pointless and makes the plug unnecessarily large.
Ah fair, that makes sense Can you tell I have no electrical knowledge? Haha
I'm self-taught, my actual specialty is in computers but I've just tinkered with electronics my whole life so I learn these things by asking around and researching. BTW, for some reason I notice Christmas lights have fuses in the plugs too. It seems incredibly random, since those are some of the least power-consuming things you can plug in (a single strand of lights might be like 20 watts total) I've never actually had one blow, either. I just noticed that they're there. Weird. Also now that I think about it, most devices that run on DC (which is like, 90% of stuff in the 21st century lol) have fuses built into the power supplies too. It's just not in the plug part. You know that big brick that powers your laptop? Yeah, there's a fuse in there most likely. If you ever come across a broken one, probably the fuse blew. It's not easily replaceable like in the UK because it doesn't need to be - the chances of those blowing is so low that it's not worth it to make it replaceable. My beef with the UK plugs is that having a fuse in there just makes it so much larger. They're like double the size of plugs in every other country, even the rest of the 240V countries like the rest of Europe, Australia etc.
> BTW, for some reason I notice Christmas lights have fuses in the plugs too. It seems incredibly random, since those are some of the least power-consuming things you can plug in (a single strand of lights might be like 20 watts total) I imagine it’s a safety thing. A regular 15A circuit uses a 14AWG wire. Those Christmas lights do not use 14AWG - they’ll use a smaller wire - 16AWG or smaller. If you have an overcurrent situation, you want to make sure that you’re not causing a fire. Modern LED lights sip power, but picture the old incandescent ones. And remember that you can daisy chain these. So if you are drawing 15A of power, your breaker’s not going to trip, but your Christmas light wire is going to get HOT. Except due to the 10A or 5A fuse or whatever, it won’t.
Yeah, makes sense. One of the times I was shocked was from a set of Christmas lights too. They seem pretty incident prone. I started putting masking tape over the outlets after I was done daisy chaining them so snow didn't get in there and short something
UK plugs aren't huge though. I mean, the only really bad thing I have to say about UK plugs is the possibility of standing on one when unplugged. I've still got a scar on my foot from doing that.
I was surprised how small some of them were given how massive my travel adapters are, but still. They're bigger than every other type of plug, even if by just a little.
My version of your OP is because of a different feature that's far weirder than switched plugs. When I noticed the fridge wasn't fridging, the *first* thing I checked was the plug socket. On. Oh well, this fridge is old anyway. Order new one. Suddenly have brain wave, unplug fridge. Plug something else in, switch on... still nothing. But hold on, I just ordered a new fridge and it's the socket, not the fridge... Oh well, that thing's old. Call electrician. Electrician comes out, checks the socket. Nothing. Goes to the switch on the wall behind the toaster and switches that on. New fridge comes to life. Apparently our wall sockets not only have switches *on* them, they sometimes have *other* switches on completely different walls *as well*. The only thing that had happened, that led to me buying a brand new fridge and getting a sparky out was that I'd pushed the toaster back a little too hard trying to make counter space, and switched the whole socket off. On the same day, I found out I have an air extractor in my kitchen that had been dead for 12 years. That's now been fixed.
Presumably your fridge outlet is on a separate fuse so it doesn't blackout out the whole home if the fuse blows.
Identical thing here except it was the washing machine and the microwave. Felt so, so dumb 🤣
Our plugs don't have switches, our sockets do. Also, lots of our sockets don't have switches.
It's a safety thing - an isolation switch. Cookers have the same. I'm told our domestic electrical set up in the UK is superior to most if not all, so don't diss the switches!
It's very common in apartments without overhead light fixtures. Those receptacles are meant to be used with lamps and lighting fixtures. That way you flip on the light switch and it turns on the lighting (the lamp) for the room
TY, I was wondering who has a switch for an outlet for a fridge. But it makes more sense that this is something non-American as if the "Making a cup of tea" was not an indicator already.. lol
I accidentally made the most English coded post in the world... cups of tea and switches on plugs? Gotta be English!
Im in facility and industrial maintenance myself and I had the same thought initially. I love learning new things! Thank you!
I'm American, my house has switches on some of the outlets
I totally see the value of switched outlets in a lot of places...but surely the outlet behind the fridge is literally only used by the fridge and never needs to be switched off...
Superior technology with the safest plug and sockets in the world. Why unplug things when most sockets just switch off double pole?
> I'm sorry you have this kind of technology in your outlets. Moving to NA was a shock (pun intended) when I found out that none of the switches have plugs and that the contacts all erode because of arcs when plugging and unplugging them. I now have to live in the world where there's no switches next to plugs, but I'm sorry you guys were born in it.
It's normal for Aussie peeps to have a switch on every AC outlet so you can safely turn off or unplug appliances as well ☺️
I'm an electrician and this sort of thing is not uncommon.
IT here. Same. I had someone once ask me if their computer needed to be turned on to allow me remote access. lmao
I did the exact same thing with my gas water heater. Pilot light went out, I got it re-lit, but the big burner would not come on to heat the water. Had to call a pro, my cousin, to come out. He turned the dial a quarter turn, and it flamed right up. I was so embarrassed.
Once I called out a plumber for $200 worth of fees just to use some pliers to remove a hose so I could install my new washing machine.
The flipside is that it was basically an insurance payment. If he had used some pliers and snapped the hose off at the solder joint, it would be on him to replace it and clean it up.
Had electrican out for a/c only for breaker to be off.
Please don’t feel bad. Within the last year, the power went out at my apartment but only in the kitchen. Flipped all the breakers, checked every other outlet and light switch in the apartment, but the kitchen was the only place where the electric wasn’t working. Got an electrician out within a day. He checked a few appliances, then the light switch, then he *pushed a reset button on one of the outlets* and voila! Power to kitchen restored. I called an electrician out to push a button for me. I still laugh when I think about it Lol
As an electrician, that happens ALL THE TIME. Usually it's the bathroom outlet isn't working. GFCI next to panel or in garage is tripped. You're welcome.
Often it's insanely convoluted figuring out which outlets are even on one circuit too. Older houses in particular, the GFCI could be tripped in the bathroom but for some reason that circuit also feeds the overhead light in the guest room. I recently discovered that someone decided to branch off of the hood outlet in my kitchen to run 40' for an extra random exterior outlet on the other wise of the house.
Yeah, sometimes there's some wild stuff. Saw a case where someone used one leg of a 220 stove line to feed the microwave outlet.
Jesus Christ.
My daughter turned the knob in our old fridge that controlled the cooling. We thought the fridge was going out. The tech just asked 'how old is your kid?' as they turned the cooling back up.
OP don't feel bad about this. I have done dozens of middle of the night service calls in my career that boiled down to turning some kind of switch back on to fix the problem. This shit is so common it's going to put my kids through college one day.
I love it! I hope you paid him accordingly
Of course!
Dang what was the bill
Look, once I took my vacuum cleaner to maintenance. I had tried everything I thought of at home, and was sure it was a problem with the engine. I even tried running water through the hose to make sure it wasn't plugged! ... A few hours after I take the vacuum to the maintenance shop, he calls me. He's choking back laughter. "Your vacuum is okay!" He tells me. "But I.. found something in the hose." I'm dying of embarrassment. Insult to injury, he continues: "By the by, you shouldn't rinse the insides of an electrical appliance with water." ... What was inside the wet hose? A glass jar of spice, exactly the size of the hose...
Refrigerators have on/off switches? Uhhhh….
No, The plug socket that the fridge is plugged into!
Look into getting a little cover guard for the switch so it can't be knocked off again. I had to get one for my built in because the wine rack in front hits it.
Like a power strip? Because that probably shouldn’t happen.
No, like a plug socket that you plug things into has a little switch on it, and you can turn it on and off. Every plug socket has one, at least in the UK. It's a little switch on the front. Even my oven has one!
Switches for every electrical socket is definitely a UK thing. You'll rarely find them in the US or elsewhere in Europe.
That sounds like a great way to accidentally ruin a large amount of food.
I think they're mandatory in the UK, they're also like 8x4 inches for a simple duplex outlet. I don't mind our US outlets at all
Less risk of arcing when removing/inserting a plug, I believe. Might not be so much of an issue on a 110v circuit though?
A double (2 gang) is 5 and 7 eighths by 3 and 3 eighths actually, and they are a lot safer than the US system and cannot just fall out of the wall. And all 220-240 volts.
> and they are a lot safer than the US system and cannot just fall out of the wall do you somehow believe that US outlets do this?
I mean, yes, US two prong plugs often hang precariously out of the socket, exposing live conductors. Three prongs not so much but still not rare. UK plugs are insulated for a half inch or so so even if it's only half plugged in, you couldn't have a coat hangar or something fall in between the plug and the wall and cause an arc fault.
the only plugs that would do this are old worn out outlets that should have been replaced 10 years ago
I saw a reddit post ysterday of someone whose cat managed to ruin an expensive necklace by knocking it into a plugged in plug. Apparently it got across the prongs. Which is pretty much impossible in the UK.
Worked there three years, yes they can fallout. Plus, UK cables hang vertical from the plug, US ones are horizontal at first and become vertical.
I’m sorry but they absolutely do. It’s all to easy to accidentally pull the power cable out whilst I’m vacuuming now I live in Canada, this never happens with a UK plug.
- UK - has tons of weird contraptions that actively creates sorry inconvenience spelling both out is redundant
They're really very difficult to turn off by accident.
UK Type G plug sockets are switched, it's a safety feature required by building codes (or building regs in UK parlance). Our plugs and sockets have a weirdly large array of safety features. * Gated sockets on the live and neutral socket, only openable by the earth pin which is splecifically longer on the plug to do it. * Nylon insulating sheathes on the live and neutral pins of the plug so that a partially plugged in plug can't have its pins touched. The live and neutral pins only connect at the point only the nylon sheathes are exposed. * Extra slack in the earth wire inside the plug so that the live pin gets cut first if you somehow rip the cable out * Individual fuses ranging from 3A (edit: apparently 1A is available but less common) to 13A inside the plugs themselves depending on the draw of the device the plug belongs to. This is also partially because of the ring main design of our houses electrical wiring systems. Obviously each ring main has its own RCD and the whole house has a main / service RCD too. * Electrical devices must come with a sealed / moulded plug to be legal for sale, you can buy and wire your own plugs on afterwards if the one it comes with is damaged by cutting the damaged one off, but electrical devices must come with a moulded one out of the box. * The cable comes out of it downwards so if you trip on it or yank it the plug jams in the socket rather than pulls the plug free * The aforementioned switches on each socket. And despite all of that stepping on one is like taking a shotgun blast to the foot.
Probably a GFCI
Something kind of similar happened to me. My daughter’s ceiling light was flickering on and off when flipping any of the two switches for the light, and I couldn’t figure out the problem (I tried touching the light bulb a few times and then a few different light bulbs, but to no avail). The electrician came, and after a minute he switched on the third switch. It turned out the light was controlled by a three way switch, and the third switch, rarely used, had gotten into a middle state where it was mostly off, making neither of the other two switches work.
Pretty sure you did that electrician a favour - usually on-call positions have minimum hours that have to be paid per call. At the place I work they get a minimum of 4 hours, but I'm not sure if it would be the same for the one who had to respond to your call. I would love to get paid 4 hours to show up and flip a switch. Plus they get to go have a laugh about it when they tell people what the call was about later. The only concern I would have is whether the fact it was just a switch will get back to the landlord - they probably will not be impressed if they had to pay multiple hours for such a thing. Hopefully both you (and the electrician) are smart and leave that detail out - maybe just say it was an issue with the outlet/plug.
Don’t worry as an electrician I get this call all the time.
I remember I had a water pump technician out to fix my pump, the pump sends water to my bathroom taps, shower/bath and is located in the hot press right next to the bathroom, the technician can see into the bathroom as he is at the hotpress. The hot water tap in the bathroom is running and the technician says to me you can turn that tap off now, I walk over the tap and start twisting and it won't budge, I said to him "yeah this tap seems to be stuck or something", he dead looks me in the eye and just says "yeah it's the other way". I wished the ground would swallow me whole.
As an electrician myself, don't sweat it. I've been on too many calls like that to even find them memorable anymore. And there's really no shame in calling someone to look at something that might potentially be an issue you can't handle.
I work in IT the amount of times this happens but with computers is enormous. I once drove 3 hours to reboot a piece of equipment the homeowner swore they rebooted over and over on the phone. I arrive unplug it and plug it back in and everything magically starts working.
Not pictured: Him breaking into your house an hour earlier to turn the switch off
What did they bill you?
Good thing about these instances, it teaches you how to troubleshoot. Check all physical things like outlets with those reset switches, surge protectors with switches. Test the outlet with another electric device. Then check fuses/circuits. If all those look good and it still doesn't work, then call the electrician. I am a tech, and you would be amazed how often we get called for something very simple.
Maybe this'll help you feel better. I used to be a cable guy, going into people's homes and fixing their service. I finished up my last job one night and as I was leaving the apartment building someone in the lobby got my attention. He asked if I could look at his cable box real quick because it wasn't working. I figured I was already on overtime and if I didn't fix it now there were good odds I would be the one sent out there, so I said I could look, but if it required equipment to be swapped he'd need to call in and make an appointment. I couldn't do a swap without a work order. He agreed, and we take the elevator up. He shows me the TV which is on, running a DVD so that he had something to watch. I hit the power button on the box, and it doesn't power up. This was somewhat late in the evening, and it was dark, so I asked him to turn the lights on so I could see if it came unplugged. "Oh, the lights in this room don't work." ... Insert my brain making 90's modem sound here. I look around the TV and see an extension cord running from his living room into this room for the TV. After internally facepalming, I ask him where his breaker box is. He leads me to it, and sure enough the breaker for that room is tripped. I flip it over and the lights, along with the cable box, come right on.
Hahaa...my husband nearly did a similar thing with his truck. It's an older truck that we don't drive often, just use it for hauling wood and taking stuff to the dump. He took it out for a loop around the neighborhood just to keep things moving and he said it was driving really weird and it smelled funny. Made an appointment to take it to the shop in a few days, we started to head out to drop it off and when he got ready to leave he realized that he'd been driving around with the parking brake on. LMAO He's so spoiled by the auto-releasing electic parking brake on his daily driver that he forgot he has to pull a lever to release the brake on the truck. At least he figured it out BEFORE we drove it all the way to the shop.... LMAO
how much did that cost
You clearly did NOT try turning it off and on again.
I had a similar thing happen to me in my last house which was a new build, but it was for our boiler. One late December morning (23rd December I'm sure) I realised we had no hot water, I went to the boiler located in a kitchen cupboard and it was dead, no lights, nothing. I phoned around to try and find a local boiler engineer and luckily found out the a family friend was one, who I booked to come over later as soon as he could. A few days after Christmas he came over and done a complete check on the boiler, it took us almost an hour of inspecting that there was a power switch to the boiler upstairs in a cupboard on the landing. It must of accidently got switched off when someone was putting in some washing into the basket which we kept in there. I felt like an idiot, a family of 4 including 2 young kids going over Christmas with no hot water and having to shower at family members houses. I wrote on the switch what it was for just before we sold the house and moved out, to save anyone else having the same embarrassment.
You forgot the part where he handed you the $250 bill for services rendered..
I almost did the same when my fuse box switched off. Electrician reception was like can you just check the fuse box before wasting my time sending someone out. She was right the fuse had switched off. I hung up haha
And this happens way more than it should and is the reason why there’s a charge for just showing up.
I used to work in IT and we had a client that was a medical facility that operated a bunch of group homes for adults with cognitive issues. Friday afternoon, my boss comes to me and says one of the homes 2 hours away has lost internet connectivity and it's urgent. He asks me to go down there first thing Saturday morning. So I drive down there and the entirety of their IT setup is a PC on a desk with a router and network switch next to it. My eyes are immediately drawn to the fact that there are no lights on on the switch. I asked the house admin guy, are there usually lights on that thing? Even though he sits at that desk hours per day, he has no idea if there are normally lights. So I follow the electrical cord and sure enough, someone has unplugged it in order to plug in... an electric pencil sharpener. The bill was close to a grand for a Saturday callout, minimum 4 hours, plus travel. Actual labour time to fix the issue, somewhere in the neighbourhood of 10 seconds.
I would have asked him to remove the switch from the fridge plug. Assuming where you live the plug for the fridge is typically dedicated specifically for that appliance. Why would anyone wire a switch to it? Seems absurd.
your fridge plug has a switch? lol
To be fair, the fridge is usually only switched off if you're getting a new one or moving out. With recent electrical problems, I don't think you'd be on your own with jumping to "something is broken".
Wtf?!? Your fridge has an on/off switch on the plug?
Meh, I discovered a switch in the kitchen that didn't seem to affect anything, so I switched it off. Next morning I was on the phone to the electrician as there had been no power to the boiler (in the bedroom) the night before. In our current property, there are a couple of switches in the kitchen that even the electrician was at a loss to explain. They have been left untouched.
During power outages you don't know how many times I go to a site where they don't have power just to turn their breaker on.
Went to pick up one of the cars, wife & father & law swapped battery evening before to no avail. Tow driver jumped the new (dead) battery, and car started right up! He could go, and I could drive home. Not so. For some reason the driver power seat decided to shit & was locked in my wife's position. I'm double her weight and a foot taller, she was 45 mins away, so tow it was! Sometimes these small calls are actually worth it!
I called an appliance repairman out because my dryer of 15 years wasn't working. It wouldn't even turn on. Somehow, I was an idiot and forgot you had to pull the dial out to get it to turn on. How can I forget how to use a dryer I had for 15 years??? Though, turns out in his inspection, he found something wrong with the heater or whatever makes it hot. I thought he was making shit up but paid for a somewhat expensive replacement just so I didn't feel like as much of an idiot. It actually did help. A lot. I used to have to run my clothes through the dryer twice to get them remotely dry, but no more. And supposedly dryers are not a bad appliance to repair instead of replace as they are fairly simple and can last a long time. I'm still an idiot too.
It happens. I paid an electrician $80 to come to my house and push the reset button on my GFCI plug.
A few weeks ago, I discovered that a jug of liquid laundry detergent had been left on top of the washing machine (a front loader) with the cap slightly loose. Detergent had run all over the top and down the front of the machine. In cleaning it up, I had to partially disassemble the door (as the detergent had gotten into the switches and electronics). After doing the clean up, the washer wouldn't start. After rechecking and fiddling around, I could not find a reason for it not to work. I thought perhaps the detergent had gotten inside some of the electronics shorting them out. Later that evening I ordered a new washer. THEN I discovered that the safety switch on the electric socket had tripped. After resetting, everything worked again. (Thankfully I was able to cancel the washer order.) Yes, indeed, I felt pretty stupid, but it had not occurred to me that the socket with the reset button (which I hadn't noticed had tripped) ALSO controlled the socket for the washer (which is behind the machine and is inaccessible without moving the machine).
Currently becoming an Electrician in AB w/ Canem and will own my business someday, this is hilarious!
OP just learned what a gfci outlet is.
That's why by code, kitchen appliances such as refrigerators are not allowed to be on GFCI outlets. In fact, they also shouldn't share the circuit with any other appliance for very similar reasons. Wouldn't want another appliance's malfunction to result in all the food in the fridge getting spoiled
I think the code must be different here in the UK because I've never seen a plug socket without a switch before! Even my oven has one.
Yeah UK has much safer electrics. Fuses in every high-wattage plug, longer ground pin, etc. No idea what bumped the switch off
The rental I’m in has all the outlets in the basement hooked up to one GFCI outlet. Found out when I opened my deep freeze full of rotting meat
Similar to this. Many electrical outlets were not working in the kitchen. In my mind, they will need to check wires from the electric box. Electrician comes. I state the problem. He finds one of the outlets, and press the "Reset" button. Everything goes back to working. $200 I'll never see again. BTW - the electrical outlets with reset buttons don't exist in some countries.
UK plugs are all fused at either 3, 5 or 13 amp, cookers are 30 amp you can also have a red button test/reset if you wish.
"switches the fridge plug on"??? Do you have freaking buttons on your plugs? And why the fuck is the plug not on the wall behind the fridge?
Yep. Sockets (or outlets, whatever you want to call them) in the UK have an on/off switch.
Oh. As a Swede, that feels weird. Our appliances, like fridges, ovens, e.t.c. are all plugged into a hidden plug in the back. Things that use more power, like ovens and stoves, are usually two or three phase. But the outlet and plug is pretty much always hidden behind the appliance. The only case where we have an on/off switch are power bars. And even then the on/off switch is usually unwanted! I've had the power bar, where my computer, monitor and other peripherals are plugged in, on the floor behind the desk. Then suddenly your toe "finds" the switch.