It is neither magic nor mystery. We explain what has happened and what you should do
You are at home, everything normal, and suddenly the power goes out in the living room but the hallway light is still on. Or the kitchen loses power while the rest of the house works perfectly. It's an unsettling situation because one is used to when the power goes out, it goes out everywhere.
When it happens only in one area, there is a specific explanation, and in most cases it is something that is resolved quickly.
Most likely: a circuit breaker has tripped
The fuse box in your house has several small switches, one for each circuit. Each circuit supplies power to an area or a type of use: the living room sockets, the bedroom lights, the kitchen, the bathroom... When there is an overload or a short circuit in one of those circuits, the switch for that circuit trips and cuts off the electricity only in that area, leaving the rest untouched.
That is exactly what happens when the lights go out in one room and the rest keep working. The system has acted as it should: it has protected the installation by cutting off only what was necessary.
How to confirm and resolve it
Go to the fuse box, which is usually in the hallway or by the front door. You'll see that one of the small switches is in a different position to the others, normally facing downwards. That's the one that has tripped.
Before turning it back on, think about what you had plugged in or switched on in that area. If you had a lot of appliances running at the same time, unplug one of them. Then switch the breaker back up. If it stays up, the issue was a one-off overload and is now sorted.
If it trips again immediately after resetting it, or if it resets but trips again shortly afterwards, the problem is more than just a one-off overload and is worth having checked by an electrician.
When is the cause a faulty appliance?
Sometimes the miniature circuit breaker trips because there is a faulty appliance plugged into that circuit. A household appliance with an internal fault can cause a short circuit that trips the switch immediately.
If you suspect this might be the case, unplug all appliances in that area before flipping the switch back up. If it stays up, plug them back in one by one until it trips again. The last one you plugged in before the trip is the culprit. That appliance needs checking or replacing.
What if the painting doesn't have labels?
In many homes, especially older properties, the consumer unit does not have the circuits identified or the labels no longer match reality. In that case, locating which one has tripped is more complicated and can take a bit of trial and error.
If this is your situation, it is a good opportunity to ask an electrician to properly identify and label each circuit. It is something that is done quickly and saves a lot of time and confusion the next time something like this happens.
When to call an electrician?
If the switch won't stay up, if it trips repeatedly over the following days or if, along with the power cut, there are other symptoms such as a burning smell, heat in the wall or a socket with black marks, don't ignore it. These are signs that something in the installation needs attention.
At Iluminamos tu Vida we resolve these kinds of situations in Madrid quickly. Often it is something simple, but it is always worth making sure that everything is in order.