Storm season’s here. Between now and March, Brisbane’s northside cops a fair few afternoon storms, and the most common call we get the morning after is some version of: “The power’s off and I don’t know why.”
Sometimes it’s the whole street. Sometimes it’s just your house. Sometimes it’s one room. Each one has a different fix, and a couple of them you can sort yourself in two minutes. Here’s how to work out which one you’ve got.
Step 1: Is it just you, or the whole street?
Look outside. Are the neighbours’ lights on? Are the streetlights working?
If the whole street is dark, it’s a network outage and it’s not something an electrician can fix. That’s Energex’s job. You can check their outage map online or call Energex on 13 62 62 for power interruptions.
If you see a fallen powerline, stay at least 10 metres away and call 000 or Energex on 13 19 62 straight away. Treat every fallen line as live. Don’t try to move branches off it.
Step 2: If it’s just your place, check the switchboard
If the neighbours have power and you don’t, head to your switchboard (usually on an outside wall or in the garage). You’re looking for a switch that’s flipped down or sitting in the middle position.
- A safety switch (RCD) has tripped. These are the ones with a “test” button. They’re designed to cut power fast when they detect current leaking somewhere it shouldn’t. Storms are a common trigger because water gets into outdoor power points, garden lights, pool equipment or a damaged cable.
- A circuit breaker has tripped. This usually means one circuit was overloaded or has a fault.
Before you flip anything back on, unplug or switch off anything you can reasonably reach that’s outside or near water — pool pumps, outdoor lights, the shed. Then flip the tripped switch back up once.
Step 3: It won’t stay on. Now what?
If it trips again straight away, stop. Don’t keep resetting it. A safety switch that keeps tripping is doing its job: it’s telling you there’s a fault somewhere on that circuit.
A simple way to narrow it down:
- Turn off all the circuit breakers on that safety switch.
- Reset the safety switch.
- Turn the circuit breakers back on one at a time.
- When the safety switch trips again, the last circuit you turned on is the likely culprit.
Leave that one off and call an electrician. You’ve just saved us (and you) some time on fault finding.
Call us straight away if you notice any of these
- A burning smell or scorch marks around the switchboard, a power point or a light fitting
- Buzzing or crackling from the switchboard
- Water inside the switchboard or meter box
- Lights flickering or dimming on their own after the storm
- Power points or switches that feel warm
- A ceramic fuse that’s blown (older switchboards) — don’t replace fuse wire yourself
These aren’t “wait and see” problems. Turn off the main switch if it’s safe to do so and get a licensed electrician out.
Older switchboards struggle in storm season
If your house was built before the 1990s — common around Kallangur, Strathpine, Aspley and Chermside — there’s a fair chance your switchboard still has ceramic fuses and only one safety switch, or none at all.
That matters in a storm. Older boards give you less protection when water gets where it shouldn’t, and they make fault finding harder because there’s no easy way to isolate one circuit.
The legal minimum in Queensland is a safety switch on your power point circuits. Landlords have to have them fitted, and if you buy a home without one you’ve got 90 days to install it. Homes built since 2000 also need them on the lighting circuits.
We think the minimum isn’t enough. Our recommendation, and what Queensland’s Electrical Safety Office advises too, is to protect every circuit in the house: power points, lights, air conditioning, oven, hot water, pool equipment and anything else on the board. The cleanest way to do it is an RCBO (a combined safety switch and circuit breaker) on each circuit. That way a fault on the pool pump only switches off the pool pump, not the fridge and half the house with it. It’s one of the best safety upgrades you can make to an older home.
If you’re not sure what you’ve got, take a photo of your switchboard with the cover open and send it through our switchboard quote form. We can usually tell from the photo whether it needs work. More detail on what’s involved is on our switchboard upgrades page.
A quick storm-season checklist
- Know where your switchboard is and make sure you can get to it in the dark (keep a torch nearby)
- Press the “test” button on each safety switch every three months. It should trip. Reset it after.
- Unplug TVs, computers and other sensitive gear before a big storm hits, or talk to us about surge protection at the switchboard
- Get outdoor power points and lights checked if they’ve been getting wet or have cracked covers
Need a hand?
If the power’s gone and you can’t get it to stay on, or something doesn’t look right at the switchboard, give us a call on 1800 230 400 or request a quote online. We look after homes across Brisbane’s northside and Moreton Bay, from Aspley and Chermside up to North Lakes, Kallangur and Strathpine. For general fault finding and repairs, see our domestic electrician services.
Armitage Electrical (QLD) Pty Ltd. Electrical Contractor Licence No. 88297.
