Storm-night fault found and power restored the same evening
A summer storm, a safety switch that would not stay on and half a house in the dark with a freezer full of food. Our after-hours electrician found water in an outdoor circuit, made it safe and had the rest of the house back on within 90 minutes of arriving.
Location
Burleigh Heads
Service
Emergency repair
Duration
Same night, plus 1 return visit
Client
Private homeowner
The brief
A severe storm moved down the southern Gold Coast on a Tuesday evening in January. Just after 8.30pm, the owners of this 1970s highset home in Burleigh Heads lost power to the kitchen, living area and back deck. The street lights were still on and the neighbours had power, so it was not an Energex outage. Every time they reset the safety switch, it tripped again within seconds.
They called our 24/7 line at 8.40pm. With a fridge and a chest freezer on the affected side of the house and rain still coming in sideways, they needed someone to find the fault that night, make the house safe and get as much power back on as possible.
What we did
Our on-call electrician arrived at 9.30pm, 50 minutes after the call. He isolated each circuit on the safety switch in turn and found the trip followed one power circuit. An insulation resistance test on that circuit read close to zero, a sure sign of water, so he worked out from the board along the cable run to find where it was getting in.
The outdoor power point had been mounted low on a deck post with its cover missing, so wind-driven rain had filled the back box. On the return visit we moved the new outlet up and under the deck roof, added a drip loop to the cable and ran a full set of tests on the safety switch so the owners knew it would trip quickly when it needed to, and not before.
Left: isolating circuits at the switchboard on the night. Right: the house with power and outdoor lights back on.
The result
The fridge, freezer and lights were back on by 11pm, 90 minutes after our electrician arrived, and nothing in the freezer was lost. The faulty circuit stayed safely isolated overnight, and it was back in service by 10am the next day with weatherproof fittings that will not take on water in the next storm.
The owners were charged our standard after-hours call-out rate for the night, with the return visit quoted and agreed on the spot. They have since asked us back to check the rest of the outdoor wiring before next storm season.
50 min
From call to arrival
90 min
On site until power was back
0
Food lost from the freezer
Project at a glance
Fixed-price quote
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What the owners said
“He was at the door in under an hour, in the pouring rain, and calm the whole time. Power was back before the kids went to bed and he came back first thing to finish it properly.”
Craig S.
Homeowner, Burleigh Heads · Emergency repair
The service
Storm damage and emergency repairs
After-hours fault finding and storm repairs across the Gold Coast, with a licensed electrician on call 24/7 and clear call-out pricing before we arrive.
The area
Electricians in Burleigh Heads
Older highset homes, beachside units and plenty of outdoor wiring exposed to salt air and summer storms. See recent Burleigh Heads jobs and typical arrival times from our Coomera base.
More projects
Related repair projects
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