Circuit breakers

[ellarien]

I somehow managed to trip a breaker this evening -- probably by switching on the kettle and the microwave at the same moment. Cue (brief) utter bafflement when I noticed the deadness of the microwave and the coldness of the food I was trying to nuke, followed by controlled experiment with a lamp, followed by remembering the existence of the breaker panel in the bedroom closet and resetting of the relevant switch.

The last time I needed to use the breaker panel, it wasn't in this apartment, but in the tiny, barely furnished studio where my current employers put me up for a three-week visit, a year before I moved here. There was an electric stove, and I'd heated some water in a pan for a late-evening drink and -- I imagine -- not completely turned the hotplate off afterwards. I was already in bed when the hotplate began to buzz and then smoke. I panicked, threw on a jacket over my nightdress, and dashed outside in search of help -- at about 1am, I think it was. I found a young man on his way home, to whom I tried to explain the problem, somewhat hampered by not being able to call to mind the American for what I would have called a 'cooker'. (Actually I'm still not quite clear on that; I thought it was 'stove', but have encountered some reason to believe that isn't right either, for the whole appliance of oven, broiler and hotplates.) He came inside with me, found the breakers in the closet, and turned off the appropriate one, much to my relief. What with the late-night excitement and the lack of coffee in the morning, I was not at my best the next day!

Comments

[rilina.livejournal.com]

I tripped a circuit breaker two nights ago and didn't realized what I'd done. (In my defense, it was the first time ever!) Anyway, I left a long note for my building super before heading to work, and I was pretty embarrassed when he called and said, "Oh, you just need to flip the switch in the panel in the kitchen..."

[ellarien]

At least it's more easily fixed than the old UK system, which used fuses that broke the circuit by burning themselves out and had to by completely replaced. It didn't happen much at the main board, though, because every appliance has a miniature fuse in its plug. (That's why UK plugs are so huge and clunky.)