Kitchen Kapers

[Triffic]

I was wallpapering my kitchen wall with the various sockets unscrewed to slip the paper behind. I thought I had turned the power off - I hadn’t and my wallpaper scissors touched a wire behind a switch. There was a bang and now the switch doesn’t work. It is a plate with a single switch that works the electric supply to the gas hob (to ignite the gas). Can you please tell me what I need to do to get it working again? 
thanks 

 

[ProDave]

First check no wires behind it are damaged.

Check your fuse box / consumer unit. Something has probably tripped there.

If it is a Switched Fused Connection Unit (will have a switch and a fuse on it) the fuse has probably blown.

This is why it is important to properly test for dead before doing any work.

 

[Doc Hudson]

I was wallpapering my kitchen wall with the various sockets unscrewed to slip the paper behind. I thought I had turned the power off - I hadn’t and my wallpaper scissors touched a wire behind a switch. There was a bang and now the switch doesn’t work. It is a plate with a single switch that works the electric supply to the gas hob (to ignite the gas). Can you please tell me what I need to do to get it working again? 
thanks 

If the switch was correctly terminated, there should be no bare conductor exposed outside of its termination in the back of the switch, for your scissors to make contact with. Also its not uncommon to find connections that have not been correctly tightened, so the process of loosening the switch away from the wall, results in the wires coming out of the terminations leaving a bare live wire just hanging free behind the switch. I would check the power is off, then ensure all of the cables are correctly stripped and terminated securely with no exposed uninsulated copper visible before turning the power back on.  A loose connection may not prevent an appliance from working, but will cause overheating issues around the joint at a later time. So anytime you physically disturb any connections,  its wise to double check they are all still tight before closing the enclosure back up again.

It is possible your switch doesn't work because the wire is actually no longer terminated in its connector. Its also possible that your scissors have put a dead short across the load side of the switch to neutral or earth, and welded the switch contacts together or burnt them out. If you have any doubts or concerns about checking this switch, or you don't have any suitable voltage testers, to verify wire are dead before you touch anything, then I would suggest the best thing is to get an electrician round to come and test / fix it for you. If something is wrong and someone gets an electric shock, you should be aware electricity can kill a healthy adult in less than a second.

Doc H. 

 

[Triffic]

Thanks so much both 

Very grateful for the advice and will get working to fix it!