A tripping breaker is not the fault. It is the safety system doing its job and telling you there is a fault somewhere behind it. Most of the time the cause is one of four things: a failing appliance, damp getting into a circuit, a damaged cable or a worn connection that has started to heat up. The trick is working out which, and that is where guesswork gets expensive.
There is one thing worth trying yourself first. Unplug everything on the circuit that trips, reset it, then plug things back in one at a time. If it holds until you plug in a particular appliance, you have found it, and it is a job for the appliance repairer rather than an electrician. If it trips with nothing plugged in at all, the fault is in the installation and it needs testing properly.
A failing appliance
The most common cause by far. Washing machines, kettles and immersion heaters lead the list.
Damp in a circuit
Outside lights, garage sockets and bathroom circuits after a wet spell are classic ones.
Damage or a worn joint
A nail through a cable or a connection that has loosened and started to heat up.
Your questions, answered
Is it safe to keep resetting it?
Once or twice to work out what caused it, yes. Repeatedly, no. If it will not stay on, or it trips again straight away, leave it off and get it tested. If you can smell burning, leave that circuit off and call straight away.
Why did it start tripping when nothing has changed?
Faults build up slowly. Damp gets in over a wet week, a cable degrades where it passes over a joist, a connection works loose with heat cycling. By the time it trips, the change has usually been happening for a while.
Do you charge to find the fault?
You get a clear price for the fault finding up front and a separate fixed quote for the repair once John knows what it is. No open-ended hourly bill while someone works it out.
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