Back at work...glad to be alive...wondering what other electrical surprises the house has for me.

Yesterday I learned the importance of turning off the electricity before playing with wires.

The extractor fan in our bathroom has not been working for a long time, I thought I'd take it apart to see if it could be fixed easily.

It's attached to the lighting circuit, but has its own fuse, so I thought removing the fuse would mean I could safely crack the fan open and work with impunity.

BANG!

The lights went out, and once again I'm glad that the trip switches are working as they should.

Turns out, the fuse bit for the fan had the neutral connected through the earth terminal, and the earth connected through the neutral terminal. So, removing the fuse meant I completed the circuit.

At least it explained why the thing had stopped working - the big resistor in it was complete black - presumably because the fuse hadn't blown.

So, in future, any work involving the electrics in the house, or even going near any wires, will be pre-empted by me turning off the electric at the mains.