Rival Kitchen Products

How do you switch on kitchen appliances without removing them first?

I have just moved into a new property. The kitchen appliances (Fridge, washing machine etc) have no obvious switches on the wall to allow the power to be switched on and off. There are the fuse sockets on the wall for each appliance. Does this mean i will have to remove each built in appliance to switch them on at the back or might there be a switch somewhere less obvious? Or might there be another reason no appliances are working? There is electricity.

Public Comments

1. yes they will be plugged in behind them
2. Either contact your landlord and enquire or contact an electrician to find out if you can have the switches put in. In my old home I used an extension plug whereby I could reach the socket and switch off instead of moving the appliances.
3. buy new fuses the same as in the box then change each one at a time if that don`t work go to the main panel and check them
4. Have you checked the fuse box - perhaps the trip switch for the appliances has tripped?
5. The fridge and washing machine will have regular sockets, just behind them where there are difficult to get to. The cooker will be wired in directly to the wall as they require more current and thicker cable. If you look at your main fusebox, there will be a fuse for each circuit, eg. upstairs lights, upstairs sockets, downstairs lights, downstairs sockets, which will isolate each circuit if switched off. The cooker will have it's own circuit, as required by UK law. If one of your appliances has malfunctioned, the circuit breaker will have tripped and cut the power to the sockets in your kitchen. If you look at the main fusebox (probably in a cupboard somewhere or up high) there will probably be one switch that's pointing a different way to all the others. Flip it back and you should have power. This will also happen if a lightbulb fuses. You could use this to switch off all your appliances at night, but I wouldn't recommend it, as it will switch off your fridge and all your food will spoil. If your appliances have isolator switches on the wall (ones above them with little red lights) use those to switch them on and off.
6. these appliances must be switched on from the main distribution board usually located out the way in a cupboard or something.in new homes it has to be legally marked what each breaker is attatched to.look for something like kitchen or kitchen appliances.
7. Fridges, and washing machine aren't ever built with switches the fridge should have a control on the inside.
8. My appliances have are plugged in inside the nearest cupboard to them - try looking there.
9. Check your fuse box you may have a fuse specifically for the kitchen appliances its just a matter of flicking the switch back to on position. The last tennant may of turned them off there knowing they could not at the appliance.
10. Neither a refrigerator nor a washing machine would be on a switch. It sounds like you didn't have a home inspection done before buying the place. That said, the fuse box has separate fuses for the different appliances, but that isn't how you turn them on. That means that each one has a separate circuit so if the fuse blows, that you don't lose power to additional things like lights, other outlets, etc. There are a lot of older homes that had fuses instead of circuit breakers and have never been updated/upgraded. You'll need to call in an electrician to upgrade your box so you can have multiple appliances on at the same time. You're probably looking at 60Amp service. An electrician can size up your electrical needs and bring you up to 100A or more. Oh, I almost forgot. You said that there was electricity, but that the appliances weren't on. Assuming that the fuses aren't blown, you may want to unplug them and plug something else into the outlet to make sure that electricity is actually going there. The appliances could be broken or unplugged.
11. Why do you need to keep switching them on and off. It's standard practise to have appliance sockets enstalled at the back but the cooker socket should be in plain site