Electricity tripping out

If I use too many electrical appliances at once my electricity trips out. I have quite an old house and I've checked everything and all seems to be alright. Before I get an electrician in I was wondering if anyone had any ideas why this could be happening. Thanks.

You don't need an electrician. The standard electricity supply limits you to about 3kW, enough for one major appliance (oven, washing machine, dishwasher, electric kettle or electric fire) but not for two of these together. Lights, fridges, computers and TVs have little effect. After a while you get used to living with this "feature" of the supply. At one point I had a house with a guest flat containing a dishwasher. If the guests ran their dishwasher while we had the washing machine on the supply tripped and if I was out they couldn't get into the main house to reset it. You can ask for a heavier-rated supply - at additional cost - but I solved the problem by buying a pair of UK switch boxes of the sort used for electric storage radiators, fitted with red neon lamps. I put one in each flat, connected by a cable wired as a two-way switch and connected to the mains at one end. When either switch is closed both neons come on. Each end is on pain of death not to use any of the appliances listed above if the red light is showing, and to turn off the switch when the job is done. The arrangement worked fine with only occasional slip-ups.

It baffles me in our house, there are times when i have had dishwasher, washing machine plus loads of lights, pc etc all on and no issues. Other times when just one appliance trips everything. No consistancy or reason I can see at all!

I assume I would have to write to Enel to boost the supply. It's becoming a nuisance. Is there an alternative supplier to Enel?

The reason why you can sometimes get away with using several appliances is they don't draw current all the time. A washing machine or dishwasher only uses a lot of electricity when it's heating the water. While washing and spinning the load is much lower. An oven cycles on and off as the thermostat cuts in. If the heating cycles don't overlap you'll get away with it. The meter is quite definite about it; exceed the limit and it trips. It's 100% consistent.