Our work · Emergency callout
An electrical fire.
A safe way
forward.
A heating programmer caught fire in a Bournemouth flat. We attended immediately, traced the overloaded circuit, and made the installation safe.
- Location
- Bournemouth, BH1
- The work
- Emergency fault finding
- Completed
- August 2026
- The outcome
- Fire hazard eliminated
01 / The situation
Finding the cause.
Removing the risk.
A Bournemouth tenant was alarmed when visible flames and thick smoke started rising from the central heating control cupboard. Firefighters isolated the entire property’s electrical supply and instructed the customer not to re-energise the flat until a qualified electrician had investigated and resolved the hazard.
Our Bournemouth electrical team responded immediately. Once we removed the heating programmer from the wall, the damage was clear: melted plastic, carbonised contacts welded together, and sooty residue on the plaster behind the mounting box.
The cause was hidden in the wiring: a 3kW immersion water heater had been connected directly through the low-current central heating programmer.
02 / The repair
Every detail.
Checked properly.
From tracing the overload to the final safety tests, we addressed the cause and the damage it left behind.
Overloaded relays identified
A standard heating programmer's contact relays are rated for 5(2)Amps maximum, designed to handle light boiler control loads. An immersion heater pulls approximately 13 Amps. Operating at more than double its physical limit caused continuous arcing, which welded the contacts and ignited the plastic casing.
Damaged cables cut back
Swapping the programmer alone would have left cooked, brittle cable tails inside the box, which can flake away and lead to a secondary short circuit. We cut back the heat-damaged conductor tails to sound, flexible copper cores with healthy insulation.
Correctly rated 20A switched spur fitted
We permanently isolated the immersion water heater from the low-power central heating programmer. A dedicated, correctly rated 20-Amp double pole switched fused connection spur was installed to power the immersion heater safely.
Soot removal & thermal checks
The carbonised residue was carefully cleaned out of the back box, and thermal integrity checks were conducted using digital testing instrumentation to confirm no residual heating issues remained.
BS 7671 system integrity testing
Before re-energizing the consumer unit, we carried out comprehensive dead testing—including insulation resistance tests at 500V—to confirm the circuit was entirely safe to put back into regular service.
03 / On the job
The evidence.
The work behind it.
From heat-damaged cables and burnt contacts to the completed repair. A closer look at the work, as it happened.
12 project photos · Select any image to enlargeThe takeaway
The right controls.
Real peace of mind.
“A central heating programmer looks like the most intuitive place to program hot water timing, but low-current contacts cannot cope with heavy immersion heating. Always ensure high-load appliances have dedicated, correctly rated controls.”
Local expertise. Help when it matters.
An electrical fault?
Let’s get it sorted.
If the fire service or your consumer unit has tripped your supply, do not force it back on. Get a registered electrician to safely diagnose the fault.