Home emergencies: power cut, gas smell, leaks, locked out
Act fast and explain power cuts, gas, leaks and lock-outs.
Something's tripped the electrics. Where's the torch?
Computer voice · not a real clip
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All 14 phrases
Power problems4
- Something's tripped the electricsA trip switch in the fuse box has flipped off.
- Where's the fuse box?Officially it's the 'consumer unit'.
- Is it just us or the whole street?Check whether the neighbours have lights.
- The meter's run out. Can I use the emergency creditOn a prepayment meter you top up in advance.
Gas and alarms3
Water and heating4
- Where's the stopcock?The valve that turns off the water to the whole home ('turning it off at the mains').
- There's water coming through the ceilingKnock on the door of the flat above, turn off the electrics near the water and call your landlord or a plumber.
- The boiler's lost pressureThe gauge has dropped below about 1 bar, so you have no heating or hot water.
- We've got no heating or hot waterFor renters this is an urgent repair, especially in winter.
Locked out and repairs3
Check yourself14 questions
Question 1 of 14
'Something's tripped the electrics' means:
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Picked by Talk, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Phrases
- Picked by Talk.
- How Talk picked them
- Part of Talk's themed British life packs. Talk wrote each phrase with what it really means, when to say it, what not to say instead and one quiz question. A phrase gets a moment only if Talk's spoken videos say it with the same meaning. One review picked each moment, and a second tried to reject it. This pack holds 14 phrases.
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- Talk shares this list under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Meanings and examples
- Written by Talk in plain English.
- Dictionary details
- From Wiktionary contributors (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Princeton WordNet, used under the WordNet licence. WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
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