So the power went out in most of my apartment. After checking all the fuses (European fuses are weird), I called the landlord who double checked all the fuses and gradually revealed that he is entirely clueless about electricity and wiring. Finally, he called an electrician who will come around in the morning. The electrician said that we didn’t need to worry about fire if we didn’t hear sparks, smell smoke or sense heat. So we borrowed a long extension cord to get us from a working power outlet to the fridge and the heater and sat down for a nice evening at home in the one lit room.
And then about 5 minutes ago, all the lights came back on. wtf? The power being flaky seems like a potential hazard to me, so I just went downstairs and switched all the breakers off except for one. And I discovered that some of the lights that were working all evening were on a circuit that was mostly out. So before two electrical plus and a lamp were working. Then everything was working. Now that I’ve switched off all the breakers that had faulty sections, only one outlet is working.
Um, is this dangerous? Is my house going to burn down while I sleep tonight? Can I just turn everything back on and tell the landlord to cancel the electrician? What is going on? I just bought a couple of smoke detectors from a store nearby, but the test button only flashes a light but doesn’t make an ear splitting squeal, so I have no idea if they actually work or not. (French and American smoke alarms squeal when you hit that button).
I am not happy. Also, tomorrow is a holiday.
Tags: The Hague, Celesteh
