Why is my neutral wire at the consumer unit glowing red and getting dangerously hot – Advice from Electriman, North London Electricians

Finding a neutral wire that is glowing red or too hot to touch at your consumer unit is a genuine electrical emergency and you should treat it as one. Here is what is happening and what you should do.

What it means in plain English

Your electrical system has two main conductors bringing power around your home: the live wire and the neutral wire. The neutral wire is supposed to carry current back to the grid at virtually zero resistance. When a connection along that neutral path becomes loose, corroded, or damaged, resistance builds up at that weak point. Electrical resistance turns energy into heat, and in a wire carrying significant current, that heat can become extreme, hot enough to melt insulation, ignite surrounding material, and start a fire inside your consumer unit.

The most common reasons this happens

A loose terminal screw at the neutral bar inside the consumer unit is by far the most frequent cause. Terminals can work loose over years of thermal expansion and contraction as your circuits heat up and cool down.

Corrosion on the conductor or the bar itself creates resistance. Older aluminium neutral conductors are particularly prone to this.

A damaged or undersized neutral conductor that cannot carry the load safely.

A broken or missing neutral connection at the meter tails or main earth point causing neutral current to reroute through a path not designed to carry it.

What you should do right now

Turn off the

Need a qualified electrician in North London?

Electriman covers Mill Hill, Barnet, Finchley, Edgware, Enfield, Watford and surrounding areas. All work is Part P certified and fully insured.