How to check the sockets, switches and circuit breaker in your new BTO flat

Most people spend key collection tapping tiles and looking at walls. The electrical points get a quick glance at best. But a dead socket, a switch that controls the wrong light or a cracked cover plate is much easier to get fixed by HDB now than after your contractor has built a TV console or a wardrobe in front of it.

This check takes about 20 minutes for a 4-room flat. You don't need to be an electrician. You only plug things in, flick switches and look. Never open a socket, switch or the inside of the distribution board yourself: electrical work in Singapore must be done by a Licensed Electrical Worker.

Before you go

• Make sure the power will be on. You can't test anything without it. Check your key collection letter and your utilities account with SP Group so the supply is ready on the day.
• Bring a phone charger with a light, or a small lamp. A charging phone works too: if it starts charging, the socket is live.
• A plug-in socket tester (a few dollars from hardware shops) is better still. Its lights tell you whether the socket is wired correctly, not just whether it works.
• Painter's tape and a marker to number each defect, and a torch for dark corners and the bathroom.

1. Every socket, in every room

Go room by room and test every socket, including the ones you'd forget: behind where the fridge will go, in the service yard, along the kitchen counter and low down behind doors. For each one:

1. Plug in your charger or tester. Switch the socket on and check it works.
2. Switch it off and check it stops. A socket that stays live when switched off is a defect.
3. With a socket tester, read the lights against the chart on the tester. Anything other than "correct" (for example missing earth or reversed wires) goes on your list.
4. Look at the plate. Is it cracked, chipped, crooked or not flush with the wall? Does it move when you pull out the plug? A loose socket is worth reporting.

2. Every switch and light point

• Flick each switch and see what it controls. Note any switch that does nothing.
• Check two-way switches (for example at both ends of a corridor) work from both ends.
• Look for switch plates that are cracked, crooked, loose or have gaps around them, and for paint or cement splashed on them.
• Check that light points and ceiling roses are firmly fixed, with no exposed wires.

3. The water heater, aircon and other points

Find the water heater switch (usually a bigger switch outside the bathroom) and any aircon isolator points. Check the switch plates are intact and fixed firmly. Also look at the telephone, data and TV points, and the doorbell if your flat has one. You can't fully test data points without a service, but you can still check the plates are complete, straight and not damaged.

4. The distribution board (DB box)

Open the outer cover of the DB box only. Don't remove any inner panels.

• Check each breaker has a label saying which part of the flat it serves. Missing labels make things harder for you and your contractor later.
• Check nothing is cracked, burnt, loose or rattling, and that there are no gaps showing wires.
• Switch each breaker off and on once and check it moves cleanly and the right area loses power.

The RCCB test

The residual current circuit breaker (RCCB) cuts the power if it detects unsafe current leakage. Singapore's Consumer Product Safety Office suggests testing it every month, and key collection is a good time to do the first one:

1. Press the test button on the RCCB.
2. The RCCB should trip and the power should go off.
3. Switch it back on.

If it doesn't trip, report it to the BSC straight away. Once you've moved in and it's outside HDB's coverage, contact a Licensed Electrical Worker.

How to record what you find

• Put a strip of painter's tape next to the point (not on it) and write a number, for example #07.
• Take a close-up photo with the tape in it, and a wider photo showing where it is in the room.
• Write one line per defect: "#07 master bedroom, socket left of window, no power".
• Mark it on a floor plan. With two or three bedrooms that look alike, this saves a lot of confusion at the joint inspection.

Then report everything together with your other defects to your project's Building Service Centre. Our guide on how to report BTO defects to the BSC explains the steps.

Before renovation starts

Check the electrical points before your contractor starts work, and report defects first. Once a contractor has moved or added points, it can be hard to show a fault was there from the start. Your contractor's own electrical work is their responsibility, so check it again at handover: our renovation handover checklist covers that.

Quick checklist

• Power on before you go; bring a charger or socket tester, tape and a marker.
• Every socket: works when on, dead when off, plate firm and undamaged.
• Every switch: controls something, two-way switches work from both ends.
• Water heater, aircon, phone, data and TV points: plates intact and fixed.
• DB box: breakers labelled, nothing damaged; RCCB trips when you press test.
• Number, photograph and mark each defect on a floor plan, then report it.

For everything else to check in each room, see the room-by-room BTO defect checklist.