Burning smell coming from Fusebox

I noticed a burning smell coming from the fusebox in my house, i seem to have located the problem to the main fuse which was very hot and had scorching on the surrounding plastic, but the fuse wasn't blown.
Does this sound like a problem with the fuse or a wiring fault? I have the electricity off at the moment. The unit is about 14 years old.

call an electrician straight away

I agree. Get a sparks as a matter of urgency - especially before switching the system back on! This could be a serious fire/electrocution hazard. Do you have any extremely heavy loads on the system as a matter of course (e.g. appliances going all the time, electric heaters etc.)?

Yes, it's in one of those night rate areas so the immersion and storage heaters all come on automaticaly at night and that's when i got the smell.
I'll keep the elec off until i can get somebody to come around. Thanks.

Ours went up in flames about 2 months ago and the sparks said that it happens a lot. He has about 2 per month. He says that the fuses have been changed lately and it will not happen to the new ones. Ours was about 6 years old so yours is definatly an old type.
Get it changed or it will go up as ours did.

Do you actually mean fuses (glass or ceramic type) or do you mean trip switches/ELCBs? Fuseboards should not spontaneously combust as a matter of course. If they do then there is a problem with the electrical system in the premises.

ClubMan said:

Do you actually mean fuses (glass or ceramic type) or do you mean trip switches/ELCBs? Fuseboards should not spontaneously combust as a matter of course. If they do then there is a problem with the electrical system in the premises.

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Well mine did exactly that and I spent about a quarter of an hour spraying it with my fire extingusher trying to get the stuf in the hole that had been burned through. There were flames inside.
The electrician did not seem too concerned and just put in a new breaker. Have not had a problem since (except a hole in the board cover)

There was a particular type of domestic main switchfuse on the Irish market in the late 90's which was inclined to burst into flames when carrying a heavy load, i.e. storage heating.
There was a product recall order in 1999 by the Director of Consumer Affairs and all of the offending items should have been replaced.
I would imagine that there are still many of them out there.
They are a push in slide up type of fuse unit, dark blue or black, they had several brand names, from memory "Hi" and "EEC" were two of them.
If you have one of these in your consumer unit you would do well to have it replaced.