Browse   Newsletters   Contests   Ask   Share   Account   About Us

Troubleshooting Electrical Circuit Problems

A few years ago, for no known reason, all the outlets in a downstairs room stopped working, but one on a different wall. No breakers were flipped. I assumed that the one was on a different circuit. FYI, the outlets are not GFI. The problem was not addressed, I just stopped using the outlets that didn't work.

Recently the same thing happened to a few outlets in an upstairs room. Then a couple weeks later all the outlets downstairs that didn't worked suddenly did and the one that did work now doesn't. Also, at the same time the outlets that didn't work upstairs now do and the couple that did work now don't along with a kitchen light on the ceiling and the hall light on the ceiling, both upstairs.

Remember, no breakers where flipped at any of these issues and no work was done on any of the outlets flip flopping around. Can anything explain this event? Please help.

By Vinny L.

Answers: Troubleshooting Electrical Circuit Problems

Read answers for this question below.
By
02/18/2012

You need a licensed and insured electrician in to look over your house wiring, and you need to do it now. It sounds as though you have lost connections all over your house between the outlets and the breaker-which is why none flipped.

Depending on the age of your home, your troubles could be anything from faulty and/or counterfeit wiring when the house was built (a lot of building materials coming in from China, Mexico, and India have been found to be counterfeit or badly constructed including wiring, circuit breakers, and boxes which were then stamped with a fake UL), worn wires, rodents chewing, or pest infestation in the wall.

Only a licensed professional can tell you what is wrong and how to resolve the issue BEFORE your house burns down.

Questions

Here are questions related to Troubleshooting Electrical Circuit Problems.
Partial Power to Outlets on Circuit

We are in the middle of remodeling a kitchen. We have moved appliances to our laundry room, including refrigerator, microwave, toaster oven, coffee maker, and washing machine.

This has been a long project, started on Mother's day. The first 3 months everything was OK. Well, first the washing machine quit working fully, if you flipped the breaker it would start up, but when it went into spin it would quit and the breaker would not flip off. Next the 2 outlets on the wall went out, microwave and refrigerator, but the 2 outlets above my counter top, which are on same circuit, were OK. Then yesterday, (1 month later) when running the microwave, it ran OK the first 2 times I used it, but the third time all power was lost to that circuit. I thought I smelled something hot, but it went away. (That was during the first 2 minute cycle I put it through.) There is a GFI circuit on that plug and neither the GFI nor the breakers flipped off, but when flipping manually the power comes back on.

I just went and flipped the breaker back on, (we turned it off last night, fire fear) and used a night light to check power. All outlets are working. What the heck. Should we be very concerned or are we just overloading the circuit? Does anyone think this will go away when kitchen appliances get moved back into kitchen?
Thanks for any help.

By Carol

SharePrintFollow4 Feedbacks

Most Recent Answer

By Sally_Admin09/26/2012

Carol,
Once we had some very odd things going on with the power in our house. We had only partial power on some of the circuits. We ended up calling our power company. They checked our incoming power. It turned out on of their lines had corroded, and our incoming supply was 1/2 of what it should have been. They made the repair and everything went back to normal.

Answer This Question

Add your voice to the conversation. Click here to answer this question.

Follow ThriftyFun