social

Troubleshooting an Electrical Circuit Problem?

I am remodeling an old house. I have an electrical problem that I've never run into before. If the bed room light is turn on, the outlets won't work. If I turn the light off then the outlets get power. I removed the switch to check it. The same thing happens. With the switch wire unhooked the outlets work, when they are tired together the outlets go dead. I don't know what going on.

Advertisement

Add your voice! Click below to answer. ThriftyFun is powered by your wisdom!


Bronze Post Medal for All Time! 105 Posts
September 21, 20170 found this helpful

Your light switch and outlets are using the same wire in a continuous loop in this room. Normally the light switch and outlets use 2 different gage wires. In older homes they only used one.

Step 1
The wiring on all light switches only use one cable. In your wire you should have 3 cables, positive, negative, and ground.

Step 2
Only the positive cable attaches to your light switch and the ground and negative cables are taped off or spliced together so the continuous loop goes on.

Advertisement

Step 3
Check your light switch after turning off your power.

Step 4
See how many cables are attached to this switch.

Step 5
If you have wired the negative and ground cable to the switch, remove them.

Step 6
When you light switch is on it is interrupting the flow of electricity through the cable to your outlets.

Step 7
In older homes the electrical wiring system is outdated and also dangerous. Electrical outlets need a heavier gage wire than light switches do.

Step 8
In your breaker box you should have breakers designated for your lighting in your home and ones that are for your electrical outlets.

Step 9
They are two different breakers that protect your home.

Reply Was this helpful? Yes

Add your voice! Click below to answer. ThriftyFun is powered by your wisdom!

In This Page
Categories
Home and Garden Repair Home ElectricalSeptember 21, 2017
Pages
More
🎉
New Years Ideas!
🎄
Christmas Ideas!
Facebook
Pinterest
YouTube
Instagram
Contests!
Newsletters
Ask a Question
Share a Post
Categories
Better LivingBudget & FinanceBusiness and LegalComputersConsumer AdviceCoronavirusCraftsEducationEntertainmentFood and RecipesHealth & BeautyHolidays and PartiesHome and GardenMake Your OwnOrganizingParentingPetsPhotosTravel and RecreationWeddings
Published by ThriftyFun.
Desktop Page | View Mobile
Disclaimer | Privacy Policy | Contact Us
Generated 2023-12-15 19:10:22 in 2 secs. ⛅️️
© 1997-2023 by Cumuli, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
https://www.thriftyfun.com/Troubleshooting-an-Electrical-Circuit-Problem-1.html