As was foretold, we've added advertisements to the forums! If you have questions, or if you encounter any bugs, please visit this thread: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/240191/forum-advertisement-faq-and-reports-thread/
Options
Circuit Breaker won't reset two of three rooms on circuit. (Fun update! Wiring problems?)
DasUberEdward
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I'm at a loss on this one. Came home to find that two rooms did not have electricity. One being my bedroom. The other has the router and all of that fantastic electronic junk. I reset the circuit as I've done a few times in the past when a space heater or something overloads things.
But nothing happened. Then I realized that the third bedroom on the same circuit has been working just fine. I turned everything off then on. Unplugged everything in the rooms. Still nothing. Does this mean there is a short somewhere or what could be the problem?
But nothing happened. Then I realized that the third bedroom on the same circuit has been working just fine. I turned everything off then on. Unplugged everything in the rooms. Still nothing. Does this mean there is a short somewhere or what could be the problem?
DasUberEdward on
0
Posts
Certain there is no mislabel.
only other thing to try that comes to mind, is unplug everything from the two dead rooms, trip the breaker again, then see if you have any power. maybe something you have connected is causing the problem.
I unplugged everything from all of the rooms and reset it. Tried all of the outlets in the dead rooms with a fan but no luck.
There isn't an attic or anywhere of that sort to see the exposed wiring. How much does an electrician call usually cost?
Whose word?
I'm going to move some things around in the basement and keep looking for the gfci.
Is it possible that there is no GFCI? I haven't been home to give a more precise search yet though.
When you reset the breaker, did it immediately trip again?
1) If so, you have a short somewhere on the line.
2) You have tripped GFCI somewhere on the circuit. Check bathrooms, kitchens, anything with an electrical socket near water pretty much.
3) The breaker has gone bad (very rare).
Do you have a multimeter?
Very possible there is no GFCI depending on age of the home, we originally had none until we moved in and installed them in our bathroom. But the GFCI does not cause our entire house to lose power, just that power outlet so YMMV. I'm gonna guess your breaker is going bad, I'd check with a multimeter if you know how. I've never replaced a breaker before so I can't offer any advice on how to proceed if the breaker is bad, I've only ever installed new outlets.
GFCI in residential settings tend to be integrated right into the outlet. They're most common in bathrooms and around places you'd have faucets. If it doesn't have something on the outlets then you likely don't have one.
Depending on your savvy and willingness to eat line voltage you could swap the breaker with one that works and find out if it's that. If that sounds scary to you I wouldn't do it. If you do it make sure the main power to the entire house is off while your working on it. I wouldn't have high hopes for it working though, it doesn't sound right for what you're describing.
Sadly, this looks like it's an actual electrician's kind of problem.
You need to describe the breaker action! There are three states in the breaker, On, Tripped, and Off. When a breaker is tripped, you need to push it fully Off first, then turn it On. When you do this, do you hear a clicking noise as the breaker resets to Tripped? If so, your problem is NOT a bad breaker, and is likely your wiring somewhere.
You said there were three bedrooms on this circuit? One currently on (Bedroom A) and two off (Bedrooms B,C)? If you turn the breaker OFF, will bedroom A go dark? (Just make sure its the right circuit). If it does, then you most assuredly have a loose splice (Wire connection), or an oddly damaged wire somewhere between A and B/C.
Has anything been hung on any walls lately? Small framing nails/screws inside the walls? Any major vibration going on? (It IS the bedroom
@Slo I don't think the breaker ever tripped in the first place after putting the story together. I think my mother just assumed the circuit had tripped and went downstairs to flip some switches in hopes of resetting it. There is a click when the breaker moves from off to on. And that does turn off all 3 bedrooms.
In a very odd turn of events a small desk lamp was left plugged into one of the powerless bedrooms in the on position. While doing some cleaning today I walked by and saw that there was light coming from the bedroom.
So in my massive stupidity I thought it'd be a good idea to see if anything else would work in the same outlet instead of methodically testing the room I plugged in a surge protector thinking that it was off. Quick electrical buzz and now we're back to where we started.
Considering the haste and stupidity of my last move I'll definitely end up trying to get a proper electrician. Is it sound to guess at this point that something has gone wrong with the wiring?
I'm still totally baffled as to what would cause that lamp to turn on. Also I should say that nothing tripped when I plugged in the surge protector (it had a few things in it. I really wasn't thinking) it just didn't work. Then the lamp wouldn't either.
Should I perhaps look into a voltage tester of some sort at the home depot to definitely narrow things down?
@devoitlyapathetic any idea how much these sorts of electrical jobs run? I'm moving out next week and my mother plans to be into a new place by the winter. Are we looking at a few months of rent for the wiring work?
Not sure if that was a matter of timing and my moving about was just random correlation or if there could be more to it. I haven't plugged anything else in or unplugged the lamp. I'll wait for some input before making another move.
*There can be other live circuits behind the plug other than the one you turn off, don't get zapped, always be careful, if you want to explore, get the tester.*
Slo's giving super good advice.
I'm a little curious, is this an apartment or your family home? If it's an apartment I'm really unclear why cost is your concern at all. This is exactly the kind of stuff that is a landlord's concern. So long as you weren't filling the room with a shitload of space heaters or something I don't see how this could be anything like your fault.
I'll run out and pick up the voltage tester but what should I be looking for in particular? There's definitely electricity in the room but it's very temperamental to say the least.
edit: before turning off the bedrooms i checked to see if the outlets were working while that lamp was on. every outlet works but I haven't touched the one with the lamp plugged into it. i'm starting to think that that would be a good place to start looking for the problem?
Really, for the odd test, the cheap ones will do. A touchless one is best though (no metal leads that you actually touch) Just rub it on a sweater/shirt to see if static makes it flicker. That means you have it on and it's working :P
If you are comfortable I would grab a flashlight, throw the disconnect on the whole house and pull the breaker, look for any wire that may be disconnected, if everything looks good then you buy a circuit tester and test all the lines...again this is dangerous to do if you are not comfortable doing this sort of thing....if you're at all uncertain call a professional.
Wait am I reading this wrong? I thought I he said he is losing a whole two rooms?
Two rooms, when a single plug is fiddled with.
In this random google image search result, the wire pigtails are shown tied together with the yellow connectors.
If there are more than 2 wires connected by each connector, such as in this picture, your outlets are probably daisy-chained and a loose connection is likely the source of the problem.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The outlet that is causing the bad connection MAY STILL WORK. The wire might be connected to the outlet, but not connected to the leg that travels further down the line. Therefore it can be helpful to check not only the outlet which seems to be the source, but also the outlets next to it. Since you don't always know which way the feed runs, you may have to check all of your outlets in hopes of a resolution.
IMPORTANT NOTE #2: Turn off the power before you fiddle with these things! I know this is obvious but it cannot be stated enough times!
Small electrical problems like this are usually within the realm of things a methodical and careful homeowner can fix. Turn off the juice, take apart the outlet you think is causing it all, see if any of the wires pull willingly out of the wire nut connectors. If they do, carefully unscrew the connector and make sure everything is in there securely when you reattach it. pliers help to get the wires straight and lying next to each other. Insulated pliers help to make you feel better even though the power is off.
Addendum to Pel's statement...I have also seen in older homes where someone chained back to the wrong side of a switch. Bought an old home and when I turned of my basement lights it turned off the outlet in my living room because they shared a wall and the previous home owner didnt chain them together properly.
If your house is chained together like this, it is feasable that a switch can be the culprit should all the outlets check out.
It looks like a loose connection was the source of the problem after all. The outlet had been more or less sinking back into the wall for the last 20 something years. There were all kinds of pig-tailed wires behind the scenes and an enormous amount of dust bunnies to boot. I did my best to put everything in a more secure position and so far electricity has resumed as normal.
Now i'm really concerned about all of this fire hazard talk though. Is there a way I can make sure everything is safe?
That should be more than enough for this outlet, might even be over kill.
Still it does open a bit of a can of worms, things like outlets, switches, stuff like that are not really designed to be in a house for 30+ years. Not to mention any wiring what may have been run improperly by current standards, it might not hurt to poke around a little bit and be more proactive about further issues.