Weird electrical problems in the kitchen (solved)

Melinoe

My boyfriend and I have recently moved out and are both first time renters.

Our kitchen electrical outlets seem to have issues whenever there are multiple appliances on at once. Our gecko terrarium was in the kitchen up until a few days ago, it has two different lights that were plugged into one socket. A few nights ago they both just spontaneously turned off, boyfriend reset the fuse and they seemed to work fine after that. Yesterday we were using the microwave and toaster oven simultaneously (they are at opposite ends of the room but on the same wall) and they both just shut off after about thirty seconds. Running one without the other was fine.

Is this a normal thing that we should just learn to live with or should we contact our landlord to see if she'll bring out an electrician to fix it? The only other place I've lived is with my parents in an incredibly old house with awful wiring and constantly flickering lights, and I don't really know much about electricity in the first place, so I'm not really sure what's normal and what's not for this sort of thing.

Usagi

Um, it just sounds like you're trying to draw too much current through a single circuit, that flips the breaker.

BlazeFire

All the outlets in the kitchen are on the same circuit, by the sounds of it. You'll just have to live with not turning things on simultaneously, I'd say.

Figgy

Nothing you can do, as a renter. And your landlord isn't about to hire an electrician to wire these outlets onto separate circuits. This is common, especially in rentals and older homes. This is something you're going to have to learn to live with. Welcome to the world of renting!

When my wife and I moved out together, our bathroom didn't have an outlet at all. It was just a single outlet stuck to the side of the light fixture, so naturally it wouldn't function if the bathroom light was off. Oh, how I miss keeping our electric toothbrushes in the upstairs hallway.

Melinoe

Alright, thanks guys! Like I said I'm not really familiar with this sort of thing so I wasn't sure if it was to be expected or not. Definitely something that can be lived with, just wanted to make sure that the electricity in the entire apartment was on the verge of death this can be locked now.

Ruckus

It's not uncommon for the top and bottom outlets in the kitchen receptacles to be wired on different circuits (all the upper outlets are on one breaker while the bottoms are on another). If you plug all your high amperage appliances into just the tops or just the bottoms it will throw the breaker, but if you put say a toaster on the bottom and a coffee maker on the top they each exist on their own circuit safely.

One caveat is Microwaves, they tend to draw so much power that most kitchens built nowadays have a dedicated outlet and circuit.

BlazeFire

Ruckus wrote:

It's not uncommon for the top and bottom outlets in the kitchen receptacles to be wired on different circuits (all the upper outlets are on one breaker while the bottoms are on another). If you plug all your high amperage appliances into just the tops or just the bottoms it will throw the breaker, but if you put say a toaster on the bottom and a coffee maker on the top they each exist on their own circuit safely.

One caveat is Microwaves, they tend to draw so much power that most kitchens built nowadays have a dedicated outlet and circuit.

Is it actually that common? I have never seen that before. That is a lot of extra cable to pull.

Barrakketh

BlazeFire wrote: »

Ruckus wrote:

It's not uncommon for the top and bottom outlets in the kitchen receptacles to be wired on different circuits (all the upper outlets are on one breaker while the bottoms are on another). If you plug all your high amperage appliances into just the tops or just the bottoms it will throw the breaker, but if you put say a toaster on the bottom and a coffee maker on the top they each exist on their own circuit safely.

One caveat is Microwaves, they tend to draw so much power that most kitchens built nowadays have a dedicated outlet and circuit.

Is it actually that common? I have never seen that before. That is a lot of extra cable to pull.

My microwave, range (electric, boo) and oven have their own circuits. There are actually two breakers each for the oven and range, the microwave has one.

BlazeFire

Barrakketh wrote:

BlazeFire wrote: »

Ruckus wrote:

It's not uncommon for the top and bottom outlets in the kitchen receptacles to be wired on different circuits (all the upper outlets are on one breaker while the bottoms are on another). If you plug all your high amperage appliances into just the tops or just the bottoms it will throw the breaker, but if you put say a toaster on the bottom and a coffee maker on the top they each exist on their own circuit safely.

One caveat is Microwaves, they tend to draw so much power that most kitchens built nowadays have a dedicated outlet and circuit.

Is it actually that common? I have never seen that before. That is a lot of extra cable to pull.

My microwave, range (electric, boo) and oven have their own circuits. There are actually two breakers each for the oven and range, the microwave has one.

I was more wondering if top/bottom outlets being on separate circuits was all that common.

Ruckus

I PM'd you, but here's the link for everyone else too.

http://www.is-electric.ca/ans_kitchenplug.php