Two of my bedroom's lights went out, but did not trip a breaker. The plug is in one bedroom that still had working lights. The next day everything magically started working. Also, my lamp in the living room dims and brightens and my dryer won't work. Any ideas?
By Tiffany from Hattiesburg, MS
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The lamps that went off and on but didn't trip the breaker could have shorts in the cord or plugs. The outlets may have a crimped wire but that usually trips the breaker-usually but not always.
Then I read the part about the living room lamp dimming and brightening, and that you can't run your dryer...
Is there any chance you have portable heaters plugged in on the same circuits as the lamps and then are also trying to run the dryer?
That's an overload, try unplugging everything in the house (including TV, computer, and microwave) except the majour appliances (fridge, stove, washer, dryer), and then adding things back one at a time to see when and where the trouble starts again.
You simply may be trying to run too many things on each circuit. Most American circuits are wired for no more than 1500 watts total PER CIRCUIT-you cannot reasonably expect the hairdryer+the space heater+the microwave+the table lamps+the TV+the stereo+the iron+the clothes dryer to run on the same circuit at the same time.
Your house could be underwired, too-too few circuits feeding too many outlets. The presence of the outlets says to you "Oh, I can plug into all of these and everything will be fine because the outlet wouldn't be here if there isn't proper amps to run all those outlets..." It's a reasonable assumption but sadly a lot of times all those outlets are on a single circuit spread out through the house.
If you look at the plugs of your electricals you should see a wattage listed. Do the math and see if you've got an overload going on. Be sure to check the wattage of your light bulbs too as using too big a bulb in a fixture not rated for that many watts can sometimes cause the problems you describe. And LOL, if you have up Christmas lights on top of all the other stuff, you can really overload a system!
If the problem isn't overload, and if you are renting the house I think I have good news-the landlord needs to have a licensed electrician around ASAP because there is a serious fault somewhere in your house wiring. This is a fire hazard, and a landlord is legally liable for the house wiring. Get this seen to right away!
I'm afraid if it's not overloading and if you are the home owner, you need to get in a licensed electrician to troubleshoot your wiring right away, again, for the fire hazard. Expensive, yes, and at the worst time-Christmas. But replacing everything would be even more expensive, not too mention the potential for loss of life should the wiring cause a catastrophic fire.
Sorry to sound so drastic, but it's the truth. Ask any fire-rescue person.
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