We have just recently bought a repossessed house, all the plumbing and lights work fine. Everything in the kitchen works, but none of the plugs around the house do?
You really need a modern box with safety cut-out switches. Don't try to do anything yourselves with this problem. Deterioration of old wiring after a year's non-use is very likely, and re-wiring is your only answer. You don't know how long this has been a problem - maybe more than a year - and I'd prefer to be on the safe side.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
The electric outlets in the living room stopped working. We flipped the breakers and now when you plug something in it goes on and off. I think one of the outlets is blown what can I do?
If you have a short in one of the outlets this needs to be replaced. Normally this is simple and not so hard to do.
You'll need to purchase some new outlet at your local hardware store. Afterwards, turn off the circuit breakers in your home. Undo the screws and remove the faceplate and then the outlet. They are held in by 2 screws.
If this doesn't help, you'll need to replace the fuse in your breaker box.
Why won't the breaker trip, but if you play with the plug it starts working again?
By Nick
The breaker would only trip if too much current is being pulled (demand exceeds supply). If you have a loose outlet, where the plug falls out or you have to wiggle the plug to get it to work, it wouldn't necessarily trip the breaker, because it's not connecting/pulling electricity at all.
My phone charger was plugged into the wall outlet. It stopped charging and made a popping sound. I moved the cord a little and there was a spark. I was scared to unplug it, but I did eventually. My cord is now plugged into my laptop and is working. What is the problem?
By cara
You have a hot to ground short. From what you described it may be in your phone charger transformer. This could easily cause a fire and should be corrected by a professional.
If you are certain that the sparks came from the phone adapter, get rid of that phone adapter. If the sparks may have originated in the receptacle, get an electrician to service and replace the receptacle.
I have no power to one kitchen power outlet and one living room outlet. The circuit breaker appears good.
By Peter
Call an electrician. They go to school and train to be able to solve problems like this.
The outlets in the two main bathrooms seem to work for a while and then they seem not to work. No breakers are blown, I have made sure I reset all the breakers in the box. The lights work right next to these lights so there is power going to those rooms just not the outlets. They are none GFI plugs so I cannot reset at the plug. I have tested the powder room plug. I had a tester and accidentally hit the button on the tester and now cannot get that plug to work either. Please help.
By Chris
Are you sure the lights are on the same circuit?
Checking your wiring map (hopefully when you home was wired, they mapped it out in the breaker box). There could be a gfi in a different room that is tripping. For some reason, we have 2 outlets in the garage that are on the same circuit as one wall of the kitchen. I have to go out the garage to reset it if it trips.
You may also have a faulty breaker. Once you determine for sure which breaker goes to that outlets, replace the breaker.
Otherwise, you have a common junction between those two bathrooms that is shorting out. Ideally, the two bathrooms should not be on the same circuit.
I have power to my black wire at the outlet, but if I touch the coating the power goes away. Or if I hook it up to the outlet I lose power.
I changed two wall outlets, just replacing dirty ones. I did them exactly as they were taken off, but both won't work? Not sure what it could be. It has a red, white, and black wire.
By Tracy
Call Home Depot and ask to talk to someone in the electrical dept. Those people at Home Depot have helped me out many times.
Did you check your fuse box - perhaps you threw a breaker?
If it has red, white, black wires, sounds like a three way switch, and it should have a bare copper ground. You probably got the wrong switch.
Let me guess Louise B has a husband or son who is an electrician.
I have 2 outlets that are in separate bathrooms. Both have power, but neither one will run a hair dryer or hot iron. They will power a radio. Has anybody seen this before or have any suggestions?
By David
I'll venture to bet that you need larger amp circuit breaker(s). You're simply running too many watts for the size the breaker(s) can handle and especially if more than one room are on the same circuit.
What I know about this is next to nothing, however, I have heard that sometimes outlets in bathrooms were installed to only power appliances with a small draw, such as a electric razor or a radio. I suspect that that is the type of outlet you have since you have two of them, and they are both in bathrooms. I have seen such outlets labeled "for razor only". This is a safety feature. I do not know if it is the breaker or the kind of outlet. I think you need to consult an electrician.
Older places with old wiring is very dangerous. Sounds like old set up. You didn't say how old the place was you lived but a lot of even l950's houses now have bad wiring. An electrician or a friend who knows about wiring is a good thing here because the advice we can give without seeing is worth absolutely nothing. But you just might want to think on this; don't wait and burn the house down.
I have electricity coming into a switch and going out from the switch to a fan, but the fan does not turn on. I checked to see if the fan is broken, but it actually works.
So I tried another switch and get the same results. Anyone know what is wrong?I have got power to the sockets, but when I plug in anything it does not work.
I know the power is on, as I tried an extension lead which lit up, but as soon as I plugged anything in, nothing.
I blew out an electrical outlet. I pulled on it and it blew taking out 4 other outlets. I replaced the blown outlet, but still all 5 outlets are out even after I reset the switch on the main box.
By Milton
I need to know how to fix hot/ground reverse on electrical wiring for home.
jenniferl from Silversprings, FL
We need more info to possibly answer your question. Is it just an outlet that is wired wrong? You could fix that yourself.
Or,if it is at your fuse box/electrical panel, that would require a licensed electrician. The answer will be according to what the actual problem is. ~Richard
If you gotta ask, then it's best and safest if you get an electrician to correct the problem.
I just need the diagram so my husband can fix anything on it because we can't afford a mechanic. Thank, Angelheart
I replaced the outlet above OTR microwave and now the microwave does not turn on. My microwave does work when plugged into another outlet nearby so probably not the fuse. I did double check the connections to ensure hot and white are connected to the correct side along with the ground. All are secured tightly to eliminate the possibility of a loose connection. It is a brand new outlet and I checked for flipped circuit at control panel and nothing there. I did replace all outlets and light switches in my kitchen and all work except the one above microwave? Please help.
I am trying to cut the power to an outlet and tried turning off by elimination each 15/20 amp circuit and the power remains on. Any ideas?
I live in a older home (1950s). I recently bumped a plug while moving furniture. I heard it make a couple of popping sounds, but nothing happened. The next morning that outlet and the ones in the next 2 rooms would not work either. The ceiling lights work fine. I turned off the power at the fuse box. I took the cover off the outlet and checked with a meter to make sure it was safe. I took out the outlet and found out one of the wires was broken. I don't plan on using that outlet anymore how can I just bypass it so that the outlets in the other rooms will start back working. Thanks.
We have two power outlets in the kitchen that stopped working. Our home is older so the outlet doesn't have a "reset" or GIF. We have an old fuse box, not breakers. We had work done in the kitchen and we noticed the problem happened after the granite installers installed the granite back splash. The outlets they cut around stopped working.
I did hear power tools being used so I am wondering if they blew the fuse. We tried the, un-screw of the fuses and put everything back in, fix. We do have some fuses that seem to be under a glass cage that we could not really open or are scared to. We are not sure if we are to open this part or not. Anyway any suggestions or explanations to get this fixed would be greatly appreciated. I am trying to avoid making a service call if it is an easy fix I may be overlooking.
Thanks
For about two months now, in the master bedroom, 2 of the outlets which have the TV and cable box connected and also the light in the room go out and come back on. I have checked the breaker and it doesn't trip. One of the times that it went off, it stayed off for a few minutes.
When went off I moved the light switch to turn it off and the lights came on. I switched the light fixture for a new one and it's still doing it. Besides checking the other outlets for loose wires any suggesting on what to check?I have had a non working plug in our bathroom with a working light for years. We recently had a lot of work done, including rewiring the kitchen. The contractor replaced the fixture in the bathroom during the renovation.
The new fixture works like the old one. Light works, plug does not. Any idea what the issue is, and is it an easy fix? Thank you in advance.One of our light switches is faulty, sometimes it works, other times it doesn't. If we flip the switch off and on several times it will eventually turn the lights on and they will stay on. Many times the light turns on for a second and then turns off. If we do get the light to stay on and we plug anything in to the outlet, everything will turn off. It is not the fuse/circuit box. The outlet below the light switch (not controlled by the switch) sparks when we plug into or unplug from it.
By AndieR
It could be a number of things and it would be good to have an electrician check this out. There is plenty of opportunity to be hurt or killed if you don't know what you are doing. The situation itself sounds dangerous enough.
Although the receptacle is not switched, it sound like it is on the same circuit (breaker or fuse).
The hot wire may enter the switch box and go to the switch and on to the receptacle. If so, the neutral wire would enter the box also and go on to the receptacle.
The connection in the box is usually made with a wire nut. If a loose connection exists, It could be the repeated cycling of the switch that allows contact to be made, by vibration, and power sent on to the receptacle. Loose connections are heat generators and the wires may show sign of overheating.
Plugging something in the receptacle may then overload the poor connection at the switch and open the circuit.
There also exists switches which provide not only a switched output but also an unswitched output to reduce connections in the box. The problem with this type of switch is that when it goes bad, all power is lost downstream. If you have a switch like this, I would be suspicious of it.
Thanks for this great explanation, Bruce. And the best advice you gave was "call an electrician". Home electrical repairs are not something that untrained people should be tackling.
I've been using the same outlet for 3 years now to charge my laptop. All of a sudden the outlet doesn't work. So, I plugged my laptop into another outlet. It worked briefly, but now it doesn't work. How do I know what is wrong and how do I fix it? The breakers are not tripping.
By Sandra D
Try plugging in something other than your laptop into the outlet. If it works okay, you need to have the power supply cord to your laptop checked. They do sometimes wear out.
Check the outlet by plugging something other than your laptop. If the outlet is working, you probably need to check the power cord supply for the laptop. They do get old and wear out.
I changed our wall outlet plug in our 2nd floor bedroom from a two prong to a three prong and now I don't have power to my closet. The outlet has two hot wires, two neutrals, and two grounds. All of the wiring was stacked up on the two prong plug. I've tried various configurations to remedy the problem; however, none of them seem to work. I am able to get power to this particular outlet, but I still cannot restore power to my closet.
By Antwan from MO
Why was there a ground wire to a 2 wire outlet? Usually only a hot and neutral are at a 2 wire recept. Not sure what you mean by stacked, 2 wires under each screw? One set should be the line, the other a load-the wires to the rest of the closet. I would get an electrician with proper tools to sort out what you have.
Ditto with zoodad! Please have an electrician take care of this because the wiring as it is now could also be a fire hazard! :-(
We removed a closet from our bedroom. It turned into a nightmare. First the walls were of plaster with the wire mesh for the corners. While removing the wire mesh we cut into a tiny red wire in the ceiling. It made an outlet not work. However this outlet is run by the closet light. If the light is on the outlet works, but if it is off it does not work.
I believe this tiny red wire being cut is responsible for this because the light did not have to be turned on before this tiny red wire was cut. This tiny red wire was buried into the plaster and we cannot find where it goes. Any suggestions on making this red wire dead? I am fine with having the switch on to run the outlet.
We live in an apartment building built in 1970s maybe 80s. My daughter had an inexpensive fan in her room that would slow down and then just stopped working.
