Totally confused

Status
Not open for further replies.
B

BEM

New member
I am a building maintenance technician and not an electrician so please go easy on me too.
Here's my problem. My son lost power on 2 recepticals in their bedroom. There are 7 recepticals in the room, and all but the two in question have power. He told me he thought the power went out, but then realized he still had lights. It's like the 2 recepticals are on a phantom circuit. They are on the same wall. All commons on the other recepticals are tight, the breakers seem fine. It just don't make any sense to me. Any theories or thoughts on this problem?
Thanks for any ideas.

Gib
 
The flow of current starts at the breaker panel, then goes to one outlet, then to the next, then to the next, and so forth. It is not uncommon to have a break in the system at one of the middle outlets. You get a complete circuit upstream of that point, and a broken circuit downstream of that point. I would look at the two outlets that have power, and see of there are some wires disconnected within the boxes. Turn it all off first, of course.
 
Some Zircon studfinders can detect hot wires, so in the unlikely event that the break is in the wall you might need one of these.
 
charlie b said:
... I would look at the two outlets that have power, and see of there are some wires disconnected within the boxes. Turn it all off first, of course.
Click to expand...

Or better yet, call an electrician... :D
 
Last edited:
Gib, as Charlie said, receptacles are wired from box to box to box. Wire rarely goes bad between boxes, unless damaged.

Therefore, the problem will be either in the last working receptacle (or other) box or in the first non-working one.

If this helps, great; if not, follow Jraef's (how the heck do you pronounce that anyway?:smile:) advice.
 
Wire rarely goes bad between boxes

Wire rarely goes bad between boxes

Do rats eat Romex insulation?
 
Lxnxjxhx said:
Do rats eat Romex insulation?
Click to expand...

I just received a call today to replace the range cable that I quote: "a rat chewed through and burnt up the wire." end quote. I'll be getting by in a few days to take of this one. I'm letting the dirty rats family have time to leave.
 
charlie b said:
.... then goes to one outlet, then to the next, then to the next, and so forth.....
Click to expand...

Usually, but not always. I've seen resi ropers that take each recep in a bedroom and 'home-run' it back to the 2-gang switch box by the door and do one massive make-up with blue wire nuts. If that's the case, it may be a poor connection in the switch box.
 
480sparky said:
Usually, but not always. I've seen resi ropers that take each recep in a bedroom and 'home-run' it back to the 2-gang switch box by the door and do one massive make-up with blue wire nuts. If that's the case, it may be a poor connection in the switch box.
Click to expand...
Well, that would still be the last working box. :smile:

Intuition and the room layout certainly factor in.

One more thing: don't forget to look at the other side of interior walls.

Two more thing: some older houses are wired 'up and down'. We once found three circuits supplying original receptacles in one bedroom, along with those in the den below it.
 
thats what i wanted to know too?

thats what i wanted to know too?

:grin:

If this helps, great; if not, follow Jraef's (how the heck do you pronounce that anyway?:smile:) advice.[/QUOTE]
 
Commercial rats eat conduit

Commercial rats eat conduit

So the resi rats need fiber in their diet and those Commy Rats need iron in their diet?
 
Have you checked to make sure none of the GFCI's have tripped? (assuming there are some) I have seen some strange wiring schemes and a tripped GFCI caused some unrelated area to not work. (unrelated in the sense that it makes no sense that the GFCI was wired into that area. Make sense??? :smile:

c2500
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top