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rossislider

In Need of Home Electrical Advice and Help

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Thanks everyone, the problem has been solved.

 

For now I am looking for some advice and may eventually need an electrician.

 

The other night my wife was using the steam vac and had the TV on when something blew. When I got home from I checked the breaker box, nothing was off, but I went ahead and flipped all possible suspects anyway. No improvement. I then searched the house for all GFCI reset switches and reset all of those. Still no improvement. I then proceeded to replace the breaker switch that I believe is the culprit in the breaker box. Still nothing. It appears that some of the outlets in that particular room still work, while a few outlets and one ceiling fan do not.

 

Any suggestions? I've been racking my brain for two days and can't come up with anything.

 

 

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They are daisy chained together most likely. The bad connection is likely in the last box with power or the first 1 without power.

 

Try and locate the direction the power is running through the room and start taking the outlets apart. Likely a wire connection in the daisy chain fried.

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They are daisy chained together most likely. The bad connection is likely in the last box with power or the first 1 without power.

What should I do? Replace that box/receptacle?

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Could be an outlet itself blew. Check both sockets on your outlets. When you find one that one works and the other don't, there's the problem. Replace the outlet and all should be good. Just a thought.

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They are daisy chained together most likely. The bad connection is likely in the last box with power or the first 1 without power.

 

Try and locate the direction the power is running through the room and start taking the outlets apart. Likely a wire connection in the daisy chain fried.

I'm pretty sure I know which direction the power is running. Based on what you said I think I can narrow my problem down to two possible outlets. Is it safe to assume the wire would be fried at the outlet?

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The power can be wired a few ways to the outlet.

1. Power in and out wired together under a wire nut with a third wire the outlet. This the preferred way.

2. Power in and out wired directly to the two screws with one on each screw or into the holes on the back. This is bad a causes the load from all of the outlets downstream to go through it and when it fails you loose the remaining outlets.

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Could be an outlet itself blew. Check both sockets on your outlets. When you find one that one works and the other don't, there's the problem. Replace the outlet and all should be good. Just a thought.

 

I would guess this as well a bad outlet or the GFCI is bad and no longer will reset for that area. I had this happen in my last house with one of the bathroom GFCI outlets.

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I fixed a similar problem like that last year. Half the outlets on the circuit quit working. Took the outlet out that was next in line, and the neutral(white) wire had broken at the terminal.causing a short.

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Pm me if you need a walk thru on the phone, get yourself a plug tester and make sure you don't have aluminum wiring.

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I could be as simple as a loose nut at an outlet that shorted. If that is the case you might only need to trim the wires up and reinstall a new wire nut. A bad outlet or bad gfi could be the problem too. A multimeter should help you narrow it down pretty easy. Find the last outlet with power and Check the wire nuts. Then check for power leaving g that box. If you have power leaving check the next outlet and check the wire nuts there and try and figure out which wire is not carrying power to that box.

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Thank you for all the help everyone. The problem is now fixed. It was an outlet that had gone bad. I wasn't sure of the outlet order progression in the room so started with the outlet that the steam vac had been plugged into. I pulled it out and tested it for an incoming current, nothing. I moved onto the outlet that the TV had been plugged into. Based on the room setup this was likely either the outlet in line right before or after the first one I tested. I took it out of the wall and still no incoming current. The next outlet in progression still had a current in both receptacles. I detached all the wires from the outlet, connected and capped the like colored in and out wires, and flipped the breaker back on. BINGO! All receptacles were now working. So I swapped that outlet out with a new one and everything is now functioning.

 

Thanks again for the suggestions.

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