Testing home receptacle...Help plz

[JJSmitches]

I had an electrical problem today at the home. The wife was using the vac when it stopped working along with the lights in a portion of the house. We checked the circuit breaker and non looked to be tripped. So we reset all of the breakers for lights+plugs.

I talked to my local Lowes guy and he suggested testing the receptacle. When I tested for voltage I got nothing. I then followed the directions for testing the "live side" and both sides show live.

I also had one of those plug-in receptacle testers that has 3 lights to show if the thing is wired correctly and it showed that it had the ground and hot reversed.

The receptacle had worked fine the last 4 years and now this.

Any tips?
Should I turn off the breaker for that house and call an electrician or could this be an easy DIY fix?

Thanks

[class67]

Call an electrician! it sounds like a ground has come loose or disconnected somewhere in that homerun. Either in a switch or outlet.

[69Bbird]

First find the breaker for those circuts and check voltage at the breaker, they do go bad. If the hot wire has power it sounds like you have a neutral problem (white wire). Next check for a lose neutral wire in the outlet boxes. Hope this helps.

[BA.]

If he had multiple lights/outlets affected, don't you guys find it pretty odd that a breaker is not tripped?

Jsapata, as you probably know or realize, a single breaker can affect several things at once. This happens because various outlets and lights (and ceiling fans) are all daisy-chained together back to that single breaker.

It can be difficult and time-consuming for a novice to figure out which one is the problem.

What I would do if I were you is like Bird said, I'd turn off the breaker for the affected outlets/lights. If you don't know which one, personally, I'd turn off all of the 15 and 20 amp ones and use a flashlight. :)

Starting with that outlet the vacuum was plugged into, I'd take off the covers, pull the outlet out a little (2 screws hold it in place) and check that both (perhaps 4) wires are in place tightly.
If you have 2 wires in and 2 wires out, then there's another piece to the daisy chain.
You could also replace that outlet and if the problem is not fixed, move on to the next outlet checking the wires and/or replacing it.

Good Luck!

[Samckitt]

By chance is this on a circuit that also feeds kitchen, bathroom, garage or outside outlets? Is there a ground fault interrupt breaker? These are basically in line circuit breakers. An electric motor can set those off. If not, check the receptacle (plug) & see if there are wires on both screws on each side of the plug. Then check to see if there is a metal tab between the screws, that is the link between the screws to carry current on to the rest of the circuit. Or just change the plug, they are only a couple bucks.

Scot
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[Patrick]

I recently had something very similar happen--several outlets suddenly lost power. It ended up being a bad breaker. It wasn't tripped...it just wouldn't transfer the electricity. I replaced it and was good to go.

And this was on a service panel that was less than a year old.

[bretcopsey]

I recently had something very similar happen--several outlets suddenly lost power. It ended up being a bad breaker. It wasn't tripped...it just wouldn't transfer the electricity. I replaced it and was good to go.

And this was on a service panel that was less than a year old.

My brother just had the same problem about a month ago. Seems like changing out the breaker first would be the easy fix. If that doesn't work, then start trouble shooting.

[johnsma22]

If you are not ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY SURE what you are doing with regard to troubleshooting an electrical circuit, and it sounds like you're not based on the fact that you asked in this forum, DO NOT do another thing other than picking up the phone to call a licensed electrician! I know people have a DIY nature on this board, but electricity is not something to experiment with. It only takes 10 milliamps to cause your heart to fibrillate and you will be working on circuits that will have 15-20 amps!

Troubleshooting an electrical issue from your computer without actually being there with an electrical meter in your hand is pure folly at best. I mean this with no disrespect, but call an electrician before you kill yourself or burn the house down. I only say this because I've seen it happen.

[JJSmitches]

Called this morning. I am with you 100% John.

[BA.]

Safety note duly received.

delivering amps is way, way different than having amperage available. lets hope it's just a faulty breaker.

[Damn True]

Stick a hairpin in the left side.
Stick a hairpin in the right side.

Wrap each hairpin with a bit of bacon.

Get the cat wet using the kitchen sink sprayer.

If the cat goes BZZZZZZZZAAAAP and starts smoking then you know that circuit is hot.

Works every time.

[johnsma22]

Stick a hairpin in the left side.
Stick a hairpin in the right side.

Wrap each hairpin with a bit of bacon.

Get the cat wet using the kitchen sink sprayer.

If the cat goes BZZZZZZZZAAAAP and starts smoking then you know that circuit is hot.

Works every time.

LOL! I can almost smell how bad that would stink!

[TonyL]

Sounds like a defective outlet. Or, there's a mouse inside the box with the outlet making contact (happens a lot, really)

[JJSmitches]

It turns out that there was a burnt wire in a completely different room (one where everything still worked).

The electrician said that the way the house was wired this problem will probably keep reoccuring. Something about the way 2 different circuits in the home are wired together?

It is fixed now.

Also, he informed me that our Dyson vacuum should only be plugged into the kitchen or bathroom receptacles because it draws so many amps on its own.

who knew?

[Jim Nilsen]

We had an outlet box attached to a furnace flu by an outside electrician at work that melted the hot to the ground and it wasn't until you plugged into the outlet down the way that the ground and nuetral was inline with that it would blow the curcuit and it to was perplexing to the head electrician even after he knew that box and the GFI had cooked the first time. He thought it was wired wrong the first time and the second time he finally realized the flu heat had melted the wiring the first time and not being wired wrong.

Glad you found the problem and it would be a good idea to make sure you have a GFI istalled in the curcuit for future personal protection if there isn't one there already!