Help! Power in one room goes out randomly, but doesn't trip circuit breaker...what's wrong?
Question:Twice now the power in my room has gone out completely, with the power staying on in all the other rooms in the house. When I checked the circuit breaker, it wasn't tripped either time. Eventually the power comes back on by itself. The first time it went out I hadn't turned any one thing on or off. The second time I turned on the tv and it went out. The only things on in the room at the time were a laptop and overhead light. What might be causing this and how do I fix it? The house was built in the 60s I believe, and I'm not too sure what kind of wiring it has. The owner says the power has never gone off like this before.
Answers:
I am a 3yr past electrician new trade now. You do have something loose Rick C. has given you the best answere. If you don't know what your doing PLEASE call in a pro. Injuring yourself or a loved one is not what you want. You can KILL yourself or burn down your dwelling. So please you are smart enough to ask this question in this forum you know what your capable of do the right thing. Might cost you 100.00 so what you can always make that back but not if your dead. Good luck to you and do the right thing
My guesses would be that, either there is a short in the wiring, which is cutting down on the flow, or interrupting it, or something in your house is draining all the flow and that room is losing its flow of electricity, I think either way it needs checked by an electrician, because it could lead to a fire if let go.
Have a electrician check it out, sounds like u have a short somewhere
It is NOT a short circuit -- that would trip a breaker. It is a broken wire, bad splice, or other bad connection. The next time it happens, use a neon tester to check every outlet in the room -- and for duplex outlets, that means both of them. If any duplex outlet shows power at one outlet but not the other, that is the source of the problem; either there is a loose connection to it, or the little bridge between the outlets is broken and the receptacle should be replaced. (They're cheap.) For anything else, you'll need to call an electrician. The last time I ran into this, it turned out to be an illegal (and defective) splice inside a ceiling.
Sounds like a loose wire nut somewhere in the room. If you are not handy with electricity-don't try to fix it. If you are-then, usually a wire comes from the breaker to the center of the room-like the over head light. From there, there should be two wires+1 feeding the switch at the door and 1 to an outlet down near the floor. Then a wire from that outlet to the next and so on to the last one. Try plugging a lamp into one of the outlets next time the power goes off. Move it from outlet to outlet. If the lamp comes on at any outlet-then the loose connection is either at that outlet or the next one. If no lamp will come on, then the loose connection is in the overhead or at the breaker box. This assumes that there are "no" connections in the attic. There should only be connections "Inside" a box or outlet.
Figure out which breaker controls the power for the area by shutting them off one at a time until the power goes off where you are having the problem. Then pull the "Mains" disconnect in the panel to kill all the power for the house. Pull the cover that surrounds the breakers off and tighten the screws for the wire the connects to the breaker that had the problem. While you are at it tighten all the wire connection screws. If this does not solve your problem, try replacing the breaker with a new one, or swapping it with another one in the panel of the same rating, to see if the problem goes to a different area. If so, you have a defective breaker. If none of this works, kill the mains power again, and check the connections in all the outlets of the room. The power usually feeds from one to the next and the first one in the loop may have a loose connection. The feed through of the power in the outlets could be done on the screw terminals on the outlet, or possibly in wire nuts behind the outlet, so this is more work! You talked about an "owner". If this is a rental, then this is their problem, not yours! Let them hire a pro if appropriate.
And the answer is.Alex, I'll take "Loose Nuetral Wires" for a thousand. Next time power goes out, plug a radio or lamp into every suspect outlet and jiggle it around a bit until you hear the radio/lamp power up.that's the culprit...replace the outlet and..Voila!
this is your key statement:
The owner says the power has never gone off like this before.
hold off on your rent until it is corrected
this is not a do it yourself fix
you need an electrician
loose connections in the outlet or the light switch. Find the breaker and make sure that it is off. Check to make sure no power is going to the outlet or the switch. Open the front plate on the outlet or switch cover. Unscrew the outlet or switch. Make sure all the wires are screwed properly to the terminals. If there is a wire nut in the box make sure all the wires are making proper contact.
If all of this sounds too complicated, call an electrician.
possable cause's
alumium wire
burned out outlet
joints in a outlet box arching under load
In any case sounds like you need a electrican at once it could cause a fire
More Related Questions & Answers...