I have power in a receptacle but nothing works when plugged in.?
Question:Tried to turn on my wall A/C but it would not work. I thought it was dead (old unit), so I brought in another (almost new). It doesn't work either. I thought it might be the receptacle so I threw the breaker and started to remove that. I saw some sparks and the breaker went off when I accidentally touched metal-to-metal (turns out I had thrown the wrong breaker) so I know there's power in the box . Next I threw the right breaker, switched out the receptacle and it still does not work. No changes have been made to my wiring since I last ran the A/C last summer. The only electrical "event" was when Con Ed was working in the street a few months ago and my house's power went off. Half came back on and I realized that they had left so they had to come back. I recall them saying they had to "bridge" something. They fixed the problem and all my power was on but I didn't test the A/C at the time. But now two of the A/Cs on 20 amp circuits (240v) are dead. Should I call Con Ed or an electrician
Answers:
let see if we can do this without you blowing up something or killing yourself lol... start with the power panel you said the ac is 240 you have 2 breakers side by side and should be ganged together make sure both are on now get you a simple test light from home depot ground the clip and insert the test end into the electrical outlet and see if your light comes on..better is a volt meter they are cheap meaning less than 20 bucks set the scale to read more than 240 volts usually 500 scale and test the outlet if no voltage check in the breaker box with the breaker in the on position check the wire terminal to the breaker to the netural, white wires on a block on the side of the breaker box if you have power you have a open circuit some where...heads up on each breaker you should read 110-120 volts same on each prong of the room outlet.not 240 each should add to 220-240vac also if no voltage is at the wire terminal at the breaker and the breaket is on the breaker may be weak if you have to change the breaker turn the breaker off and carefully remove the wire cap it with a wire nut bend it out of the way and snap out the breaker. note the manuf of power panel each manuf has a different foot print for their breaker
Hey Al, Unless you have the tools like a light meter that test if there is power in the switch going to the A.C. I think your first option would be a friend who is handy with electrical matters. Electricians are expensive even if they just come to the door and say hello! But if you must, you must. You could try shutting off all power in your breaker box to that switch and replacing it with a new one rather than a used one, but please do be careful. If a friend or electrician determine it is not in the switch they may be able to check out your A/C unit itself. Con ED, if it is their fault, should fix it for free, but will they? Find out before they come to your house..but your best bet is a friend. I swap carpentry knowledge for electrical knowledge. The barter sysem is much easier on the wallet.
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