HELP!! One of my electrical sockets is dead! What do I do?
Question:I came home tonight, after a storm had passed over my area to find that one of the electrical sockets in my house is dead. Its the one that I use for my computer and telephone.
All the equipment is working fine, Ive got an extension cord hooked up to the surge protector at the moment and everything is good.
I have tried re-setting all of the switches on the switch board, twice, and nothing it didnt make a difference...
Is there anything else that I can do or do I need to call the power company or an electrician?
Thanks everyone!
Answers:
If you have tried all of the breakers to make sure they are o.k. , then definitely call an electrician. The only other option you may have is the GFCI outlets in your house(which are usually located in the bathrooms, garages, kitchen, and outside) .they have a reset and a test button on them...try to hit the reset button on these and see if the power comes back on to your outlet, if not call the electrician.
If you know where the breaker is for this outlet turn it off and then pull the plugin out and have a look at it. A wire may have come loose or off. Also, plugins do wear out so you may need to buy a new one and put it in. Black gos to the copper colored screws and white to the silver ones. It's not a big deal to change just make sure you have no power there. Also, it could be from the plugin just before this one. If looking at the one not working and fixing it up didn;t work, go to the next plug over and check it for loose wires.
Unfortunately, it sounds lie you might have fried the recepticle. If you reset the breakers and it still dont work, and you've given all the information, it sounds grim.
If however, if there is a surge protector is plugged into the outlet, it has a small reset on it. Every model is different so check it out.
If the recepticle is what is called a GFCI outlet, it has a button that pops out on it-try resetting it.
If all the breakers are on and the above situations arent present, call an electrician.
Do this,k. Tell your friend,when he or she going to do an electrical work in his or her home,first he or she must switch off the main switch board.After that he or she can do the electrical work. One more thing to remind,if tour going to do an electrical work at your home,make sure that you where a pair of rubber slippers.If not you may get affected,and get shocked.
Its possible the socket itself is bad and will need replacing. If you are not familiar with electrical repairs, find someone who is. Electricity can be dangerous if you don't know what you are doing. It is a simple repair for an experienced individual. If you know someone who is knowledgable with such things, have them install it for you. You can buy a new socket for just a few bucks at your local home center or hardware store.
Did you ck your fuse. It could be blown and just needs to be replaced. Can usually be done by you . Take old fuse out , take it with you to hardware store. There you go.!! I hope with power.
Hopes this really works for you.
Replace the outlet. It probably shorted out, but your surge protector prevented the equipment from shorting out.
Easy to do. Cut the circuit breaker to that outlet (it's probably cut off already). Go to hardware store and get new outlet.
Remove the outlet plate.
Pull the outlet out and see where the wires are wired (take a digital pic if you have a short memory). Unscrew the wires, wire them back up to new outlet.
Screwdriver is the only tool you'll need.
since this happened after a storm please call an electrician.
One of your GFI outlets needs reset, check in the bathroom closet to the outlet that is not working and reset it, if that doesn't work check the other gfi's and reset them. If you don't have GFI's then is it as simple is your light switch as some homes don't have a light fixture and they switch one side of the wall outlet to allow a lamp to be plugged in. If that's not it then you might turn your power off and check the wire connection on the outlet as the thunder from the storm could be enough to vibrate a wire off a loose connection. if that isn't the case then call an electrician and have them sort out where the break is.
If you are a renter ---CALL THE LAND OWNER--do not fix anything---OK If your land owner says it is ok to call an electrician--do just that--not your stupid fix it friend. If it is your house call the electrician.---could burn the house down.
Give a copy of the bill to the land owner and reduce that amount for the rent.
no don't call an electrician that's to expensive for him to do that. installing a new socket is easy and cheap. go to a hardware store and buy a new socket. cut off the power to that room then install the new one exactly how you took the other one out mach the wires be sure to read all instructions. good luck
Test the breakers again and the GFCI (ground-fault circuit interrupter) sockets. If this doesn't work, your question has revealed that you do not know enough about electricity to attempt a home repair. Even if you turn off the power to the room, the wires could still be on another line and be electrically live. Have a pro check this out.
Perhaps is disconnected from inside.Recommend call electrician
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