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Ok, who's an electrician. ....

Outdoorsfellar

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
The wife was running the sweeper today ( like wives are suppose to do ) & while she was using it in the family room, she heard a normal sounding "pop" ( I don't know what normal is, but she does ) coming from the outlet it was plugged into. We always use this plug for downstairs sweeping & after that, there was no electricity from that & two other outlets that feed off of this outlet in question in the room. The other side of the room has one outlet & it works ok. One circuit breaker operates ALL of the outlets I've mentioned. The breaker also feeds two ceiling lights operated by one wall switch which do not work either. The problem outlet feeds off of the light switch & then there's the other two. The breaker works fine. I was hoping the outlet somehow got fried & I switched it out with a new one & still nothing. I don't have a new light switch to try. Nothing is between the light switch & the breaker, so I'm hoping that's where my problem is... or perhaps the line itself is fugged up. I have a electrical tester my brother gave me, but I don't know anything about it. What are your thoughts ? It's Easter weekend & I'm not gonna mess any further with it. The wife is on my ass to ask around, so here I am & now I can tell her to leave me alone. So what are your thoughts ?
 

bowhunter1023

Owner/Operator
Staff member
48,879
274
Appalachia
I'd do much better at helping if I were actually there. Do you have current on the hot side of the outlet that is not working?
 

MK111

"Happy Hunting Grounds in the Sky"
Supporting Member
6,551
66
SW Ohio
1st thing you have to find is where the power stops being hot. Was the hot wire coming into the plug you switched out hot? If not the problem is further up the line.
 

loose_is_fast

Junior Member
618
108
McClure
As others have said check to see if you have power to the black wire at the receptacle, if you do you lost the neutral. If you don't go to your light switch and check there. if you have power on one side of the switch and not the other when the switch is in the On position you have a fugged up switch. If you have power on both sides then you have an open circuit between the switch and the receptacle. The amperage of the receptacle will not have anything to do with it having power, just how much it can handle. Are there any burn marks on anything? Finally are you positive that the circuit is not on a GFCI somewhere?
 

Outdoorsfellar

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
Thanks for the replies. I did as Jesse said & the sparks came a flying that tripped the breaker. There were never any burn marks or anything abnormal that I could see. My brother who is an electrician finally called back & he's coming out Monday. There's only a few GFCIs that I installed elsewhere, so there's no connection there. It's in my best interest to wait on him.
 

Hoytmania

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
11,518
167
Gods Country
I would check for any breaks in the wire by checking continuity between all receptacles and the switch. Use the ohm setting on the tester if its a nicer one you should get a tone out of the tester when touching both test leads together. Take you switch out and do the same to wherever it goes from the switch. At one end wire but the black and the white together and then touch your leads on the black and the white wire to see if there is continuity. If so then the wire is good, if no continuity then there is a break in the wire. Repeat process until all wires are confirmed good or until bad wire or receptacle is found.
 

Outdoorsfellar

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
Update : My bro came out out this am & took a look at things. All outlets & light switch had power. It turned out that the one working outlet was the culprit. He discovered that the neutral wire going into that outlet had become unattached & was arching & finally gave out Things certainly could have taken a turn for the worse.
 

MK111

"Happy Hunting Grounds in the Sky"
Supporting Member
6,551
66
SW Ohio
Update : My bro came out out this am & took a look at things. All outlets & light switch had power. It turned out that the one working outlet was the culprit. He discovered that the neutral wire going into that outlet had become unattached & was arching & finally gave out Things certainly could have taken a turn for the worse.

That's good to know. 30 yrs. ago I built a new house and the damn electrician friend used push in wires on all the switches and plugs. Over the next 9 yrs. before I sold the house I had to redo almost all the switches and plugs and get rid of the push in wires and attach the wires to the side screws.
Those push in wires are dangerous IMHO.
 

RedCloud

Super Moderator
Super Mod
17,381
193
North Central Ohio
That's good to know. 30 yrs. ago I built a new house and the damn electrician friend used push in wires on all the switches and plugs. Over the next 9 yrs. before I sold the house I had to redo almost all the switches and plugs and get rid of the push in wires and attach the wires to the side screws.
Those push in wires are dangerous IMHO.

Push in connections are only designed to work for 14ga. wire. If you try to do that with a 12ga. wire your going to have issues like that. The 12ga. you still need to use the screws on the side.
 
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