OT: Electrical Help

[tigger2577]

I went in to one of my bedrooms today where I keep my printer to print out some stuff. I found there there was no power to the room. I know that my outlets are on one breaker so I went out to my breaker box and found I had no tripped breakers.

On this breaker I have very little load, there are two bedrooms and on bathroom on this breaker, all outlets are not working. Could I have a bad breaker that needs to be replaced or do I have a bigger issue.

if it is just a breaker how difficult is this to do by one's self or do I need an electrician to come out and do this for me?

 

[oblio]

The reader isn't tripped and no power. And there is a bathrooon the circuit. Does the bathroom have a GFCI outlet? If so maybe just hit the reset on that outlet? Other than that you could simply flip the breaker and reset it. After that it's going to be a tad more timeconsyming

 

[tigger2577]

The way the rooms are wired together are room 1 - Bathroom (with GFCI, I put in when I moved in 5 years ago) - Bedroom 2.

I keep the printer in Bedroom 2 so I thought it was the GFCI tripped I tried to reset it and nothing, then I went in to Bedroom 1 and noticed that nothing was working in their either.

 

[snake1]

Did you turn off the breaker and then back on .....or try to push the test button on the gfci and then the reset button on the gfci ....some times the breaker handle will not move to the tripped position ....if this does not work check the remainder of your house you may have lost a phase check your 240volt stuff ...range ...air conditioner...ect....

 

[tigger2577]

I just turn off the breaker and back on, (did this for every breaker in the box that the side of the effected breaker was on), and hit the reset button on the gfci, nothing on those outlets, Everything else in the house is working, stove, AC, Water Heater, Lights, Other outlets in the house ect.

this is why I am thinking it is the beaker or something more serious.

 

[risin]

Sounds like one of the outlets is bad. A contact could have broken off or a loose wire. Sometimes it's easy to find if earlier terminations in the run are live. If everything on that line is dead you basically need to check out every point until you find the problem.

 

[snake1]

Unless you are comfortable with live electricity then I would recommend calling someone ....it could be your breaker ...a loose connection....I've seen loose neutrals in panels that completely burned up because the connection was finger tight and the idiot didnt check the screw ...it could be a number of things

 

[snake1]

After you reset your breakers did you hit the reset button on the gfi and do you have power to the gfi....sometimes also in the older homes 1960s to 1990s they used to power the bath gfis from a garage circuit or gfi in the garage so that might be tripped which will not send power to the bath gfi .....really the bath gfi should be independent of the other rooms but in the older homes this was all tied together

 

[tigger2577]

Fun fun. Well I will get the volt meter out and start checking the outlets

Anybody know of a good person in the Clearwater area

 

[snake1]

Well you can check the breaker if you take the panel cover off and you put your volt meter to the a/c side ~ and put one lead on the neutral bar or ground bar and the other lead on the breakers screw terminal while the breaker is in the on position if its putting out 120v and the wire is not falling out of the terminal screw meaning the black wire is tight under the breaker screw and you have a good connection then you have a good breaker and you need to look into the next step

 

[snake1]

Be careful while taking off your panel cover arc flashes can seriously burn or kill you!!!!

 

[tigger2577]

Well all the breakers are good all giving 120v

Guess it is time to check every outlet and see if any of the have some live coming to it

 

[tigger2577]

well I want to thank you all for helping me diagnose my issue. it turns out the gfi switch was the issue. Once I tested this outlet I found it was getting the 120v on one side and not giving 120v on the other side.

I replaced the outlet with a temporary one for the time being.

so one question should I keep a gfi outlet in the bathroom or just go with a normal since the house was built in the 60's and everything is wired in a series?

thanks again

 

[snake1]

Its not wired in series you just need to put all the wires on the line side of the gfi so if this ever happens again the power will still feed through the rest of the circuit and you will still have protection near any wet areas.I do this for a living its hard to diagnosis your issue online and not in person but hopefully I have saved you some dough

 

[snake1]

Definitely gfi in bath,kitchen,outside,anywhere near wet loctions

 

[slag009]

You can keep the GFCI outlet in the wet area. I you wire the both sets of hot and neutral wires on the line side of the GFCI you will keep the protection in the wet area but it will not affect anything down the line.

 

[tigger2577]

well Snake you did a wonderful job IMO helping me over the internet, I am just glad I am somewhat handy and understand the basics to not kill myself. I appreciate this as you did save me some money. and it is a good thing is I am working on a 270g upgrade right now and all my extra money is going to that right now.

I do love how this community of Reef keepers comes together to help each other out even when it is not reef related.