One room no power??

16 years ago

Ok so i have been doing some repairs and junk on the house and i was using my circular saw and it flicked on real quick and turned off as well with the lights.

its in a bedroom and every plug turned off. so the first thing i do is check the breaker, it didnt blow, so i check all the plugs in the room and no power.

but when i take apart the box and touch the black wire to the box (grounding it) it sparks and blows the breaker. so i turn the breaker on again.. and once again no power but i can still blow the breakers on all the plugs with grounding the black wire.

i wouldnt think there is a gfci in the master bedroom with no backroom? its a 1965 house with original electric. does it sound like a gfci problem? maybe they installed a gfci in the attic?

help.

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Comments (6)

tom_o
16 years ago
First off, you have picked a very unsafe way to test for power. Give it up before it becomes a habit.

How about a loose or broken neutral wire? After all, if you lose the neutral, you will not have a complete path for current flow.

The problem could be at an outlet that is still working, so turn off the breaker (manually, not by grounding out the hot) and determine where all receptacles are for this circuit. Turn the power back on & see if some are still working . With the power off, examine the neutral connections at these receptacles, there is a good chance you will find the problem.

Tom
aaron24831
Original Author
16 years ago
no good :(
this is Very irritating because i was planning on finishing the master bedroom this weekend but i cant because there is very little light. (lamps aint that great)

so far i have checked which plugs are on breaker and its seems like they are all confined to the master bedroom. i just replaced every single plugin and jiggled the light wires on the ceiling instead of replacing the whole light...

like why in the world would every plug have some power going to it enough to only short the breaker if grounded (meaning there is power?)but wont turn on any tools or a lamp or light in bedroom.
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normel
16 years ago
As TomO said, you have a lost a neutral connection somewhere. That means you still have power in the black wire, but no return path for the current. Check the white wire connection in every receptacle, switch, and light on this circuit, as well as at the panel bus bar.
texasredhead
16 years ago
Oh, and by the way, turn off the breaker before you become the leg of the lost neutral.
joed
16 years ago
Open neutral is your problem as stated. It could be in any working devices on the ciruit. Don't confine you search to only the non working receptacles, lights and switches. It could even be in the breaker panel.
tom_o
16 years ago
If you can't find the open neutral in any of the places in the above posts, then it is time to look for junction boxes in the attic, basement or crawlspace. If you still can't find it, then it is time to call an electrician. After all, we do have to do some work once in awhile, it isn't all coffeee drinking, donut eating and answering questions on the net.

Tom