No power in one room....

10 years ago

We were running a small heater in the living room when the power went out. The power only went out to the socket it was plugged into, the light in the ceiling, and another socket in the dinning room. The fuses are all good and no breakers were tripped (the older part of the house is on fuses and that panel is wired to the breaker panel for the newer part of the house). I have replaced both sockets and the light switch and still nothing.

How do I find out where the power is being shut off to the sockets and light? The socket that the tv and heater were plugged into has two sets of wires on it, the light switch has only one (and no pigtailed wires in the box), the other socket has only one set of wires to it. The light itself has the pigtailed wires in the box (looks to be about 4 sets of wires). By sets I mean that one set is black & white wire.

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Comments (7)

btharmy
10 years ago
Be aware, when a breaker trips it does not go to the off position. They generally move to a middle location and need to be switched fully off before being reset. Some may not move much at all when tripped. If you have ruled out the breaker, you need to find the last working receptacle in the circuit between the heater and the panel and work from there towards the heater receptacle. It may be a loose screw terminal or loose back stab. The high current draw from the heater was probably just more than it could handle
canambehr
Original Author
10 years ago
Ok - how do I know which receptacle is the last working one on the circuit? We just bought the house in Oct. None of the circuits are marked on the panel. I do know that this part of the house is on the panel with the fuses ( I did turn off and on all the breakers and marked where they went). One fuse does all the lights in the kitchen, dining room, back entrance, and bathroom as well as all the plugs ( I know - way too much) there is one more fuse that I have no idea what is on it - it could be the ones that are out (the fuse is good).
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hendricus
10 years ago
The light itself has the pigtailed wires in the box (looks to be about 4 sets of wires). By sets I mean that one set is black & white wire.
I would start here with a detector that can show a hot wire without taking the sets apart. Could be a connection failed because everything seems to run through here.
canambehr
Original Author
10 years ago
This is the mess in the box for the light. My detector tells me there is power on any wire I touch - when I cut the power to the house it says there is no power. I am at a total loss here. Is there a chance I need to go into the attic to figure this out?
canambehr
Original Author
10 years ago
To add to the mystery and weirdness - the detector says that there is power to the switch and the one socket yet neither one works (I replaced them with ones that did).
bus_driver
10 years ago
The non-contact detectors are useful. I own and use them. But I do not bet my life on them.
canambehr
Original Author
10 years ago
Problem solved. I bit the bullet and went into the attic. Found the junction box for the living room and undid and then redid the connections - we now have power to the living room again :).

Thank you everyone for all the help and suggestions.

This post was edited by canambehr on Mon, Dec 16, 13 at 9:21