Any electricians in the house?

[rushca01]

I'm sitting her watching TV when it clicks off along with my stereo satelite etc.. Nothing else in the house goes off just the TV etc.. So I get up to try and turn it all back on and no go.

Check the breaker box and nothings is flipped.
Checked all GFI circuits (1 kitchen 1 in bathroom) there're good to go.

Unplug the TV etal and go flip the main breaker and still doesn't fix my problem. I got an extension cord and plugged my TV etal in the cord and ran it to a working outlet and now I have TV again.

I have 1 whole socket, 1 half socket, 1 whole light switch in the living room not working and one halway socket and one halway light switch. Everything else in the house works and no breakers are flipped.......WTF?

[Abraxas]

Ask Meanrider

[chadbag]

I am not an electrician. My eyes glaze over when this sort of thing comes up.

However, I did successfully install an INSTEON home automation light switch in place of the regular one and it works and my house did not burn down.

I think the segments are wired in series and I would suspect one of your outlets or switches had a failure in a juncture that broke one of the legs (of the 2 in the circuit) and since they are in series everything after it on that segment past that broken switch our outlet doesn't work.

[montanadave]

You did not mention whether the two non-functioning switches control any ceiling lights and whether those lights are working? Are the two non-functioning switches 2-way switches (when you flip the switch in the hall, does it turn off the living room switch)? And did the wall switch control the power to the outlet which you had your TV and sat box plugged into?

It is common practice to "switch" half-outlets in living rooms and bedrooms so as to allow for table (bedside) lamps or floor lamps to be turned on with a switch when entering of leaving the room, rather than having to turn each appliance on individually. Half-outlets are nothing more than a regular electrical outlet where the jumper between the two sockets is removed, allowing the two outlets to be operated independently. That said, each half outlet (or circuit of half-outlets with controlling switches) has to receive its current from somewhere, right? While there are a variety of ways to power a circuit, one simple way is to simply "split" the current in a wall outlet, one stream powering additional wall outlets and the other powering a branch circuit consisting of several half-outlets and switches which control those half-outlets.

Your problem could be as simple as one failed outlet which has, additionally, cut off the current to a downstream "branched" circuit as described above. Or you might have some loose wiring which has cut off the current to the suspect outlet. I'd start with inspecting the non-operating whole outlets and determining whether they have current coming in to them and whether there is a branched circuit originating in either box. Regardless, don't just ignore the problem and decide to live with the extension cord. You may have a fire hazard and its important that the cause of this malfunction be identified.

And, no, I'm not an electrician. Just a guy who has done a fair amount of household remodeling and rewiring. I'm simply describing where I would start if this occurred in my home. I will follow this thread to hear from the licensed and qualified electricians and suggest that, if you are uncomfortable doing electrical work on your home, get an electrician in to diagnose and fix the problem.

[rushca01]

Quick update:

I think I found the problem. I have one outlet that has a swith on it. The top outlet was working as the light was still on but everything down stream cut off. I had a laptop plugged into the bottem outlet which wasn't working. After unpluging everything but that cord I tried resetting breakers etc... and still no joy. My battery was dieing on my laptop so I pull the cord and moved it to a working switch to charge my laptop. When I did that the other outlets and cieling fan/light worked again. I then tried plugging it back into that outlet and it killed everything again, unplugged it and it worked. So do you think that outlet is bad?

House built in 1994, not a terribly old house.

[montanadave]

Sounds like you're on to something. Outlets that are behaving hinky are not worth keeping around. Pull the outlet, check the connections, and, if there are no obvious loose connections, replace the outlet. That's my $0.02 (but you know what free advice, particularly "intergoggle" advice, is worth).

[MookNW]

Some receptacles allow the installer to "stab" the wire into little holes in the back of the plug. This is a very common failure point.
Wrapping the wires around the terminal screw on the side of the outlet in a clockwise direction makes for a much more solid connection. If you have more than two of each colored wire (black/white) in the box, you can pig tail each color with a wire connector for a great connection that is more failure resistant.

[Abraxas]

What this guy and MDave said. I think the segments are wired in series and I would suspect one of your outlets or switches had a failure in a juncture that broke one of the legs (of the 2 in the circuit) and since they are in series everything after it on that segment past that broken switch our outlet doesn't work. .....