any electrcians? - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

PIMking · 08-16-2014, 01:25 PM

I have three outlets in my bedroom and ceiling fan. two of the outlets and the ceiling fan do not work. I checked the breaker and the voltage is at 120 and none were broken. I checked the outlets and they're getting no power. I wonder what the problem is. no GCI outlets either.

seriously, dog was sick for a few weeks, i'm getting screwed at work and now this...

I changed the outlets, checked voltage on all the circuits breakers and they're all fine. No dice, any ideas?

Shnabdabber · 08-16-2014, 01:45 PM

Without being there with a meter to check its hard to say, but what I would do is tighten all connection in your panel, in particular on the neutral bar.

Your next step would be to start removing devices from that circuit and checking voltages at each one to try and find out where you are losing power.

Have you dropped your ceiling fan and checked voltages in there? Could just be a bad splice sir.

PIMking · 08-16-2014, 02:20 PM

I have no voltage to the outlets. I think the best thing to do is hire an electrician and have them run new lines. Our house is about 100 years old

Shnabdabber · 08-16-2014, 02:46 PM

Sorry, I wish I had a better answer for you but like I say without being able to check things out with a meter and trace out your wires all a guy can do is guess.

Old wiring CAN go bad but I would guess bad splice before bad wire.

I'd take a look if I could but your a little out of my service area.

Robo · 08-16-2014, 05:37 PM

On the plug that is working check the wiring or replace that plug could be a problem with it possibly causing a break in the circuit

Robo · 08-16-2014, 05:45 PM

I've seen a problem llike this where people were moving something and hit an outlet causing it to short out on the box without actually tripping the breaker that outlet worked but killed power to the rest of the circuit

2ArmBands · 08-16-2014, 06:26 PM

Are any of these outlets controlled by a switch? Not uncommon. Could be an issue at the switch.

Aluminum or copper wiring?

Also... Are you certain there is no GFCI protection anywhere else in the house? Sometimes GFCIs are installed in other areas and will protect multiple loads. Reset any and all including breakers. This is my most common fix to these issues.

Depending on what your comfortable with if all else fails I would bypass the ceiling fan and see if the other outlets work. Could be an issue with the fan messing with things down stream

RT14 · 08-16-2014, 06:45 PM

I'm an electrician. I would pull the one plug that works out and check the wires that are coming off it feeding the next plug in the room. Most likely something wrong there like a wire that came loose or has gotten fried from overheating. If it feeds the fan next instead of another plug and everything is good in that box, you might have to pull the fan off and check the connections there.

PIMking · 08-16-2014, 08:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robo

On the plug that is working check the wiring or replace that plug could be a problem with it possibly causing a break in the circuit

The plug that is working is on a different circuit I think

Ducay · 08-16-2014, 08:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RT14

I'm an electrician. I would pull the one plug that works out and check the wires that are coming off it feeding the next plug in the room. Most likely something wrong there like a wire that came loose or has gotten fried from overheating. If it feeds the fan next instead of another plug and everything is good in that box, you might have to pull the fan off and check the connections there.

This: Sounds like the one outlet feeds the others, and potentially something caused the connection going to the other outlets/fan is loose.

There are ways to go through and identify which outlets feed onwards to which outlets or device boxes, but it can be time consuming and you need decent electrical knowledge.

This is one of those times if the fix isn't obvious, its worthwhile to call an electrician.

Shnabdabber · 08-16-2014, 09:40 PM

Or if when the house was originally pulled, they took power to the ceiling fan first and dropped power down to the plugs.

Like I say, drop your ceiling fan and check splices.

Robo · 08-16-2014, 11:04 PM

one more question anything plugged into the outlets that aren't working that may have been drawing too much ie air conditioner I have seen this before and the wires were all black and crispy causing occasional shorting on the circuit

speede5 · 08-17-2014, 12:54 AM

You said the house is 'like 100 years old', what kind of wires are coming into the outlets? if it's the old knob and tube your problem could be anywhere, a splice in a wall, but most likely a broken wire at one of the outlets. If someone has pulled newer wire through, I would still be looking for a bad joint in one of the outlets, but if someone has tied in somewhere in the walls you could be in deep doodoo. I just did a reno where I found loomex tied into knob and tube under drywall, no junction boxes or anything, just bare wires twisted together.

wwkayaker · 08-17-2014, 02:12 AM

Nm

PIMking · 08-17-2014, 09:20 AM

Would it be out of the realm of possibility that one of the outlets be on a different breaker?

PIMking · 08-17-2014, 09:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by speede5

You said the house is 'like 100 years old', what kind of wires are coming into the outlets? if it's the old knob and tube your problem could be anywhere, a splice in a wall, but most likely a broken wire at one of the outlets. If someone has pulled newer wire through, I would still be looking for a bad joint in one of the outlets, but if someone has tied in somewhere in the walls you could be in deep doodoo. I just did a reno where I found loomex tied into knob and tube under drywall, no junction boxes or anything, just bare wires twisted together.

Old old wires

speede5 · 08-18-2014, 08:06 AM

The worst part about that is there is never any extra wire to play with. I've seen lots of wires break at or inside a box but with no slack you have no way to repair it properly. Those old wires get brittle.

I think you need to bring someone in, we can give you advice all day long but without seeing it it's pretty pointless.

PaperBagger'14 · 08-18-2014, 10:33 AM

Before you pull off your fan, is it controlled by a switch on the wall? If so it might be beneficial to check that first. Switch boxes on walls are frequently used as splice boxes for the "hot" wire which feeds other outlets after. If you do end up pulling the ceiling fan and do not figure it out, please take pictures of the wiring. I'm a red seal journeyman and I can possibly guide you through it.

PaperBagger'14 · 08-18-2014, 10:36 AM

Also if you live in an older house in Europe, they are occasionally run in series instead of parallel, how many wires are coming into each outlet?

PIMking · 08-20-2014, 12:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PaperBagger'14

Also if you live in an older house in Europe, they are occasionally run in series instead of parallel, how many wires are coming into each outlet?

I'm sorry for the confusion, I am in Alabama and was born in Bad Cannstatt and lived there for four years. It was kind of a joke when I asked one of our members if they were actually from Russia since the location said that.

it just sucks right now, I've had no luck for the last month. Dog got sick, job is killing me when I'm doing 3 other manager jobs at the same time without being paid a dime more and now this. I have literally no cash any more, I'm already -155 in the hole and pay day is thursday. Car payment, and plates due and other bills too.

I don't know what I am going do. just start selling things I guess