Electrical Problem

[Drakkon]

I went to vacuum this morning and right when i turned the vacuum on all the power from three sockets in my house went off. So i check the circuit breaker and nothing had been triggered. So i turn circuit off/on anyways, check the socket, still no power.
Turn everything off, Pull apart the socket that the vacuum was plugged into, install a new socket, turn on power agian, try socket, again no power. So go down the line and replace the other two sockets. Still no luck.

Before calling in the electrician is there anything else I can try?

 

[Mark R]

Broken/burned/rodent damaged wire. Possibly a damaged wire that finally burned through with the power surge when the vacuum started.

Best left to an electrician, unless you've got the appropriate experience and suitable equipment for fault tracing, and/or are good at pulling down walls.

 

[Squisher]

First thing, physically check to see if you have power coming out of the breaker. Breakers break.

 

[DrPizza]

Step 1: confirm at the breaker that the breaker is on and functioning: check with voltage tester.

My bestest guess is that you don't know what's on every circuit - perhaps there's an outlet somewhere else in the house that's on the circuit. And, that outlet has GFCI protection. (which was tripped)

 

[bctbct]

somebody has to ask, you checked to make sure the vac wasnt broke right?

 

[Squisher]

Originally posted by: DrPizza
Step 1: confirm at the breaker that the breaker is on and functioning: check with voltage tester.

My bestest guess is that you don't know what's on every circuit - perhaps there's an outlet somewhere else in the house that's on the circuit. And, that outlet has GFCI protection. (which was tripped)

My outlets in my master bath are down stream from the GFCI in the upstairs bath at the other end of the house. They saved the $7 for a GFCI by running 100 feet of wire?:roll:?

I probably spent an hour spinning my wheels trying to figure that out.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Hunt for the hidden GFI. Sometimes builders do crap to save time or money and instead of putting a GFI in the breaker panel or in one of the outlets in the house, they'll put one mid-run somewhere. You might not believe it but a guy at work had this happen. He hired and electrician and it took the guy 2 hours to realize that the plug next to the breaker panel that was a GFI plug was the first outlet in a run that went to some room upstairs. This stuff can happen!

Also, if you have a volt-meter, pull all three plugs out and leave the wires exposed. Using the voltmeter, find out if any of hte leads are hot (should be the first n the run). If not, it could be a bad breaker in the panel as someone else mentioned. If you find a hot lead, install the plug and wire up the box. Find the next workbox in the run by using the voltmeter as before. And repeat till the problem area is found.

Oh, it could also be a bad connection in the run just prior to the first failing outlet. Copper over time will get brittle and break. Especially if hte wire is tightened to tight onto an outlet.

 

[Jeff7]

Get one of these circuit test-a-ma-jig thingies and go over the cables until you find the point where it does have voltage - or go from the breaker box and see where the thing stops beeping.

 

[AlienCraft]

Originally posted by: DrPizza
Step 1: confirm at the breaker that the breaker is on and functioning: check with voltage tester.

My bestest guess is that you don't know what's on every circuit - perhaps there's an outlet somewhere else in the house that's on the circuit. And, that outlet has GFCI protection. (which was tripped)

Agreed.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Originally posted by: Jeff7
Get one of these circuit test-a-ma-jig thingies and go over the cables until you find the point where it does have voltage - or go from the breaker box and see where the thing stops beeping.

Very useful little tool.

 

[DrPizza]

Originally posted by: AgaBoogaBoo

Originally posted by: Jeff7
Get one of these circuit test-a-ma-jig thingies and go over the cables until you find the point where it does have voltage - or go from the breaker box and see where the thing stops beeping.

Very useful little tool.

They make a similar tool that's a bit more useful than that; essentially, it's that tool built into a wire cutters/pliers/cable ripper/wire stripper tool. I purchased one to use simply because I couldn't find my $1 cable ripper. I absolutely love it! That tool and a phillips head screwdriver all all that's needed instead of 6 separate tools. It's compact too.
check this out