A little Electrical Help

[DrainMedic]

Hello. I strictly do drain cleaning..i have no clue about electric other then wiring garbage disposal units...Anyway i have a question

What would cause power not working to a ceiling fan/light, wall socket (same bedbroom) hall light, bathroom light and bathroom exhaust fan not to work...all rooms, right next to eachother...The breaker did not trip. My wife pulled the plug out of the wall after vaccuming (pulled the vacuum cord out) and now that outlet, plus the above mentioned do not work? Again the breaker did not trip

 

[Mikey]

Are you SURE the breaker didn't trip? Sometimes they look OK, but in fact have tripped. Push the breaker handle all the way to OFF, then back to ON to be sure.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Jadnashua]

The outlet used could have been daisy-chained from a gfci outlet...check the reset buttons on any of those that may be around.

 

[Cwhyu2]

Check GFCI or lost neutral.

 

[JWelectric]

CLICK HERE to see what the problem might be.

 

[Alectrician]

Your wiring goes from outlet to outlet to switch to outlet etc throughout your house and is split up on a few different circuits. If the wiring gets interrupted anywhere along this circuit the power will be lost on the rest of the circuit.

Start at the outlet where she had the vacuum plugged in and check the connections (likely stabbed into the back of the recep).

Turn off the power and don't get hurt.

 

[DrainMedic]

Thanks for the responses...It seems to be a GFI i never knew exsisted behind my washing machine. For some reason now when we are plugging something into the outlet in the bathroom, its tripping this GFI...been here 10yrs, changed nothing, added nothing....dont know why its starting this now...anyway going to have the pros come in tomorrow to find out whats wrong....im not messing with it, not my cup of tea...ill stick to Drains...Thanks for the responces though..

Greg

 

[Bob NH]

Thanks for the responses...It seems to be a GFI i never knew exsisted behind my washing machine. For some reason now when we are plugging something into the outlet in the bathroom, its tripping this GFI...been here 10yrs, changed nothing, added nothing....dont know why its starting this now...anyway going to have the pros come in tomorrow to find out whats wrong....im not messing with it, not my cup of tea...ill stick to Drains...Thanks for the responces though..

Greg

A GFCI outlet that trips when something is plugged into it often indicates that a NEUTRAL is somehow grounded in the circuit.

If a hot wire were grounded the GFCI would trip immediately, but if a neutral is grounded it only trips when there is a load on the hot wire. Yanking a cord out of an outlet may have caused the neutral and ground to come together.

Sometime electricians don't screw in the unused screws on receptacles and they are close to the walls of a metal box. If a neutral screw touches a metal box it will trip the GFCI when a load is applied. If you check the box that the vacuum was plugged into you may save yourself a service call.

 

[Alectrician]

Before the pros come out, unplug EVERYTHING on the affected circuit. It would be a shame to cough up $125 bucks to have someone unplug a defective lamp. It happens.

Also, turn off all switches to narrow your search further.

Don't forgrt to look at outside stuff that may be on that circuit.

 

[DrainMedic]

i took apart the wall outlet that the vacuum was plugged into, the wire nut was hanging off one of the wires..replaced wire nut, replaced recepticle, new screws, some electrical tape, and everything seems to be working fine......for now

 

[Mikey]

Congratulations! I'd rather do that than mess with drains any day. Today was a lie-under-the-sink day, wishing for a tool I didn't have...

 

[Alectrician]

Today was a lie-under-the-sink day, wishing for a tool I didn't have...

Basin wrench?

 

[Alectrician]

i took apart the wall outlet that the vacuum was plugged into, the wire nut was hanging off one of the wires..replaced wire nut, replaced recepticle, new screws, some electrical tape, and everything seems to be working fine......for now

I wish they were all that easy.

 

[Mikey]

Basin wrench?

Nah, got 2 of those. I was installing a Moen faucet, which is held down on to a bracket under the countertop by a 9/16" hex nut on a 3/8" threaded tube. That was no problem, because Moen thoughtfully provides a deeeep socket especially designed to fasten that nut in an inaccessible place -- and even it barely fit in the space. The problem came when I connected the hand-held sprayer hose onto the end of that threaded tube. It has a barely perceptible hex on it (hidden by the compression fitting on the hose), which a small basin wrench might have turned, except there was no room to get the basin wrench up there among the sink, the two supply lines, the sprayer hose, and the back of the cabinet. A crow's-foot almost made it, but got tangled up in the same crowd of interfering stuff. I finally got it tightened with a long pair of slip-joints, but I could only move it about 10 degrees each time. There may be a special tool to do this, but I don't have it. If I have to do this again (I'm sure I will), I'll make the d*mn tool if need be.

I love electrical work.

 

[interalian]

Nah, got 2 of those. I was installing a Moen faucet, which is held down on to a bracket under the countertop by a 9/16" hex nut on a 3/8" threaded tube. That was no problem, because Moen thoughtfully provides a deeeep socket especially designed to fasten that nut in an inaccessible place -- and even it barely fit in the space. The problem came when I connected the hand-held sprayer hose onto the end of that threaded tube. It has a barely perceptible hex on it (hidden by the compression fitting on the hose), which a small basin wrench might have turned, except there was no room to get the basin wrench up there among the sink, the two supply lines, the sprayer hose, and the back of the cabinet. A crow's-foot almost made it, but got tangled up in the same crowd of interfering stuff. I finally got it tightened with a long pair of slip-joints, but I could only move it about 10 degrees each time. There may be a special tool to do this, but I don't have it. If I have to do this again (I'm sure I will), I'll make the d*mn tool if need be.

I love electrical work.

BTDT...

I found that the sprayer connection is easier to do if you feed the hose up through the counter and tighten it before seating the faucet on the sink rim.

 

[GrumpyPlumber]

BTDT...

I found that the sprayer connection is easier to do if you feed the hose up through the counter and tighten it before seating the faucet on the sink rim.

Just as I finished reading his post and was ready to type how I do 'em....

 

[Mikey]

BTDT...

I found that the sprayer connection is easier to do if you feed the hose up through the counter and tighten it before seating the faucet on the sink rim.

If I do that, though, I can't use Moen's fancy deep socket to tighten the nut. There's a single 3/8" pipe used both to fasten the faucet on the rim and to carry the water to the spray head.

 

[GrumpyPlumber]

If I do that, though, I can't use Moen's fancy deep socket to tighten the nut. There's a single 3/8" pipe used both to fasten the faucet on the rim and to carry the water to the spray head.

On that note, wish I had a nickel for every time I was in a pinch and looked at the faucet just wishing there were some magical way to connect the 3/8" feeds before starting the basin nuts...welcome to the joy of plumbing.

 

[Mikey]

Ah, yes... joy it is. If I keep this up, I'm going to change my handle to GrumpyMikey.

A happy new year to all.. be safe tonight.

 

[Heart Shaped Tomato]

Bringing this thread back from the dead.

I now have this problem. I have checked all (that I can find) of my GFI switches and they all look good. I have tripped every breaker on my board, and still no power. I have a circuit tester that I have used in the bathroom. I got no signal with the current GFI outlet. I bought a new one and replaced it. Still no power. I used the circuit tester on the black and white wires from the wall behing the GFI outlet and NO SIGNAL.

I have a GFI outlet in there, a triple light switch dealie, a fan and a wall light.

I'm stuck. Any new suggestions would be, of course, greatly appreciated.