Bathroom conundrum

[chessimprov]

Hi, I am not a pro at working with lights or electricity.

I have a vanity mirror in the bathroom composed of 5 light bulbs. Out of the 5 light bulbs, I only had three light bulbs in because one of them was bright enough to not use all 5 of them.

Two of the bulb slots did not work and I found this out after one of my bulbs went out. While the other lights were on, I had attempted to use metal plies to straighten out a metal piece in a bulb fixture so that there would be a good chance that the bulb could be read properly because I had a similar problem where I was shown to do this so that a lamp would work again. However, when I did this with the vanity mirror, all the lights immediately went out and the bathroom stopped running. I checked the circuit breaker and I found nothing out of whack from that. The electric plugs in the bathroom still work though.

Am I going to have to get an electrician, and if so, what might be a reasonable ball park charge? Would I have to consider replacing the entire light fixture or circuitry of wires? Thank you for reading.

 

[Jadnashua]

Did you do this while the power was off? One would hope!

Do you have a GFCI in the bathroom feeding anything? It may also be feeding the light fixture. Check that, and press the reset button. On an older home, they might have used one GFCI to protect more than one bathroom (can't do that today), so it might not be in the same room.

A tripped circuit breaker doesn't always look tripped. TO be sure, turn it fully off, then back on, and see what happens. If you bent one of the contacts too far, it may be shorted, and the breaker will trip as soon as the light is turned on.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[chessimprov]

Did you do this while the power was off? One would hope!

Do you have a GFCI in the bathroom feeding anything? It may also be feeding the light fixture. Check that, and press the reset button. On an older home, they might have used one GFCI to protect more than one bathroom (can't do that today), so it might not be in the same room.

A tripped circuit breaker doesn't always look tripped. TO be sure, turn it fully off, then back on, and see what happens. If you bent one of the contacts too far, it may be shorted, and the breaker will trip as soon as the light is turned on.

No, I didn't know any better, so the power was not off while I was doing this
I already pushed the reset button on the GFCI and that did not affect the lights [ unsurprisingly.]
There is no 2nd circuit breaker panel either. I did try to turn off and on the breaker switch and that didn't work either already. Not sure what else I can do. Any other suggestions? I'm sure not turning off the lights is already the kicker alone, because I have no common sense. Any idea what ballpark range I can expect to pay? Thank you.

 

[hj]

We do NOT know what, or where, the problem is so it is impossible to even guess what it it going to cost to repair it. However, since you were working on a live circuit with metal pliers and did NOT get a shock or electrocuted, the logical thing is that you tripped a GFCI somewhere and it has to be reset.

 

[Jadnashua]

In an older house, if it has a GFCI, it could be anywhere, hidden from view behind a bed, dresser, couch, etc.

 

[chessimprov]

I believe the residence was made in 1999. It is a town home association, so certain things I know are centralized such as water (no toilet water stoppage per toilet is typical in this type of setting.) Maybe because it was made fairly recent, there were electric protections put in or more standardized that otherwise might have cost me a hospital bill or worse.

 

[Jadnashua]

Do you have your own electrical panel and meter? If not, and things are shared, it could be really tough to locate the problem.

 

[chessimprov]

If by panel, you mean circuit breaker, then yes, I have my own panel and meter. I did not spot anything different about the switches. They were still all set to the "on " position when I checked after the conundrum.

 

[Widgit Maker]

What everyone is trying to tell you is that circuit breakers do not always move to the off position when tripped. Some do, others move to the center. Some only move a little bit.
Suggest you turn off ALL your circuit breakers and then turn them back on. I say turn all of them off to insure that you reset the correct one. You could be mistaken about which one controls the bathroom fixtures. Then press the TEST and Reset buttons on the bathroom outlet to insure that it is reset.
The problem with the light fixture was not the center contact that you tried to adjust. If you had bulb holders that did not work there is a problem with the wiring in the fixture not the contact terminals.
It is a guess but this fixture probably cost $20 to $30. For someone with basic electrical skills repairing the fixture or replacing it would be a fairly simple task.
No one can tell you the cost of an electrician in you area. If resetting the breakers and the GFI outlet does not work, I suggest that you find a reasonably knowledge person (not the family member that advised you before) to repair or replace the fixture.

 

[chessimprov]

Do I have to make sure everything else is unplugged before switching all the switches off then on, or will it be okay to just try this out altogether? Thank you very much.

 

[Widgit Maker]

Just turn breakers off and then back on. You will probably have to reset any clocks.
Juts turn off the single ones. You do not have to turn off any double breakers (the big ones).
Does the bathroom outlet work at the present time?

Do you wish to attempt to repair this yourself?

 

[chessimprov]

The bathroom outlets do work still. Only the light fixture and the bathroom fan do not work any more. The breaker thing is easy enough for me to try. I wanted to make sure I didn't do anything else too dumb. Thank you.

 

[Widgit Maker]

Do you wish to attempt to repair?

 

[chessimprov]

Do you wish to attempt to repair?

Yes.

 

[Widgit Maker]

I have to go out and do a little task. In the mean time if resetting the breakers does not solve the problem, post a picture of the light fixture if you would like to attempt a repair yourself.. What I would like to see is how it is mounted.

 

[hj]

DO NOT encourage them. They have absolutely NO experience, or ability, to try to repair it themselves if it is NOT a simple switch reset, and if they do try, the results could be disastrous.

 

[chessimprov]

I have a reputable contact with some good research. I will do the switch thing and then just contact someone if it doesn't work out. I can't try it until later since I have a lot going on during the day normally.


This is one of the few if not the only quality, warm forum for aspects of a technical profession. I would help others in the same way if I could.
Thank you for everything everyone.

 

[chessimprov]

Turns out there was a "half-breaker" or "mini-breaker" labeled "lighting and rec", but it fixed this problem completely surprisingly. On top of that, as even more luck would have it, I didn't even have to reset clocks. On to the rest of my life and all its crazy ordeals now. . .

 

[Widgit Maker]

Congratulations.