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Posted to alt.home.repair
John
 
Posts: n/a
Default Why won't this light turn on?

wrote:
"Not knowing anything about electricity I *assumed* that one of the
switches
had to be defective so I replaced both on/off switches -- that didn't
solve
the problem. "

Are you an auto mechanic by trade? From your above decribed behavior,
I'd say so.


Auto mechanic? Bummer. No, a software engineer.


Have you checked to see if any of your breakers have tripped? Include
any GFCI's in the house as well. You never know how many stupid things
someone before you may have done so, putting an inside light fixture on
a circuit after a bathroom or garage GFCI is certainly possible.


I first checked all the breakers and GFCIs. They're fine. When I turn a
breaker on/off, it affects all the other lights in the box. Curiously, the
switches are on two different breakers. Before starting to replace the second
light switch, I was fortunate to accidentally flip another switch in the box
and to my shock, the light turned on. I found the other breaker and turned
it off.

How do I use the tester to verify that there's power coming into the light
switches? If it was a single switch, I wouldn't be asking such a lame question.