albee wrote:
On Tue, 21 Aug 2007 13:09:45 -0700, Rich256
wrote:
On Aug 21, 2:02 pm, albee wrote:
The outlet in one of our bedrooms is such that when you wiggle a plug
in it the power to the plug goes on and off. Experienced that many
times, but what's odd, to me, is when the power is disrupted by
wiggling it, it also cuts out the power to the overhead light/fan,
which is operated by the switch at the door.
There are two switches by the door, one of which is controls the
switching of some/all of the outlets, but that switch is taped ON, so
not a factor in this. When I move the outlet, with it pulled partly
out of the box, the power goes on and off, so there's a loose
wire/connection in the outlet. Question is, based on what's happening,
can you tell if it's a specific wire? By pulling (with power off) I
can't tell that one is loose. Or should I be replacing the outlet?
Thanks.
If screw connections, tighten all the screws.
As someone asked, are they the stabbed type? Does the outlet also
have screws that are not being used? If so move the wires from the
stabbed to the screws. Otherwise replace the outlet.
Thanks so much for all the quick, great answers. Sorry for the
double-post; I happened to entitle this the same as someone else's old
post, and it got put in the middle of it on my reader way back several
months. Glad I found it now!
Kind of a "duh" the why, if I knew anything. Now I do! As for what
went wrong and the fix, indeed, they're going into holes in the back,
and there are screws on the side, so I'll be switching them to there.
Thanks a ton!
For sake of completeness I'll say that just because there are wire holes
in the back the outlet is not automatically a "back stab" type. There is
an extremely high quality sort with holes in the back where tightening
the screws actually physically clamp the stripped wire ends rather than
depending on the backstab's feeble sprung contact. The easy way to tell
is whether there are little slots on the back of the receptacle where
one inserts a small screwdriver tip to release the wire. If you see them
then the receptacle is a backstab.
Personally, I would avoid re-using an old backstab type. They are
cheaply made and if the circuit has been compromised in the past there
may have been overheating that could have caused other unseen problems.
Even good receptacles are relatively inexpensive, so why not replace it?
Oh. And to provide the usual warnings: "power off before you mess with
it!" and "it can't hurt to make a drawing and label the conductors
before you mess with things so you can put it back together correctly".
--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]
http://johnmcgaw.com