David Nebenzahl wrote:
On 4/6/2008 8:16 PM spake thus:
[...] Is it possible that a loose wire on a lightswitch could cause
this whole problem, or would I still see some outlets working?
In a word, no, at least as long as the house was wired correctly. Wires
to light switches (or any other kind of switch for that matter) pnly
control the device being switched, and never carry current to a
downstream device.
Are you talking about the switch loop? You're right about that. But a box with
a switch in it can be carrying current to downstream devices. You can even use
the hot lugs on the switch to do it. I know the gold standard is to pigtail the
hoots, but it is certainly proper to have wires on light switches carrying
current to downstream devices.
-- Doug