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al al is offline
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Default Some electrical outlets not working

On Nov 19, 7:58*am, jamesgangnc wrote:
On Nov 19, 5:26*am, al wrote:

On Nov 18, 11:05*pm, wrote:


You can break that tie real quick, does the dryer get hot (or some
other 240v appliance)?


Neither the dryer nor the hot water heater is heating and the
microwave is worthless.


And you mean they used to heat and now don't? *And they are both are
electric appliances? *The microwave is 110v so it does not count.

Typical houses are served from the outside by 2 hot wires and 1
neutral. *110v things like wall outlets and lighting are connected to
one or the other of the hot wires and the neutral. *Big appliances
like electric dryers, electric hot water, use 220v and they get that
by being hooked to both hots.

When one of the two hots from outside stops working then some of the
110v circuits like lighst and outlets stop working. *Also all the 220v
appliances stop working.

If your problems are gone now it may have been tha the power company
was working on something in your area and now it's fixed. *It also may
be that you have a loose connection somewhere near the meter or fuse
box where the two hots come in.


Yes they used to work and now they don't. I hadn't checked the dryer
or the HW heater until I read the post inquiring about that last
night. Lights are also dimming periodically.

60 amp service was upgraded to 200 a few years ago with central A/C
install. Electric company inspected yesterday and ruled out their
equipment as the source of the problem. Said it is a "neutral"
problem. So I stopped tapping outlets and changing fuses and called a
contractor who will be here shortly to take a look.

Thanks for all the input.