On Sun, 29 May 2011 22:11:36 GMT, Doug White
wrote:

Doug White wrote in
:

Somewhere in my house, I have a broken electrical connection. This is
the second time a circuit has developed a fault in the middle in the
last 6 months. The first time, a neutral connection let go where some
idiot had used a "back stab" (great name, considering how they fail)
connection in an outlet. Years of wiggling the outlet did it in. I
was flat out at work & had to pay several hundred bucks to get an
electrician to chase it down.

This time, I can probably fix it myself, but I'd prefer not to ruin
the entire weekend looking for it. Part of the circuit is live, and
then someplace, it ain't. The house is a 1952 vintage ranch, and the
wiring may run in the attic, or through the basement ceiling, when it
isn't going short distances in walls.

First, thanks to everyone for their support & suggestions. I have
emerged victorious, and can get back to my weekend plans.

Hurrah!


Fortunately, I do not have any aluminum wiring to deal with. I also
don't have a lot of backstabbed outlets to fail, but there may be one or
two left lying in wait. The original outlets weren't very robust. I
suspect that when they failed, the owners got a quick & dirty electrician
who installed replacements using the backstab connections. Some of the
original outlets have let go (literally; the plug can just fall out)
since we bought the place 8 years ago, and I've replaced them myself.

When I moved into this house 9+ years ago, I spent about $25 and
bought all new outlets, switches, and covers for every room in the
house and gar^H^H^Hshop. I also added 3 240v outlets for tools.
It took me a day, but I then had GROUNDED outlets. The old ones were 2
lug, not 3.


The key discovery was that several items in the basement were live, and
that extended past my daughter's bedroom. That meant the failure had to
be in one relatively small section of the house. The first outlet I
checked was the one that had triggered the problem when a vacuum cleaner
was plugged into it. It turned out to be A) relatively new, B) not
backstabbed, and C) at the end of it's run. This one had clearly been
replaced when the master bath was remodeled, because it actually had a
ground wire in the box. I should check that it is really grounded. Many
of the three prong outlets in the house aren't, and the original wiring
is all two wire, so the boxes aren't even grounded.

I had 14/3-wire but it was grounded to the outside of the box. I
almost climbed under the house and ran separate grounds.


There was another 3-prong outlet about 4 feet away that appeared
identical. I assumed that it had probably been replaced during the
remodel as well, but a quick bit of screwdriver work revealed that it was
both ungrounded AND backstabbed! Sure enough, one of the hot wires was
loose & singed. The wiggling involved in opening it up had restored the
full circuit, so I had my culprit. It's been properly replaced with a
new 2-hole outlet using screws, and everything is back to normal.

Bueno, bwana.


The outlet in question was behind a chair, and hasn't been touched in
years. There was a bit of corrosion on the wires from moisture from the
bathroom, and I suspect the connection got weaker & weaker over time, and
the starting surge from the vacuum cleaner was enough to vaporize the few
copper atoms still holding on. It's right next to the bathroom door,
which is fairly heavy, and vibration from the door opening & closing
several times a day probably aggravated the situation.

No doubt.


As time permits, I'm going to go looking for any additional 3 wire
outlets that aren't actually grounded. That may be a clue that they were
replaced by the same nitwit, and I can deal with them before they fail.

That's free, intelligent insurance. Go for it!

--
Education should provide the tools for a widening and deepening
of life, for increased appreciation of all one sees or experiences.
It should equip a person to live life well, to understand what is
happening around him, for to live life well one must live life with
awareness. -- Louis L'Amour