Electrical problems
 

So I was on the computer, then all of a sudden I hear BOOM, like an
circuit breaker tripping, and everything went quiet. The computer
was off.

I took a peek in the electrical panel, but no circuit breakers had
tripped. Odd, I thought. But I still didn't have electricity to
my computer.

I did some investigating, and it seems the bathroom light, and two
outlets are dark. That's it. Nothing else. Also, with a voltmeter
I checked each circuit breaker. I thought maybe one of them had broken,
but was left in the ON position. I took my voltmeter, and checked
the voltage of each wire going to the circuit breakers against the
neutral. All came up as 120 V. And when I would turn off any one
of the circuit breakers, the meter showed 0 V. So it wasn't that.

But still, I have no electricity. What could be the issue? Any
suggestions?

Other oddball ideas that came to my mind was that maybe those particular
outlets and lights were connected to my neighbor's circuit.
Could this be, or is it totally out of the question?

Actually the room where the dead outlets are has one outlet that works.
Also the light is on in that room. Weird, I thought all the outlets in a
room would be in the same circuit. And the bathroom, which has no light
now, has a working outlet also.

I'm pretty much at my wits end, and probably will have to get an
electrician. But maybe someone would have any experience of a similar
situation, before I call one to turn a circuit breaker or twist a knob.

Electrical problems
 

Oh yeah, as a clarification, I live in a condo, if that wasn't clear
from the post.

Electrical problems
 

On May 7, 6:15*pm, Mikko Peltoniemi wrote:
So I was on the computer, then all of a sudden I hear BOOM, like an
circuit breaker tripping, and everything went quiet. The computer
was off.

I took a peek in the electrical panel, but no circuit breakers had
tripped. Odd, I thought. But I still didn't have electricity to
my computer.

I did some investigating, and it seems the bathroom light, and two
outlets are dark. That's it. Nothing else. Also, with a voltmeter
I checked each circuit breaker. I thought maybe one of them had broken,
but was left in the ON position. I took my voltmeter, and checked
the voltage of each wire going to the circuit breakers against the
neutral. All came up as 120 V. And when I would turn off any one
of the circuit breakers, the meter showed 0 V. So it wasn't that.

But still, I have no electricity. What could be the issue? Any
suggestions?

Other oddball ideas that came to my mind was that maybe those particular
outlets and lights were connected to my neighbor's circuit.
Could this be, or is it totally out of the question?

Actually the room where the dead outlets are has one outlet that works.
Also the light is on in that room. Weird, I thought all the outlets in a
room would be in the same circuit. And the bathroom, which has no light
now, has a working outlet also.

I'm pretty much at my wits end, and probably will have to get an
electrician. But maybe someone would have any experience of a similar
situation, before I call one to turn a circuit breaker or twist a knob.

You know how to safely chack the main panel but not outlets and
everything else? Trollin.

Electrical problems
 

"Mikko Peltoniemi" wrote in message
...
So I was on the computer, then all of a sudden I hear BOOM, like an
circuit breaker tripping, and everything went quiet. The computer
was off.

I took a peek in the electrical panel, but no circuit breakers had
tripped. Odd, I thought. But I still didn't have electricity to
my computer.

I did some investigating, and it seems the bathroom light, and two
outlets are dark. That's it. Nothing else. Also, with a voltmeter
I checked each circuit breaker. I thought maybe one of them had broken,
but was left in the ON position. I took my voltmeter, and checked
the voltage of each wire going to the circuit breakers against the
neutral. All came up as 120 V. And when I would turn off any one
of the circuit breakers, the meter showed 0 V. So it wasn't that.

But still, I have no electricity. What could be the issue? Any
suggestions?

Other oddball ideas that came to my mind was that maybe those particular
outlets and lights were connected to my neighbor's circuit.
Could this be, or is it totally out of the question?

Actually the room where the dead outlets are has one outlet that works.
Also the light is on in that room. Weird, I thought all the outlets in a
room would be in the same circuit. And the bathroom, which has no light
now, has a working outlet also.

I'm pretty much at my wits end, and probably will have to get an
electrician. But maybe someone would have any experience of a similar
situation, before I call one to turn a circuit breaker or twist a knob.

Look around for a GFI.

Electrical problems
 

On 5/7/2008 4:15 PM Mikko Peltoniemi spake thus:

So I was on the computer, then all of a sudden I hear BOOM, like an
circuit breaker tripping, and everything went quiet. The computer
was off.

Some questions that I assume others would want answers to as well:

o You said "BOOM", but that's not a sound that circuit breakers normally
make. What kind of sound did you actually hear when the power went off?

o Any chance that there's a GFCI (ground-fault protected) outlet
somewhere in your house that tripped? It's possible that your computer
outlets are connected downstream of that outlet, on the "load" side, and
that's why the breakers are all on but you don't have power. (It
probably shouldn't be wired that way, but it does happen.)

o If what you said you did to check your breakers is accurate, in that
they all seem to be powered on, then there seem to be 2 possibilities:

1) There's another panel somewhere with more breakers in it, and one of
them is tripped.

2) There's been some damage to a circuit, resulting in partial
disablement of that circuit. Could be a blown wire inside a junction
box, etc.

Sounds as if you would do well to get a licensed electrician to look at
things.


--
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute
conversation with the average voter.

- Attributed to Winston Churchill

Electrical problems
 

"Mikko Peltoniemi" wrote in message
...
So I was on the computer, then all of a sudden I hear BOOM, like an
circuit breaker tripping, and everything went quiet. The computer
was off.

I took a peek in the electrical panel, but no circuit breakers had
tripped. Odd, I thought. But I still didn't have electricity to
my computer.

I did some investigating, and it seems the bathroom light, and two
outlets are dark. That's it. Nothing else. Also, with a voltmeter
I checked each circuit breaker. I thought maybe one of them had broken,
but was left in the ON position. I took my voltmeter, and checked
the voltage of each wire going to the circuit breakers against the
neutral. All came up as 120 V. And when I would turn off any one
of the circuit breakers, the meter showed 0 V. So it wasn't that.

But still, I have no electricity. What could be the issue? Any
suggestions?

Other oddball ideas that came to my mind was that maybe those particular
outlets and lights were connected to my neighbor's circuit.
Could this be, or is it totally out of the question?

Actually the room where the dead outlets are has one outlet that works.
Also the light is on in that room. Weird, I thought all the outlets in a
room would be in the same circuit. And the bathroom, which has no light
now, has a working outlet also.

I'm pretty much at my wits end, and probably will have to get an
electrician. But maybe someone would have any experience of a similar
situation, before I call one to turn a circuit breaker or twist a knob.

Circuits for general lighting are rarely done room by room, so it would be
perfectly normal to have some lights and outlets working and some not, in
the same room. If you heard a pop or "boom" it was probably a short circuit.
This should have tripped a breaker, but clearly broke the electric
connection somewhere along that circuit. The wiring is daisy chained between
lights and outlets on that circuit, so you would be looking for the last
live outlet or the first dead outlet on the chain. Not knowing how the chain
is run, may require the help of an electrician. I doubt it is a matter of
flipping a switch, although it is undoubtedly an easy repair once the
location of the problem is found.

Electrical problems
 

Mikko Peltoniemi wrote:
So I was on the computer, then all of a sudden I hear BOOM, like an
circuit breaker tripping, and everything went quiet. The computer
was off.

I took a peek in the electrical panel, but no circuit breakers had
tripped. Odd, I thought. But I still didn't have electricity to
my computer.

I did some investigating, and it seems the bathroom light, and two
outlets are dark. That's it. Nothing else. Also, with a voltmeter
I checked each circuit breaker. I thought maybe one of them had
broken, but was left in the ON position. I took my voltmeter, and
checked the voltage of each wire going to the circuit breakers against the
neutral. All came up as 120 V. And when I would turn off any one
of the circuit breakers, the meter showed 0 V. So it wasn't that.

But still, I have no electricity. What could be the issue? Any
suggestions?

Other oddball ideas that came to my mind was that maybe those
particular outlets and lights were connected to my neighbor's circuit.
Could this be, or is it totally out of the question?

Actually the room where the dead outlets are has one outlet that
works. Also the light is on in that room. Weird, I thought all the
outlets in a room would be in the same circuit. And the bathroom,
which has no light now, has a working outlet also.

I'm pretty much at my wits end, and probably will have to get an
electrician. But maybe someone would have any experience of a similar
situation, before I call one to turn a circuit breaker or twist a
knob.

It's not your neighbor.

Turn off the circuit breaker. Test other outlets. Find the one that's now
off but comes on when you energize the circuit breaker.

This is probably the culprit. Call is "SUSPECT." That is, SUSPECT is live,
but everything downstream is dead.

Wires go from the circuit breaker dot-dot-dot to SUSPECT. From there, wires
are SUPPOSED to go to the remaining outlets on the string. Odds are the
wires connecting SUSPECT to everything else have a fried connection.

If the wires on SUSPECT (or to the next downstream outlet) are connected
with stab-in connectors, they've probably made a bad connection, current
increased, and the resulting heat melted something in the outlet.

Fix is easy. Replace the outlet that's at issue. Don't use the stab-in
connections.

Electrical problems
 

Mikko Peltoniemi wrote:
So I was on the computer, then all of a sudden I hear BOOM, like an
circuit breaker tripping, and everything went quiet. The computer
was off.

I took a peek in the electrical panel, but no circuit breakers had
tripped. Odd, I thought. But I still didn't have electricity to
my computer.

Follow the BOOM. I would suspect a backstabbed contact on an upstream
outlet burned its way open after intermittent contact arcing.

Electrical problems
 

On Wed, 07 May 2008 19:15:27 -0400, Mikko Peltoniemi
wrote:

So I was on the computer, then all of a sudden I hear BOOM, like an
circuit breaker tripping, and everything went quiet. The computer
was off.

I took a peek in the electrical panel, but no circuit breakers had
tripped. Odd, I thought. But I still didn't have electricity to
my computer.

Breakers don't really go boom, it could be a mouse or squirrel eating
into the wire.

You should check closely in the bathroom. Bathrooms have GFCI
receptacles. They have a reset button on them.


Other oddball ideas that came to my mind was that maybe those particular
outlets and lights were connected to my neighbor's circuit.
Could this be, or is it totally out of the question?

Could happen, but not likely. You could ask your neighbor if they
lost power.

Electrical problems
 

Bob wrote:

Follow the BOOM. I would suspect a backstabbed contact on an upstream
outlet burned its way open after intermittent contact arcing.

Ok. I think that'll be the last thing I do before calling an
electrician. It wasn't a loud boom really, was it was definitely
audible. And yes, there is a GFI, in the bathroom, which is live.

I didn't think of the outlets being daisy chained, but yeah, if only
I knew which way the wire goes, I would know which is the last
working outlet...

Electrical problems
 

Since you have a voltmeter check the hot to ground voltage on the outlets in
case it is a bad neutral. Most likely a bad connection where the wires are
backstabbed into the outlets. These are always less reliable than using the
screws on the side.

If you comfortable doing it, turn off the power to the appropriate outlets
and pull them out and look for problems. Remember if the connection feeding
and outlet is bad, the outlet may seem to be off but the breaker feeding it
still could be on.

Always wear sneakers, leather gloves and safety glasses (in case a wire
arcs, which can spit hot copper) just to be sure.

If there are wire nutted connections these may need to be tightened. Be
careful and methodical and you should be able to fix the problem


"metspitzer" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 07 May 2008 19:15:27 -0400, Mikko Peltoniemi
wrote:

So I was on the computer, then all of a sudden I hear BOOM, like an
circuit breaker tripping, and everything went quiet. The computer
was off.

I took a peek in the electrical panel, but no circuit breakers had
tripped. Odd, I thought. But I still didn't have electricity to
my computer.

Breakers don't really go boom, it could be a mouse or squirrel eating
into the wire.

You should check closely in the bathroom. Bathrooms have GFCI
receptacles. They have a reset button on them.


Other oddball ideas that came to my mind was that maybe those particular
outlets and lights were connected to my neighbor's circuit.
Could this be, or is it totally out of the question?

Could happen, but not likely. You could ask your neighbor if they
lost power.

Electrical problems
 

Jeff wrote:

If there are wire nutted connections these may need to be tightened. Be
careful and methodical and you should be able to fix the problem

Yes, this helped a lot. Since I didn't know for sure, I guessed to
possible ways of the wire coming in. Meaning, I had two possible last
good outlets. So I went to one of them, and it turned out to be a bad
connection in that.

Actually, it turned out to be a bad connection next to the GFI outlet,
which was still working. Who would've known that all the power to
my computers was actually going through the bathroom...

But in any case, it was a nutted connection, which was loose, so I
tightened it, and lo and behold, everything's working again.

I guess I didn't need an electrician to turn the screw.

Oh yeah, and thanks for the safety tips. I've been shocked enough
when I was young and curious and taking everything apart, that I
know I don't want that again. ;)

Electrical problems
 

Mikko Peltoniemi wrote:
Bob wrote:

Follow the BOOM. I would suspect a backstabbed contact on an upstream
outlet burned its way open after intermittent contact arcing.


Ok. I think that'll be the last thing I do before calling an
electrician. It wasn't a loud boom really, was it was definitely
audible. And yes, there is a GFI, in the bathroom, which is live.

I didn't think of the outlets being daisy chained, but yeah, if only
I knew which way the wire goes, I would know which is the last
working outlet...

Hardware stores sell detectors (often combined with stud detectors) that
can help you trace wiring.

--
The e-mail address in our reply-to line is reversed in an attempt to
minimize spam. Our true address is of the form .

Electrical problems
 

On 5/7/2008 7:03 PM Mikko Peltoniemi spake thus:

Actually, it turned out to be a bad connection next to the GFI outlet,
which was still working. Who would've known that all the power to
my computers was actually going through the bathroom...

When you have the electrician come over, you might want to have them fix
that situation. I had a customer with a similar situation; their
bathroom outlet went out, along with the lights in their garage. Turned
out to be a GFCI outlet in the outside of the garage with all those
things wired downstream of it, which made no sense.

It's a very simple fix.


--
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute
conversation with the average voter.

- Attributed to Winston Churchill

Electrical problems
 

"David Nebenzahl" wrote in message
s.com...
On 5/7/2008 7:03 PM Mikko Peltoniemi spake thus:

Actually, it turned out to be a bad connection next to the GFI outlet,
which was still working. Who would've known that all the power to
my computers was actually going through the bathroom...

When you have the electrician come over, you might want to have them fix
that situation. I had a customer with a similar situation; their bathroom
outlet went out, along with the lights in their garage. Turned out to be a
GFCI outlet in the outside of the garage with all those things wired
downstream of it, which made no sense.

Actually, it makes perfect sense. Depending upon the date when the house was
built, and the electric codes at that time. The most economical (cheap)
method of wiring the required GFCI protected outlets was to run the fewest
required circuits, to the fewest required GFCI devices. Kitchen circuits,
when first required were within 6 foot of the sink, and 20 amp, but most
other circuits were general lighting circuits, so it was common to find the
required GFCI outlet in the garage, next to the breaker panel feeding the
outside outlets and all the bathroom outlets, and if the circuit wasn't to
taxed, it may feed a few more lights or outlets

It's a very simple fix.


--
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute
conversation with the average voter.

- Attributed to Winston Churchill

Electrical problems
 

"Mikko Peltoniemi" wrote in message
...
So I was on the computer, then all of a sudden I hear BOOM, like an
circuit breaker tripping, and everything went quiet. The computer
was off.


Whenever I hear a BOOM (like a bomb blast) I know the whole neighborhood
goes down without power, either mine or another neighborhood down stream on
another feeder. That BOOM comes from an adjacent substation tripping a high
voltage, high current circuit breaker. So breakers do go BOOM, just not the
little house breakers.

Electrical problems
 

Frank wrote:

Whenever I hear a BOOM (like a bomb blast) I know the whole neighborhood
goes down without power, either mine or another neighborhood down stream on
another feeder. That BOOM comes from an adjacent substation tripping a high
voltage, high current circuit breaker. So breakers do go BOOM, just not the
little house breakers.

Since all it turned out to be was a loose wire, I can only assume the
boom that I heard was actually a door slamming. That door slam then
rattled the wire just enough to become undone, and thus breaking the
circuit...

Electrical problems
 

Mikko Peltoniemi wrote in news:68f2h7F2slbs9U1
@mid.individual.net:

Bob wrote:

Follow the BOOM. I would suspect a backstabbed contact on an upstream
outlet burned its way open after intermittent contact arcing.

Ok. I think that'll be the last thing I do before calling an
electrician. It wasn't a loud boom really, was it was definitely
audible. And yes, there is a GFI, in the bathroom, which is live.

I didn't think of the outlets being daisy chained, but yeah, if only
I knew which way the wire goes, I would know which is the last
working outlet...


Probably more a Crack or Pop? Just as a glimmer of hope. Running a shop
vac once. On, off, on, off. Worked fine. Then off, then on, then
crack/pop. some outlets off. Turned out an outlet between the one I was
using and the breaker had a crud terminal and it finally arc'd out.

The thing that drove me nuts is I wasn't habitually familiar with the
house yet.I traced, disco'ed outlets, tested and everything. Can not find
it. OK, leave it for now. Lots of other fish to fry in HUD Wreck. One day
I move a piece of drywall I had standing against a narrow wall for a
later task. Oh lookie here. An outlet. Do ya think it was the culpret?

Electrical problems
 

Mikko Peltoniemi wrote in
:

Frank wrote:

Whenever I hear a BOOM (like a bomb blast) I know the whole
neighborhood goes down without power, either mine or another
neighborhood down stream on another feeder. That BOOM comes from an
adjacent substation tripping a high voltage, high current circuit
breaker. So breakers do go BOOM, just not the little house breakers.

Since all it turned out to be was a loose wire, I can only assume the
boom that I heard was actually a door slamming. That door slam then
rattled the wire just enough to become undone, and thus breaking the
circuit...


How bout some more details. Loose wire in a light, outlet? Another
notorious back-stabbed outlet?

Electrical problems
 

Red Green wrote in
:

Mikko Peltoniemi wrote in news:68f2h7F2slbs9U1
@mid.individual.net:

Bob wrote:

Follow the BOOM. I would suspect a backstabbed contact on an
upstream outlet burned its way open after intermittent contact
arcing.

Ok. I think that'll be the last thing I do before calling an
electrician. It wasn't a loud boom really, was it was definitely
audible. And yes, there is a GFI, in the bathroom, which is live.

I didn't think of the outlets being daisy chained, but yeah, if only
I knew which way the wire goes, I would know which is the last
working outlet...


Probably more a Crack or Pop? Just as a glimmer of hope. Running a
shop vac once. On, off, on, off. Worked fine. Then off, then on, then
crack/pop. some outlets off. Turned out an outlet between the one I
was using and the breaker had a crud terminal and it finally arc'd
out.

The thing that drove me nuts is I wasn't habitually familiar with the
house yet.I traced, disco'ed outlets, tested and everything. Can not
find it. OK, leave it for now. Lots of other fish to fry in HUD Wreck.
One day I move a piece of drywall I had standing against a narrow wall
for a later task. Oh lookie here. An outlet. Do ya think it was the
culpret?



Ooops. I see in another part of the thread is the details. By bad.

Electrical problems
 

On 5/8/2008 3:28 PM Mikko Peltoniemi spake thus:

Frank wrote:

Whenever I hear a BOOM (like a bomb blast) I know the whole neighborhood
goes down without power, either mine or another neighborhood down stream on
another feeder. That BOOM comes from an adjacent substation tripping a high
voltage, high current circuit breaker. So breakers do go BOOM, just not the
little house breakers.

Since all it turned out to be was a loose wire, I can only assume the
boom that I heard was actually a door slamming. That door slam then
rattled the wire just enough to become undone, and thus breaking the
circuit...

Hey, good detective work there. You're ready to become a real
electrician. All you gotta do is remember the 3 rules:

1. Hot on the left, cold on the right.
2. Paydays are on Friday.
3. **** flows downhill.

Oops, I guess that's for being a plumber ...


--
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute
conversation with the average voter.

- Attributed to Winston Churchill

Electrical problems
 

David Nebenzahl wrote:


Hey, good detective work there. You're ready to become a real
electrician. All you gotta do is remember the 3 rules:

1. Hot on the left, cold on the right.
2. Paydays are on Friday.
3. **** flows downhill.

Oops, I guess that's for being a plumber ...

Electrician:

1. Black is hot.
2. Payday is Friday.
3. Quitting time is 5:00.

-- Doug

Electrical problems
 

David Nebenzahl posted for all of us...

On 5/8/2008 3:28 PM Mikko Peltoniemi spake thus:

Frank wrote:

Whenever I hear a BOOM (like a bomb blast) I know the whole neighborhood
goes down without power, either mine or another neighborhood down stream on
another feeder. That BOOM comes from an adjacent substation tripping a high
voltage, high current circuit breaker. So breakers do go BOOM, just not the
little house breakers.

Since all it turned out to be was a loose wire, I can only assume the
boom that I heard was actually a door slamming. That door slam then
rattled the wire just enough to become undone, and thus breaking the
circuit...

Hey, good detective work there. You're ready to become a real
electrician. All you gotta do is remember the 3 rules:

1. Hot on the left, cold on the right.
2. Paydays are on Friday.
3. **** flows downhill.

Oops, I guess that's for being a plumber ...



4. Don't bite your fingernails.
--
Tekkie GRIP = Get Rid of Incumbent Politicians