My wife plugged an extension cord with two items (a lamp and an alarm clock)
into an available slot on a surge protector, which is then plugged into an
outlet. The surge protector already had three other items plugged into it.

As a result, the upper socket on that outlet and an adjacent outlet have no
power, but the lower socket has power. Turning the breaker off and on did
not help. The other outlets in the room are fine.

Is this a simple case of going to the hardware store and buying two
replacement outlets, or could it be something else? Why would the lower
socket on an outlet work but not the upper?

"Dimitrios Paskoudniakis" wrote in message
. ..
My wife plugged an extension cord with two items (a lamp and an alarm
clock) into an available slot on a surge protector, which is then plugged
into an outlet. The surge protector already had three other items plugged
into it.

As a result, the upper socket on that outlet and an adjacent outlet have
no power, but the lower socket has power. Turning the breaker off and on
did not help. The other outlets in the room are fine.

Is this a simple case of going to the hardware store and buying two
replacement outlets, or could it be something else? Why would the lower
socket on an outlet work but not the upper?


Upper outlets sometimes controlled by a wall switch for turning lamp on/off
while lower one is always live.

On Sun, 7 Sep 2008 17:44:33 -0400, "Dimitrios Paskoudniakis"
wrote:

My wife plugged an extension cord with two items (a lamp and an alarm clock)
into an available slot on a surge protector, which is then plugged into an
outlet. The surge protector already had three other items plugged into it.

As a result, the upper socket on that outlet and an adjacent outlet have no
power, but the lower socket has power. Turning the breaker off and on did
not help. The other outlets in the room are fine.

Is this a simple case of going to the hardware store and buying two
replacement outlets, or could it be something else? Why would the lower
socket on an outlet work but not the upper?

It might be a simple as replacing just the outlet that was involved in
the trip. It sounds like that outlet is bad.

This would happen more commonly if the outlet was shorted instead of
overloaded.

The lamp or the clock may have a short. There would have been sparks
involved if this were true.



If sparks were involved, I would plug everything back in one at a
time. You might have a problem with the lamp or clock.

"Dimitrios Paskoudniakis" wrote in message
. ..
My wife plugged an extension cord with two items (a lamp and an alarm
clock) into an available slot on a surge protector, which is then plugged
into an outlet. The surge protector already had three other items plugged
into it.

As a result, the upper socket on that outlet and an adjacent outlet have
no power, but the lower socket has power. Turning the breaker off and on
did not help. The other outlets in the room are fine.

Is this a simple case of going to the hardware store and buying two
replacement outlets, or could it be something else? Why would the lower
socket on an outlet work but not the upper?



Sometimes there are switched outlets in a bedroom where one half of the
outlet is switched and the other half is on all of the time. You may have
some loose connections on the outlets. Before you buy anything you should
open each one up and find out what the problem is. The problem may not be
at one of the non-working outlets, but at an outlet or switch that is
working.

On Sun, 7 Sep 2008 17:44:33 -0400, "Dimitrios Paskoudniakis"
wrote:

My wife plugged an extension cord with two items (a lamp and an alarm clock)
into an available slot on a surge protector, which is then plugged into an
outlet. The surge protector already had three other items plugged into it.

As a result, the upper socket on that outlet and an adjacent outlet have no
power, but the lower socket has power. Turning the breaker off and on did
not help. The other outlets in the room are fine.

Is this a simple case of going to the hardware store and buying two
replacement outlets, or could it be something else? Why would the lower
socket on an outlet work but not the upper?



Sometimes the electrician makes one of the sockets switchable. There
should be a wall switch to operate the upper sockets in the room. An
electrical outlet has a break-off tabs to separate the upper and lower
sockets. Also, check if any of the circuit breakers have been
tripped.

"Flatus Johnson" fj@nonet wrote in message
. ..
"Dimitrios Paskoudniakis" wrote in message
. ..
My wife plugged an extension cord with two items (a lamp and an alarm
clock) into an available slot on a surge protector, which is then plugged
into an outlet. The surge protector already had three other items
plugged into it.

As a result, the upper socket on that outlet and an adjacent outlet have
no power, but the lower socket has power. Turning the breaker off and on
did not help. The other outlets in the room are fine.

Is this a simple case of going to the hardware store and buying two
replacement outlets, or could it be something else? Why would the lower
socket on an outlet work but not the upper?


Upper outlets sometimes controlled by a wall switch for turning lamp
on/off while lower one is always live.


Sorry all. I guess I'm an idiot for not noticing that my wife had turned
the wall switch off. Thanks for reminding me to check this. That was all.
No problem.

Dimitrios Paskoudniakis wrote:
"Flatus Johnson" fj@nonet wrote in message
. ..
"Dimitrios Paskoudniakis" wrote in message
. ..
My wife plugged an extension cord with two items (a lamp and an alarm
clock) into an available slot on a surge protector, which is then plugged
into an outlet. The surge protector already had three other items
plugged into it.

As a result, the upper socket on that outlet and an adjacent outlet have
no power, but the lower socket has power. Turning the breaker off and on
did not help. The other outlets in the room are fine.

Is this a simple case of going to the hardware store and buying two
replacement outlets, or could it be something else? Why would the lower
socket on an outlet work but not the upper?

Upper outlets sometimes controlled by a wall switch for turning lamp
on/off while lower one is always live.


Sorry all. I guess I'm an idiot for not noticing that my wife had turned
the wall switch off. Thanks for reminding me to check this. That was all.
No problem.


Chuckle. Happens to all of us at times.

--
aem sends...