Dead Outlet Old Home

nredburn · 08-09-2012, 04:42 AM

I have an old home from the 40's. The kind with two prong outlets with those wires that have the black braiding on them. Anyway, I was changing a light fixture in my room. I had the light switch turned off, however when I was screwing in the bracket to the junction box there was a big spark. Now I have a dead outlet. The light works and the other outlet in my room still works. Just the one is dead. The circuit breaker isn't tripped and I have changed the outlet but still its dead. So what happened, is my house going to burn down, and how do I fix the outlet?

danpik · 08-09-2012, 06:55 AM

OK, since you know where the breaker is for this circuit, turn it off. Remove the light you installed and look carefully at the wiring and see where you drove a screw thru one of them in the box. you will most likely have to repair it where it shorted/broke.

nredburn · 08-10-2012, 04:23 AM

So the outlet is wired from the light? I looked up there but I can't see past the box. Do i need to pull the whole box out or do I go up in the attic and do it from there?

danpik · 08-10-2012, 08:01 AM

It is posible it is done that way. A lot of old school electricians pulled the room feed into the center fixture and fed the recepticles from there. You will have to open up the boxes and see how things were done. My guess still is, based on your first post, that you shorted and burned a wire in the ceiling box.