Power Out in ONLY One Room...but breaker not tripped

weber78 · 10-10-2012, 11:16 PM

Hello.

New home owner here, and my first post.

On Friday I was painting my second bedroom and all was well with the electricity. The outlets were working, lights as well, and setup everything to paint...everything went well. Paint is dry by Saturday and everything is still working as expected, electrically that is.

Yesterday evening after coming home from work, the power in this same room (second bedroom) is not working; meaning the lights and the outlets. First thing that I do is check the breaker box to see if anything is tripped. Nothing!

So, I try the room again and still nothing. I sleep on it thinking it may be just me and a long day of work. Try again today and still nothing.

Reaction - Flip the bedroom switches in the breaker box to see if that changes anything. Nothing.
Reaction - Flip every switch in the breaker box, including the main switch just in case something may happen. Nothing.

Now I'm here and frustrated. The power is out in my second bedroom, but nowhere else in the house. I'm not an electrician however am pretty handy and am good at following direction.

Your suggestions and/or help is greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance.
-Chris

jbfan · 10-10-2012, 11:24 PM

How old is the house?
To reset a breaker, you must turn it off, then back on.
Do you have push to test buttons on any breakers?
Did you removed the wall plates when you panited?

dmxtothemax · 10-11-2012, 05:56 AM

Do you have a tester ?
Can you test for power at all the outlets, switchs & lights ?
Take note of wires and colors,
report your findings !

Have you checked for tripped gfci's ?

RH913RH · 10-11-2012, 10:41 AM

You might want to test the line side of the breaker to make sure the breaker isn't defective.

sublime2 · 10-11-2012, 11:07 AM

Did you pull the receptacles out of the wall to paint it?
If you did,you may have caused a wire to come loose when you put them back in the box.

weber78 · 10-11-2012, 11:22 AM

I do not have a tester, but think that this would be a good thing to purchase considering I'm going to do a bit of work over the next couple years.

The house is 100 years old, but the electric was updated in the early 80s, per the previous owner.

Also, I did remove all of the covers while painting and painted around the outlets.

I'm curious to know why the power would have worked for three days (Sat, Sun, Mon) and then suddenly cut out.

sublime2 · 10-11-2012, 11:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by weber78

I do not have a tester, but think that this would be a good thing to purchase considering I'm going to do a bit of work over the next couple years.

The house is 100 years old, but the electric was updated in the early 80s, per the previous owner.

Also, I did remove all of the covers while painting and painted around the outlets.

I'm curious to know why the power would have worked for three days (Sat, Sun, Mon) and then suddenly cut out.

Removing the covers could cause the outlet to come loose in turn if the receptacles are back stabbed that small amount of movement can cause a loose/ bad connection.
The connection is loose,you plug something in to the suspect outlet,that causes the outlet to move enough to create a bad connection.

mysterd429 · 10-11-2012, 01:06 PM

Congrats on your new home, Chris. I'm also a relatively new homeowner, though I've only got casual DIY experience. In figuring out what was what and troubleshooting some basic problems in our house, I found a non-contact voltage detector, a digital multimeter, and an outlet tester were all very useful. None of them are expensive. (Our house had a lot of abandoned wires, circuits that span multiple rooms without any label on the breaker box, and other minor issues.)

A non-contact voltage detector that is beeping definitely indicates power, but a voltage detector that is not beeping does not definitely rule out power. Make sure your meter is set to the correct setting and the probes are connected to the meter before testing, not the other way around.

weber78 · 10-11-2012, 01:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sublime2

Removing the covers could cause the outlet to come loose in turn if the receptacles are back stabbed that small amount of movement can cause a loose/ bad connection.
The connection is loose,you plug something in to the suspect outlet,that causes the outlet to move enough to create a bad connection.

Thank you. I understand that one outlet may come loose based on this; however all outlets and the overhead lights are out...which make me think that this is the entire circuit on the breaker.

I will be buying a non-contact volt detector and playing around with that.

weber78 · 10-11-2012, 01:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RH913RH

You might want to test the line side of the breaker to make sure the breaker isn't defective.

Can you help me understand what the 'line side of the breaker' may be?

jbfan · 10-11-2012, 02:07 PM

Being a novice, I would not worry about the line side of the breaker.
Do you know which breaker controls the power to this room?
A backstabed receptacle that has a lose connection could be the first one in line from the panel, and this could be the reason the entire room is off.

Unless you know for sure which breaker, turn the main off to pull out the receptacles.

weber78 · 10-11-2012, 02:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jbfan

Being a novice, I would not worry about the line side of the breaker.
Do you know which breaker controls the power to this room?
A backstabed receptacle that has a lose connection could be the first one in line from the panel, and this could be the reason the entire room is off.

Unless you know for sure which breaker, turn the main off to pull out the receptacles.

Thanks. Is there an easy way to know which connection would be the first in line from the panel?

dmxtothemax · 10-11-2012, 06:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by weber78

Thanks. Is there an easy way to know which connection would be the first in line from the panel?

Not definately !
Thats why you might have to pull them all off,
And check all the wires for power !

But a good guess would be the one closest
to the panel.
So start there and check all wires.

RH913RH · 10-12-2012, 10:29 AM

I always like to start at SQUARE ONE when I'm checking things, so I don't chase my tail.
The line side is the terminal on the breaker to which the black or red wire is attached.
Once you know for sure that there is power there, then continue on, outlet by outlet, as other suggest, looking for a loose or disconnected wire.
Good luck.

It might also be a loose or disconnected neutral, white, in one of the boxes, so check all wire bundles, in each box, as well.

weber78 · 10-12-2012, 03:14 PM

Right, leaving work early today to go play while there is still sunlight...as I'm going to kill the main breaker switch and check out each of the outlets. I'll keep you posted.

Thanks again for the advice!