[The Gopher]

When I moved into this house my wife and I realized that there was a living room with a switch on either side that appear to do nothing. There is not a ceiling mounted light in this room, initially I assumed that the 3 way switches are controlling an outlet to which a lamp was plugged in, however all of the outlets in the room are working regardless of switch positions.

So I have two "live" switches that appear to do nothing?

As I'm writing this I realize that it may be possible for the switch(es) to be faulty in such a way that whatever outlet they may be controlling is always "ON"? I'm not sure if that is even possible?

Any thoughts?

 

[MHolladay]

I would try to identify the circuit first. Verify that you have power at the switch box(es), then turn breakers off one by one. Verify that the plugs in the room still work once you find the breaker for the switches. Are you sure you don't have two single pole switches instead? Is ON/OFF stamped on the switch? With a meter, you can test the switch pass power or not once toggled.

If you have attic space, could also trace out the switch leg side of the switch.

Just my two-cents/initial thoughts.

 

[Oso954]

With a half switched receptacle, if someone replaced the receptacle without breaking out the tab, it would make both the top and bottom hot all the time. The switch while "working" would no longer shut off the switched portion of the receptacle.

 

[Rav]

When I moved into this house my wife and I realized that there was a living room with a switch on either side that appear to do nothing. There is not a ceiling mounted light in this room, initially I assumed that the 3 way switches are controlling an outlet to which a lamp was plugged in, however all of the outlets in the room are working regardless of switch positions. So I have two "live" switches that appear to do nothing? As I'm writing this I realize that it may be possible for the switch(es) to be faulty in such a way that whatever outlet they may be controlling is always "ON"? I'm not sure if that is even possible? Any thoughts?

When you say all the outlets in the room are working regardless of switch position, assuming these are duplex receptacles, did you test BOTH the top and bottom portions of each receptacle? If the tab is broken out between the two portions, one might always be hot and the other switched. Just a thought.

 

[b-boy]

Do you have drop ceilings? Maybe there's an old, unused light box buried under the ceiling.

 

[joed]

I'm oso954 on this. Most likely receptacles were replaced and the tabs not cut. Or someone got tired of the TV being switched off and bypassed the switches.