[mtrubee]

I have a circuit that appears to going dead intermittently.
Plugs and lights on this 15 amp circuit are all going dead for no apparent reason. No changes in what is plugged in or turned on, for years. Breaker does not trip. No apparent impact to any other circuits. Attempted to manual reset the dead circuit, and all circuits including panel main, no help. Reset of master circuit breaker below the electric company meter will restore power. Circuit will occasionally come back by itself. This happened about 7 years ago and it cleared itself up until now. Have tightened connections at sockets and fuse panel. Could this be defective breaker? defective switch or plug?

 

[Just Bill]

If just a single circuit, probably a loose connection the heats up and breaks connection. Feel the wall plates on all those affected, the hot one is the culprit. But it usually does not work that way. You may have to remove all components on that circuit for a visual check. The bad one will usually be obvious. It is usually an outlet where the circuit feeds thru.

If the problem is on multiple circuits, call power company and/or electrician. You could be losing one line.

 

[joed]

Sounds like a loose connection somewhere.

 

[220/221]

Read this thread.

http://www.diychatroom.com/f18/electrical-circuit-doesnt-work-44202/

 

[Yoyizit]

Load the outlet with a 10A load, like a hair dryer. More than a 3v drop when the dryer is on likely means a high resistance connection upstream even if the circuit appears to be working.

Checking each outlet upstream of the test outlet with the dryer on should narrow down where the fault is.
The second measurement you make should be at the panel to make sure you have the fault bracketed between these two locations. The drop at the panel with the load switched on should be less than ½ v.