[Orcas]

A circuit stopped working for me. A ceiling fan, a couple overhead lights, and a floor outlet are connected together. I plugged a power strip into the floor outlet and even though I had nothing plugged into it yet, the strip appeared to cause a breaker to trip. It is a new house to me and I am not positive which breaker is associated with this circuit. The labels on the box are mostly correct. I know which breaker it should be. I found nothing tripped in the breaker box. Reset all breakers anyway. Still no power. Reset the main service breaker that powered the entire box. Still no. Took the panel cover off and put a multimeter on each breaker and all breakers are showing they have power. Nothing appears out of order. Nothing hot or melted.

What can cause a circuit with several devices on it to fail if the breaker appears to be good and has power. Should I swap out the breaker that I suspect is the correct one even though I don't see anything wrong with it. I don't have a replacement breaker but I could temporarily steal one from a know good circuit to test.

Thanks for any ideas.

 

[jrclen]

First look for a tripped GFCI receptacle outlet ahead of those which don't work.

 

[Orcas]

Thank you for the fast reply. There are four connections that I can find on this circuit. Two overhead light switches, one with a dimmer. One ceiling fan. And one floor outlet without a ground prong but when I take the floor outlet out it is grounded. I do not believe there are any GFCI in the circuit.

Everything worked until I pushed a button on the power strip I plugged in that toggled some of the power strip outlets. Nothing was plugged into the power strip when I did that. When I toggled that it was like I tripped a breaker.

It seems like there is a break in the wire somewhere in the wall but there isn't anything that should have stressed a wire. The wires at the floor outlet are well secured to the outlet and show no sign shorts or movement.

 

[dmxtothemax]

Hidden/unknown gfci outlets are a common problem !
Search every room
Look behind shelfs and cupboards
Even behind piles of stuff
You will be surprised where people find them !

 

[TimPa]

What can cause a circuit with several devices on it to fail if the breaker appears to be good and has power. a break in the continuity, a bad connection Should I swap out the breaker that I suspect is the correct one even though I don't see anything wrong with it. not if it reads 120v I don't have a replacement breaker but I could temporarily steal one from a know good circuit to test.

Thanks for any ideas.

if there is no gfci, then the circuit has an open. hot or neutral. check other devices in the same wall (other side).

 

[jrclen]

Use your multimeter to check for voltage at the receptacle and in the switch boxes. Test between hot and neutral and between hot and ground. No voltage of course is no voltage. Voltage between hot and ground but not between hot and neutral indicates an open neutral. Open meaning not connected. If the breaker and the wire connected to it shows proper voltage it is not the breaker.

 

[rjniles]

The way I test for a tripped GFCI. Test both the hot and neutral to ground, both will be open. If you have an open hot but have continuity between the neutral and ground, it is not a tripped GFCI.

 

[Orcas]

Update: I pulled the receptacle out to test voltage as suggested. Nothing. I then went to the wall switch that controls the floor outlet and pulled it. Two red wires and a white. As I wiggled it around power came back to the circuit. There are four switches at the wall. Floor switch, fan controller, overhead with dimmer, second overhead. I only got as far as wiggling the floor switch around when everything worked again. The floor switch is the push the wire in type and then tighten the screw. Everything was in tight. No slippage in any of the connections. No shorts anywhere that I could see. There were no GFCI in this circuit. Now testing from hot to ground and from hot to neutral shows voltage.

I am curious as to why plugging in a power strip 15 feet way can be fixed by pulling out a wall switch and putting it back in. I assume there must be a short that I am not seeing. Everything is working now but I am still curious.

Thank you for the help and suggestions. They are appreciated.

 

[bernie963]

hi,
not a short, but an open or loose connection. could also be a bad switch internally. Check all connections, if still a problem, new switch.

bernie

 

[TimPa]

Update: I only got as far as wiggling the floor switch around when everything worked again.

replace this switch. mark all the wires so you know exactly how they go back onto the new switch.

is this a switch on the floor?

 

[Orcas]

The switch is on the wall along with the two overhead and the ceiling fan switches.

 

[AllanJ]

Double check both at switches and at receptacles. Do the wires drop out of the holes in back easily if you loosen the respective screws and are held tightly (and can't even rotate) when you tighten the screws?

If the wires seem to stay in place regardless of what you do with the screws then you need to move the wires to be wrapped around the screws. Use jumper wires (pigtails) and wire nuts if needed if two wires want to go under one screw.

... wiggled ...

Sure sign of a loose connection right there.