Electrical Problem, We live in a Mobile Home. We are unable to get the lights on in a 1/3 to 1/2 of the home.?

Question

Near the front door, my neice plugged the vacumn cleaner to vacumn one of our cars. The other end of the house my sister was blow drying her hair, in her bathroom which is off her bedrooms suddenly in several areas of the house, the lights went out. I ran back to the Electrical Panel , one of the breakers tripped. I turned it back on ,then off and on. Even though it did not trip the circuit, a second time, We still have no lights in major areas of the home. Does any one out there have knowledge as to how we may get our lights back on, without calling an electrician. We are hoping it is something simple . We are trying to find all ways to take care of this situation before paying someone to come out. Please professional, and or experience with this type of thing ,would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

sheeeeeeesh.... come on people... the question reads that a "circuit breaker" was flipped .... NO FUSES.... good grief!

Ok, Asker, you dont say if that vacuum cleaner was plugged to a receptacle inside the house or outside. But here is the very first thing to check,after you have reset the breaker... goto that bathroom where your sister was blow drying her hair, and if its still plugged in, unplug it, and look at the outlet. It probably has 2 little buttons... "Test" and "Reset". If the Reset button is sticking out... that is, it is not flush with the surface of the outlet... push it back in. There should be a slight click, and it should stay in place. Im willing to bet that this will take care of most of your problems.

After checking that bathroom... check the outlet in the second bath, and the one in the kitchen, for the same problems.

These outlets are GFCI outlets (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupt) -- what happens is when they notice a power drain greater than there should be... they shut off, frequently tripping the breaker in the panel box too... What most people do NOT realize, is that, on a mobile home, the OUTSIDE outlest are usually wired to those same GFCI outlets in the bathrooms, or kitchen. So, using the vacuum cleaner at the same time as the hair dryer was enough of a draw on the power, that the GFCI tripped.

After you have checked the outlets in the bathrooms and kitchen, and pushed in any Reset buttons that are popped out... go back to the electrical panel... and check all the breakers. If you still have some rooms without electric, then there may be another breaker that is tripped... its not always easy to spot. A tripped breaker should have the switch thrown to the middle... but Ive seen them where they were halfway between the middle and on...
So... very lightly, just go down the breakers, testing each one, to make sure it is actually in the "ON" position. If you run into any that are not... flip them all the way off, and then back on.

This should solve your problem -- If you need further assistance feel free to contact me.

Have Fun!

Answer 2

BE CAREFUL.... tighten up all the wire connectors in the fuse box. These are the thing with 2 or more wires going into a plastic "wire nut". Just twist them tighter.

The cause of the blown breaker may have been a short somewhere in the wiring and as a result, the wire or a wire-nut somewhere is no longer feeding electricity to that part of the wiring. That will be more difficult to find.

Lots of luck

Answer 3

Its NOT simple. Thats why electricians get paid a lot. You need a few more circuits to support the electrical devices you are using. Save up some money and get someone to install a few more circuits. Or in a pinch, maybe run some extension cords from the neighbor's mobil homes. Or maybe a generator.

Answer 4

Is it just the lights...if it is then start simple....check the bulbs.....sometimes when a breaker trips in will pop a bulb....I have never seen it happen to more then one bulb before but who knows....then if that don't work then change out the breaker....and if that don't work....call a pro....start with the simplest things first and work your way up....hope this helps.

Answer 5

have you tried the reset button on outlets that have one?
Another thing you could try is to stop all use of electronics...unplug everything. Turn off a/c etc. then try to trip the brakers again. But I think there could be a blown fuse somewhere and you need a professional to help.

Answer 6

I've worked for a major electrical utility for >10 years...your problem, without me being there to see, may be outside. It's quite possible one of your hot wires going to your house is damaged. Try calling your electrical provider and tell them of your situation. They'll come out and check. Let them know you only have power to 1/2 of your house.

My house did this last summer and it was due to one of my hot wires corroded with oxidation.

Answer 7

You have a short circuit in the wiring some place. It will be hard for you to find. You will most likely need an electrician

Answer 8

the power company . can help you.

if you do not know what you are doing DO NOT try to fix it yourself!!

you can get seriously hurt, or you can start a fire.

it sounds like there is a short somewhere else in the line.
if you are in a trailer park, then the people that run the place should fix the problem.
it sounds like the problem is out side of your unit.
is there another fusebox somewhere?
one that connects all the units?

Answer 9

there maybe a breaker that is tripped...check in the breaker box and make sure all the little black things are going in the same direction...if not, then the one that is in the center or in the opposite direction needs to flipped back the same way(if it is in the center position flip it off and then on)

Answer 10

Blown breaker, need a new 1, easy to replace.