What happens if a plug outlet short circuits?

Question

I had plugged in my lamp, and put a new lightbulb in, when all of a sudden it sounded like a small crisp or something, went on in the lamp. I quickly unplugged the lamp. I tried to plug in my alarm clock, but it didn't work. After asking a few people, they said the outlet must have short circuited or blew a fuse

MY QUESTION.. is that, How do i fix a fuse, and how much does it roughly cost to hire somebody to fix it?

...** I'm going to assume its a fuse problem, because the bathroom adjacent to my room doesn't work.. eg: the lights don't work, and the hallway light doesn't work **

Answer 1

Odds are you "blew a fuse", which in today's world means the circuit breaker overheated and popped. Find your electrical panel. it should be outside the house/apartment and have an electrical meter on it. Open the door on the front of the panel. Inside it should be a very large main breaker (looks like a giant switch) and a number of smaller ones. Most will be flipped fully to one side or the other, meaning they're either ON or OFF. One of them, probably labeled "Inside" or "bathroom" or something like that (if they're labeled at all) should be in the middle, not flipped to either side. Move this to the OFF position, and then to the ON position; it is now reset. Close the panel and go try your bathroom light. You should be good to go. NOTE: the breaker "switches" do not always move to the middle when they pop, you may have to lightly push the "switches" left/right to find the popped one. A good idea is to find one that doesn't power important things (like your grandma's heart/lung machine) and switch it off so that you can see how much force is required to switch the breaker, then you can find the popped one easier because it will take MUCH less effort to move the "switch".

Another possibility (a simpler one, but less likely based on your description) is that you popped your GFCI circuit breaker that's part of a wall socket in your bathroom (it has 2 buttons on it, probably red and black). Go in there and find the GFCI socket, press the red "Test" button and then the black "Reset" button. Then try your bathroom lights.

Answer 2

If you have fuses, you can usually see that the fuse has blown by it's darker color on the glass face and the silver element inside is usually visibly broken. Replace this fuse with a new one of the appropriate amperage. All fuses are marked with the amperage. It Will be either a 15 or 20 amp fuse.It is safe to unscrew the blown fuse and screw the new one in. Make sure that the lamp which may be causing the problem is not plugged in. If you have breakers just go to the breaker box and turn on and off all the breakers one at a time if you are not sure which one has turned off. It sounds like your new bulb or the lamp itself is defective. If it still blows the fuse without the lamp plugged in you better have an electrician check it out for you. Good luck

Answer 3

Very few houses use fuses anymore. They use circuit breakers. They look light switches and are somewhere near the back door, in the basement, in the garage, anywhere. Once you find them you will see that one of the switches is not all the way up or down. That means it has tripped. Turn it on and see if everything works. If it trips again there may have been some damage done and you will need an electrician. 99% of the time there will be no problem.

If your house is old and still uses fuses they will look like the base of a lightbulb and you will see a broken wire through a little window then it has blown. Unscrew it and and get a replacement with the same amp rating on it.

Answer 4

im an electrician i know what im doing. But it'll probably cost you about $80 depending on what the problem is. Im guessing there is a short in the plug which means they will have to take the plug out and replace it, flip the breaker, or replace the fuse(depending what you have), and then it should work. If it blows again then buy a new lamp lol. But yeah doesnt take long to do all that...30 minutes. But electricians are expensive. So yeah i'd say upwards of $80-$100.

Answer 5

Find your fuse/breaker box. Just follow the power where it comes into the house. The circuits are probably labeled on the inside of the door to the box. If you have breakers, one of them will be tripped, and have a little red square visible. Turn it off, then back on. If it is a fuse, remove it, and bring it to the store. Replace with new.

Answer 6

You are right, it is a fuse problem. Go to your fuse box. Look at the number on each fuse, it should say either 15 or 20. Look for a metal strip inside the glass head of each fuse. If you see one where the strip is broken, that's your burnt fuse! Unscrew that sucker (no, you won't get zapped if you only touch the glass head) and take it to the hardware store. Tell them you want a new one. Take it home and screw it in. Voila! Your lights come on again.

Answer 7

It could be a fuse or you just threw the circuit breaker. Call someone who knows what they are doing around electricity. It may be as simple as throwing the switch back on.

Answer 8

if your in an apartment there might be a circuit breaker panal behind the door on the wall. turn all the circuits off then on. call the super.

Answer 9

check your breaker see if you tripped it if so it will be in the off position or you could have blown a fuse if you didyou can get another one at home depot.