The electrical outlets in one of my bedrooms stopped working, what should i do?

Question

None of the outlets in that room work

Answer 1

Locate the fuse/breaker box and see if a breaker is tripped or a fuse is blown. Either reset the breaker or replace the fuse.

Answer 2

1/ Have you or anyone else worked done any electrical just
before this happened?

2/ Replaced a switch, receptacle, or light fixture, etc.?

3/ Added an outlet to the circuit?

4/ Have you or anyone driven and nails, screws, etc into the
walls, floors, ceiling, etc just before this happened?

5/ If the answer is yes to one or more of the above
questions, something has been wired incorrectly.

6/ A wire has been left off or has come loose and the circuit
is broken. Check the outlet(s) that were worked on. If
you find the problem and fix it your are finished.

7/ If sensible_man's solution did not fix the problem, but the
fuse keeps blowing or the circuit breaker keeps tripping,
there is a short circuit or hot to ground fault.

8/ If it is a screw-in fuse (plug type glass fuse) try screwing a
100 watt light bulb in instead of the fuse. If there is a short
circuit, the light bulb will be full brightness.

9/ If you have circuit breakers go to question 21/

10/ Unplug everything from the receptacles that are not
working one at a time and check the light bulb.

11/ If the light goes out or dims you have found the short
circuit.

12/ Plug the item that caused into another receptacle that
was not working.

13/ Check if the light bulb is on at full brightness. If it is at full
brightness, that appliance/fixture has short circuited. It
will require repairing or replacing.

14/ If the light bulb does not go to full brightness, plug it back
into the original receptacle. If the light bulb goes bright,
there is likely a problem with the outlet. The hot
connection may be touching ground (due to a slight
movement when plugging device) or the receptacle has
an internal short or ground fault. Check and/or replace
the receptacle.

15/ If the light bulb goes stays bright when everything is
unplugged, switch off any lights that are not working one
at a time and check the light bulb.

16/ If the light bulb goes off or dim, the light fixture or switch
is wired incorrectly.

17/ The hot wire (power) has been connected to the
Neutral wire (identified) conductor. This quite often
happens when a light switch or light fixture has been
installed or replaced by some who is does not fully
understand wiring.

18/ The connections in a light outlet sometimes have 1 white
wire connect to the black wires. The black wire from the
cable which has the white wire connected to the black
wires goes to the switch. If you had this and connect all
the white wires to-gether and all the black wires
to-gether, a short circuit will occur when the switch is
turned on. You may want to have an electrician correct
this.


19/ If the bulb stays bright, either you have missed something
or it could be a nail, screw, etc (if question 4 was yes) or
there a short/ground in the wiring.

20/ If you suspect a nail, screw, etc, remove any that has
been installed one at a time and check the light bulb. If it
goes out or dim you have found the problem. You will
have to open the wall, ceiling, etc and repair the
damaged wiring. Remember you must have a proper
electrical box when ever you make a connection and the
box has to be accessible. It may be wise to have an
electrician repair this.

21/ The procedure is similar with a few changes as you do
not have a light bulb in series with the faulty circuit

22/ Unplug everything from the outlets that are not working.

23/ Turn the circuit breaker on. If it stays on, plug everything
back into the outlets one at a time (wait about 1 minute
between each device plugged in.

24/ If the breaker trips after plugging one of the devices in,
unplug it and reset the breaker. Plug the suspect into
another outlet.

25/ If the breaker trips again, the device has a short or
ground and has to be repaired or replaced.

26/ If the breaker does not trip, plug it back into the original
receptacle. If the breaker trips, there is likely a problem
with the outlet. The hot connection may be touching
ground (due to a slight movement when plugging in the
device) or the receptacle has an internal short or
ground fault. Check and/or replace the receptacle.

27/ If the still trips when everything is unplugged, switch off
any lights that are not working; then reset the breaker.
Switch each light on. Wait 1 minute between each one.

28/ If the breaker trips, the last one turned on has a fault. The
light fixture or switch is wired incorrectly.

29/ The hot wire (power) has been connected to the
Neutral wire (identified) conductor. This quite often
happens when a light switch or light fixture has been
installed or replaced by some who is does not fully
understand wiring.

30/ The connections in a light outlet sometimes have 1 white
wire connect to the black wires. The black wire from the
cable which has the white wire connected to the black
wires goes to the switch. If you had this and connect all
the white wires to-gether and all the black wires
to-gether, a short circuit will occur when the switch is
turned on. The switch and light outlets have to be check
for incorrect connections. You may want to have an
electrician correct this.

31/ / If the bulb stays bright, either you have missed
something or it could be a nail, screw, etc (if question 4
was yes) or there a short/ground in the wiring.

32/ If you suspect a nail, screw, etc, remove any that has
been installed one at a time and reset the breaker after
each one. If it goes out or dim you have found the
problem. You will have to open the wall, ceiling, etc and
repair the damaged wiring. Remember you must have a
proper electrical box when ever you make a connection
and the box has to be accessible. It may be wise to
have an electrician repair this.

33/ If non of these correct the problem, please call an
electrician.

Good Luck

Answer 3

Look at all the outlets and lights, etc. Look for anything obvious like burn marks or such. Do this BEFORE trying to reset the breaker. If everything looks ok, go to your breaker panel. One of the breakers will look different than the others. The little switch will not be in the "on" or "off" position, but in between. Turn it fully "off" then back "on."
If when you do this, it makes a noise and goes back to the middle position as it was when you started, DO NOT RESET IT AGAIN!!!! Breakers and fuses trip for a reason, and if there is a problem, resetting it is only gonna make that problem worse. And it could cause a fire.

But sometimes you can just overload a circuit, maybe you had too many thing running in that room at once, and it just overloaded it. If that is the case, when you reset the breaker, it should stay on. If not, don't reset it again, but call an electrician.

Answer 4

It sounds like you have done about all you could. My guess would be that the power coming from the panel is interrupted (a black wire) which comes from the circuit breaker. There is a screwdriver that has a neon light which lights up when there is power present. This can tell you the power is leaving the breaker by touching the screw on the back of the breaker when the breaker is on. If there is, then that line is interrupted going to or at the first junction box. You said bedrooms, If they are on the 2nd floor, then the junction boxes might be in the attic or crawl space. There could be an "open" in the black wire in the first receptacle in line to the rest. Also the contractor may have hurried and used the plug-in holes on the back of the receptacle instead of wrapping the wires around the screws. All you need is one of these to fail and everything else down the line won't work. Hope this helps - Be Safe and if you don't know - get a professional ! ! !

Answer 5

First of all, locate your breaker box in your home .... and (if you are very lucky), the original owner/builder will have marked EACH of the Breakers (or if an older home -- the Fuses) ... with the LOCATION of what is controlled by that breaker.

Now if you see that the breaker has been tripped (the handle is in the opposite position compared to the rest of the handles of breakers -- looks like a lightswitch), then push it back to the other side -- and that should reset the breaker for sure ....

Go back to the bedroom and then plug in a SMALL lamp ... and try to turn it on. IF it turns on fine -- GREAT!!!! You have solved the problem -- and DO Make sure you remember what breaker you flipped ... because you can NOW mark that breaker as being the one that controls the BEDROOM Outlets!

IF not ... go back, flip the breaker to the OFF position ... go back and flip it to the ON position ... and then test the outlets with a small lamp one more time.

IF still does not work ... because this question is being asked .. you are then going to have to call an electrician (if you have breakers) to replace the breaker for the bedroom because ... well, they CAN Fail .... and you don't want to be in danger because you don't know your main or where to cut off all power so you can safely replace the breaker yourself (and believe me -- the breakers DO Fail -- I've had to replace several ... including those that failed because of hurricanes).

Answer 6

Check the circuit breakers like the others recommended. Look also for an arc-fault breaker that has tripped if you have those. Those have to be reset. It is very unlikely mickey mouse ate a wire or a wire just fell off for the heck of it. Possible but not likely. Look for the simple things first.

Answer 7

Check your breaker box for a tripped breaker switch. This is usually indicated by a red color showing through a tiny window next to the switch and the switch will be kind of loose. You the turn it off and back on again. Before turning the power back on, check to see what you have plugged in upstairs. You probably overloaded the circuit.

Answer 8

It is very likely a breaker. Don't be fooled by the breakers looking "on". When they blow the handle only move part way so carefully look at which is out of line. Turn it all the way off first then back on. The breaker will not go on from the blown off position.

Answer 9

Sounds like the entire curcuit is off. Find your electrical panel and then the breaker or fuse that serves that room.

Answer 10

If no fuses are blown I would call a electrician.There might be a chewed wire from a mouse ect. That would be a fire hazard..