Some of the sockets in my house are not working but others are. How can I fix this?

Question

Some of the electric sockets in my house have stopped working yet others are working. The fuse box is not indicating any problem (i.e. all fuses are still switched to on). Can anyone offer any advice? Should I be checking the wires in the sockets are all still attached to the plates? Why would some of the sockets work & others wouldn't. Any advice is welcome. Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

If you have a ohm meter you can check to see if the individual plugs have power by setting the meter to 110 V. If the light plug does not have power check to see if the wire on the backside of the receptacle has power. If the wire on the backside of the receptacle does not have power go to the fuse box to see if power is going into and out of the circuit breaker. If it is the electrical receptacle that does not have the power replace it. If it's breaker not showing power replace it. If it's the wire that does to the receptacle without power to the back of the plug call an electrician to run a new wire to the electrical box.

If you're talking about wall plug sockets then it may be a loose connection from one plug to the next plug, especially if it's the type that pushes the wire into the back of the plug, these often come loose. To fix this problem take the wire that is pushed into the back of the plug and move it to the screw on the side. Positive is the copper colored screw, silver colored screw is negative/common and the green screw ground is ground. If after doing this there is still a power problem goes to the solution at the top.

Answer 2

Difficult to advise without knowing exacly what you home comprises. You say "fuse boxes"? If your home has fuses, as most do,it is not unusual for a cartridge fuse to appear OK if you look at it when it has in fact failed. Fuses sometimes fail for no reason, what in the trade is sometimes called "a tired" fuse and once replaced new fuse works fine. But if inserting fuse blows immediately you do have a more serious electrical overload problem.

You can also try swapping the fuses around. This may well result in one or more of the sockets that were not working working and those that were working ceasing to work in which case you've cracked the problem so then just need to go and buy the appropriate cartridge fuses. But DO NOT increase the value of the fuse or (worse still) try to short it out as this could cause a serious overload leading to fire.

Be very careful if your home appears to have just circuit breakers( as your wording is a bit ambiguous on that point?) It would be highly unusual to have no actual fuses, but if that appears to be the case it is distinctly possible there is an additional fuse somewhere else in the line between what you call "the fuse box" and what you call "the sockets", particularly likely if it is a largish home. The additional fuse may be somewhere you do not often go to, such as up in the loft, so see if you can find it and you will very probably find one fuse has failed therein.

If you know how to use a multimeter you can of course check both sides of fuse to see if voltage is present on both sides, but I would not advise you to do that unless you have some experience of using electrical meters.

Answer 3

The clothes in the dryer were realy hot because the machine had stopped before the end of its normal cycle. Normally there is a cooling period at the end of the drying cycle. There will be a cut out or a fuse for the circuit which the appliances are on, maybe other sockets and appliances too. If you have circuit breakers then the one which is not like the others, that is, switched off, will be the one to switch on again. If you have wired fuses then the fuse carrier will have to be removed and the wire link replaced with the correct gauge wire. Usualy 15 amps.

Answer 4

Hi, Normally you would have 'ring mains'-the electricity is fed both ways like a loop- supplying the various sockets, ie one fuse for upstairs one for downstairs-obviously this could vary from house to house-and sockets could be 'spurred' from those circuits as well-so it's not a hard and fast rule.
If you have got more than one socket not working-which shouldn't happen on a ring main-which is why they are wired like that-it may be that the sockets are on a 'radial circuit'-ie the wires go from one to another and end at the last socket-if a wire was broken at mid point on this type of circuit you would lose all sockets past that point.
Contrary to most peoples opinion-you are allowed to replace sockets and light fittings-without contravening the regulations.
Its only if you add wiring to circuits etc that you have to be qualified and get test certs etc.
Regards Richard.

NOTE-I'm basing my info on UK facts

Answer 5

I assume you have breakers not fuses. If you have fuses then I suggest replaceing them because some times they will blow but not look blown. It only takes a small break in the wire to open the circuit.
If you have circuit breakers then cycle them from on to off and back. Occasionally breakers will trip but not look like they tripped.
If none of this works, then get someone who knows what more about it, there are other reasons but to diagnose you need to open the fuse box and have some special test equipment to figure it out.

Answer 6

Typically receptacles are daisy chained. This meas that from the breaker the wires run to the first receptacle and then that receptacle feeds the next in line. There is a bad connection between the last one that works and first one that doesn't. Look closely at the one that is getting warm, that indicates either a bad connection or an overload. Replace that receptacle. While there look for dark or burned spots at the connections, especially if the receptacles have the push in wire connections as opposed to the screw type.

Answer 7

Sometimes a plug is wired to a switch to turn off a table lamp(s) in the room, or the fuse,breaker tripped

Answer 8

Do you know if the wiring is hooked up to the outlet?Get yourself an electrical tester for the outlet,maybe you just need to change the outlet,which is not a big deal.Turn your electric off first, but if you don't feel comfortable call an electrician.

Answer 9

You would need to call in an electrician to fix the wiring. Sounds like a wiring problem

Answer 10

I'd flip all the fuses and if nothing happens call an electrician!