oh NO! WHAT have I done!?! electricity related

[phred52]

I'm afraid I just broke our budget.

While vacuuming this afternoon I plugged my vacuum into a surge protector which also had a fan in it, running on low. The vacuum varoomed to life for about 1 second then the whole room died. No lights, no power, no nothing ...the entire master bedroom and bath is out as well as the upstairs hall and 1/2 of a second bedroom.

I unplugged everything, made sure all lights were off then trekked to the basement and looked at the circuit breaker box. NOTHING was tripped! Nothing! I went back and forth multiple times, because I couldn't believe that I didn't "blow a fuse" ... I flipped the circuit breakers back and forth ..... Nadda.

So right now, we are powerless in about 1/2 the upstairs. Rest of the house is fine.

Anyone have something like this happen to them? How did you fix it ?
I'm dreading calling an electrician in the morning as the last 2 times I called ....(once for mother, once for daughter) while they came right away, it cost over 3k because once in a house they 'have to bring it up to code' And that code has changed a lot in the 25 years we've been here.

sigh ....

btw, all our smoke detectors have fresh batteries and work well. (Too well sometimes when I am baking) Nothing looks amuck anywhere and no smells of burning or smoke at all....and I vacuumed the rest of the house with that vacuum just not where we have no power .....

any ideas?

 

[IDoDis]

This has happened to us before. You may have tripped a circuit that has a reset button on it in the house, not in your circuit breaker box. Do you have any rooms that have one of those electrical sockets by the sink with a red reset button and a black test button? The buttons may not be red and black. If so, go check those and push the button back in, even if it's not popped out. Hopefully that will fix your problem.

 

[DisneyDebbie]

This has happened to us before. You may have tripped a circuit that has a reset button on it in the house, not in your circuit breaker box. Do you have any rooms that have one of those electrical sockets by the sink with a red reset button and a black test button? The buttons may not be red and black. If so, go check those and push the button back in, even if it's not popped out. Hopefully that will fix your problem.

and I have even found out that the outlet in our garage is the reset place for our kitchen, so check all over for that little button, mine are just white, btw.

 

[delmar411]

and btw, those other electricians scammed you. They do not have to bring a house up to current code when fixing something in an old house. We've had plenty of electrical things fixed in our house and they will mention that xyz isn't up to code but unless it's part of what they are fixing, I just tell them I'll add it to the list of everything else not up to code.

 

[bushdianee]

Check and see if your outside outlets are working, if not then it is probably te reset button. Last year my freezer suddenly went out. Since it was at least 20 years old I assumed it was the freezer and replaced it. the new one wouldn't work either then we discovered that the outside outlet wasn't working nor was the garbage disposal. Called an electrician who checked everything out and found the tripped reset button in the master bath on the opposite end of the house as the nonworking outlets. Luckily the electrician was my niece's husband who didn't charge us. Now i keep a night light in one of the outlets so i know if its been tripped.

 

[ssawka]

This has happened to us before. You may have tripped a circuit that has a reset button on it in the house, not in your circuit breaker box. Do you have any rooms that have one of those electrical sockets by the sink with a red reset button and a black test button? The buttons may not be red and black. If so, go check those and push the button back in, even if it's not popped out. Hopefully that will fix your problem.

and I have even found out that the outlet in our garage is the reset place for our kitchen, so check all over for that little button, mine are just white, btw.

Yes, it is called a ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) Switch. It is designed to be "tripped" if there is any power loss on a circuit. Generally you will only have one on a given circuit, thus it maybe in your garage but providing protection for your kitchen and your bathrooms.

OP, sorry, that's about the extent of my electrical knowledge, so I can't really be of any assistance.

 

[momof1princess]

yes, OP, as the PPs have mentioned, you should check all of your GCFI outlets. these are the electrical outlets with the buttons on them. one button will say "reset", and the reset button is usually red. i read your post to my DH, and this was his suggestion (his dad and my mom are both retired electricians, and my brother is an electrician).

 

[PhillyMc]

Other than GFI check and make sure none of the other outlets have shorted. I own an older home and one day DS kicked a cord and some how it shorted another out on the circuit. We had to use a multi meter to find bad outlet.

 

[Bungle]

We had this happen. We had to replace the switch thingy in the circuit breaker itself (sorry I don't know the technical term) and it was good as new. I can ask my DH when he gets up what its called but it was an easy fix.

 

[pigletto]

Yes! Check for the outlets with the reset button. And check all over the house. It's not always close by the plug with the problem.
We have an upstairs back deck with outlets that I couldn't get anything to work in. I did a google search to see what the issue might be, learned about the reset buttons, and found the correct one eventually on the downstairs front porch

 

[angierae]

What everyone else has said. In our last apartment, the GFI in our bathroom would also kill the power to my daughter's room if it was tripped.

(Currently, the one in our kitchen turns off the dishwasher, that outlet and the garbage disposal, and it's annoying as heck because it pretty much trips anytime you unplug anything from it, and that's where I plug in the coffee maker when I use it.)

 

[pyrxtc]

I'm dreading calling an electrician in the morning as the last 2 times I called ....(once for mother, once for daughter) while they came right away, it cost over 3k because once in a house they 'have to bring it up to code' And that code has changed a lot in the 25 years we've been here.

I think everyone's replies are on the money, happened to us too.

And yes, I believe you were scammed by the electrician. They are not "required" to bring anything up to code or I'd be in the poor house forever with my 240 yr old house and wrapped wiring throughout. I would not hire them again and I would report them for telling you that.

 

[pigletto]

I think everyone's replies are on the money, happened to us too.

And yes, I believe you were scammed by the electrician. They are not "required" to bring anything up to code or I'd be in the poor house forever with my 240 yr old house and wrapped wiring throughout. I would not hire them again and I would report them for telling you that.

t/j

240 year old house??!!?!!! WOW! Dh and I have been talking about looking at 100 year old homes.. I'd love to live in a historic home. But you win!

 

[Zerosinthecloset]

For those of you that have appliances, refrigerators, garbage disposals, et.al. on a GFCI circuit, your houses are miswired. A fridge should be on it's own circuit. A GFCI is not a circuit breaker. GFCI=Ground Fault Circuit Interruptor. That's the reason they are always installed near sinks in bathrooms, kitchens, and outdoors where water may be present from time to time. The idea is if someone is washing dishes and reaches over and touches an appliance and it shorts, the GFCI shuts the circuit off before anyone gets hurt, or those people that want to dry their hair while standing in the shower. Sounds like a whole bunch of miswired houses out there.

 

[ilovemk76]

For those of you that have appliances, refrigerators, garbage disposals, et.al. on a GFCI circuit, your houses are miswired. A fridge should be on it's own circuit. A GFCI is not a circuit breaker. GFCI=Ground Fault Circuit Interruptor. That's the reason they are always installed near sinks in bathrooms, kitchens, and outdoors where water may be present from time to time. The idea is if someone is washing dishes and reaches over and touches an appliance and it shorts, the GFCI shuts the circuit off before anyone gets hurt, or those people that want to dry their hair while standing in the shower. Sounds like a whole bunch of miswired houses out there.

Exactly.

A GFCI trips way quicker than a circuit breaker.

The outlet for the appliances, like a refrigerator, need to be unaccessable so one cannot get electrocuted.

The current needed to start an appliance will far exceed the GFCI and it would trip every time.

Each bathroom needs to be on its own GCFI. The kitchen needs its own. Depending on the number circuits, more than one maybe needed for each room. The GFCI can be in the room or on the actual circuit breaker for the circuit.

Half of the second floor on one circuit is way out of code. I would certainly want to bring the house up to code, in many of the cases above, because I want to live in a safe house.

 

[phred52]

OP here. THANKS for all the suggestions!! I just love how the 'dis family' helps each other!!! You guys rock!

We do not have ANY GCFI outlets in our house. (my daughter and mom sure do though!) darn. wish it was such a simple fix!

We had this happen. We had to replace the switch thingy in the circuit breaker itself (sorry I don't know the technical term) and it was good as new. I can ask my DH when he gets up what its called but it was an easy fix.

Thanks for the idea. I'm off to read up on it!

 

[pigletto]

For those of you that have appliances, refrigerators, garbage disposals, et.al. on a GFCI circuit, your houses are miswired. A fridge should be on it's own circuit. A GFCI is not a circuit breaker. GFCI=Ground Fault Circuit Interruptor. That's the reason they are always installed near sinks in bathrooms, kitchens, and outdoors where water may be present from time to time. The idea is if someone is washing dishes and reaches over and touches an appliance and it shorts, the GFCI shuts the circuit off before anyone gets hurt, or those people that want to dry their hair while standing in the shower. Sounds like a whole bunch of miswired houses out there.

Ours is good. Like I mentioned, my problem was outdoors. The other ones in our house are next to the sinks.

Sorry it wasn't an easy fix OP. Hopefully it is the other thing you are researching and relatively inexpensive

 

[Jeff_G]

FYI depending on the type of circuit breaker, it may have tripped but the breaker handle might not be thrown all the way into the off position. So looking at the panel it appears as if nothing has tripped when in fact the breaker has indeed tripped.

It is not uncommon for the breaker to be tripped but the breaker handle to more or less in the on position.

Locate the breaker for the outlet in question and move it into the off position. You may find it moves into the off position with little or no resistance this is a good indicator the breaker tripped. Then move it back to the on position.

 

[ssawka]

Each bathroom needs to be on its own GCFI. The kitchen needs its own.

Everything I've read says that this is not true. If a GCFI outlet is installed anywhere on the line, all plugs on that line are protected. Thus, if you have two bathrooms on the same circuit, both bathrooms are protected. I am not an electrician though, I am simply stating what I have read.

 

[Zerosinthecloset]

FYI depending on the type of circuit breaker, it may have tripped but the breaker handle might not be thrown all the way into the off position. So looking at the panel it appears as if nothing has tripped when in fact the breaker has indeed tripped.

It is not uncommon for the breaker to be tripped but the breaker handle to more or less in the on position.

Locate the breaker for the outlet in question and move it into the off position. You may find it moves into the off position with little or no resistance this is a good indicator the breaker tripped. Then move it back to the on position.

Seen this many times, but the OP says they shut breakers off and then back on, so assuming they did so. Also, one GFCI outlet can handle anywhere from 6 to 10 outlets. In our previous house, there was one GFCI outlet in the garage, and it handled both bathrooms, kitchen, and outdoor outlets. I did have a house once, that when you plugged anything into a particular outlet, it tripped the breaker. Reason being was the ground wire was almost touching the hot screw on the outlet, and when you went to plug anything into it, it moved enough to touch the screw, then trip the breaker. It could be anything, but probably nothing too serious.

Also, if the OP really doesn't have any GFCI outlets or a GFCI breaker installed, they should probably think about doing so.