Electrical Crisis!!!!!!!

[sensirocker]

Hey guys,

I REALLLLLY need your help on this one!!!

Last night half of my basement went completely out, and i have absolutely no idea why. I will try and paint the best picture possible for you guys:
I have 2 outlets in my basement, a water heater and an a/c heater unit. The heaters both work fine, except both of the outlets do not work what so ever.
I went over to the breakers and non of them were tripped. I reset them and still no luck on the power.
The other weird thing is that 1 outlet in my kitchen is not working (my kitchen is right above the basement), and the garage that is next to the kitchen has no power at all. So im guessing that the one outlet in the kitchen and the entire garage is powered by, or is somehow related to the 2 outlets in the basement not working.
I really just dont know where to begin. Right now my girls are ok.... i ran a 100 foot power cord to the opposite end of the house so the lights are on and theyre back on 12/12.

I am running two 400w lights, a stanley blower for cooling, and a regular house fan.... so not that much wattage. Can anyone explain to me where to even begin?
Let me know if you need any other info or pictures or whatever...!!!!!

thanks!!!
-sR

 

[JJScorpio]

If none of the breakers are tripped, then you most likely have a problem with a connection inside a junction box. You are going to have to start checking wire nut connections.

 

[big mike]

maybe an outlet fried, do they smell?

 

[Guest]

Are any of your outlets G.F.C.I. ? If so, there's a mini breaker located on those style outlets. You will need to reset that one.

 

[UNREGISTRD]

turn ALL your breakers OFF,, wait a min,, turn them all back on!!
the breaker may not look tripped all though it is!
it may be a different circuit breaker than u think! just turn the whole house off and turn it all back on! hopefully it will solve your problem.
IF not then as stated above u fried some wirenuts!

 

[ItsGrowTime]

I recently lived in an older house that actually had TWO breaker boxes. One was outside and the other was in the kitchen behind the fridge. Almost the same thing happened that knocked out some outlets in parts of the house but not all. I didnt know about the second breaker box in the kitchen until I called the landlord. I wasnt growing then so no biggie.

 

[Guest]

Like ic user said,in your kitchen or your garage you'll find a GFI receptacle that needs to be reset,unless you do have two panels.You dont have loose wires,nuts popped off etc lol

 

[sensirocker]

Ok, thank you guys so much for your help.
I do live in an older house and the wiring in the basment is a semi-nightmare.
I really dont have any idea how it works or whats going out, but i did manage to find this random outlet next to the one i was using before, and now everything works fine!!!
The two outlets still dont work, and the garage/ single kitchen outlet doesnt have power, so ill have to figure that one out on another day.... im just thanking god that i dont have to move my whole setup to a friends house....

Thank you guys all for your help.... i never expect anything less from ic

-sR

 

[JJScorpio]

You really should find out why the others quit working. There has to be a short somewhere, and they could get hot and start fires under the right conditions.. If the box is in the basement, trace the wire back to the box, and then trace forward with them so you know where the power runs to.

 

[Guest]

ill put money on it that you have a tripped gfci somewhere in your house!
gfci should be located in a kitchen, bathroom or basement.
you find that, you found your problem.

 

[sensirocker]

whaaaaaat is a GFCI?????

 

[JJScorpio]

It is a ground fault receptical. If you look between the outlets, there will be a small button between the plug ins on the outlet itself.. If it is older wiring, chances are it is not one. But you never know.

 

[sensirocker]

yea no luck wit the GFCI on the kitchen outlet.... the two outlets in the basement that do not work do not have a GFCI.....

 

[ItsGrowTime]

My money is still on some other breaker panel hidden in your house somewhere, especially if its an older house (mine was built in the 40s). May be the basement, may be behind your fridge, may be anywhere but the similarities between your situation and what happened to me are too close. Do a once over on the whole house until you find it. Remember it may be outside somewhere too!

 

[sensirocker]

Heh, ItsGrowTime, sounds like we have the same type of house... im sure this thing was built in the 40s too. All i can find in terms of circuit breakers is the one in the basement and on outside where all of the electricity comes in..... Inside the outside breaker thing, there are 4 circle things that seem to have fuses in them, but they all look ok....
Any idea?

 

[ItsGrowTime]

Those round fuses are the really old fuse types. Your place shows its age so yeah probably same 40s build time! I cant help ya much with the specifics since it only happened once and there was just the hidden second panel behind the fridge that needed to be reset. Do you own or rent? If rent, you could call up your landlord and ask if theres a second breaker panel somewhere.

 

[vavwl]

Fuses like that are really cheap, it might be a good idea to just buy all the ones you need and you'll have them incase a fuse blows. They should be rated by amps. Its not always easy to see if one is blown or not.

 

[sensirocker]

Its not always easy to see if one is blown or not.

hmmm maybe one of these round fuses does control the garage.... but yeah, theyre hard to tell if theyre blown.... i might go out and get some more....
does anyone else have any knowledge of these round fuses?

 

[Guest]

If you or a neighbor have a continuity tester you can remove the fuses and check them nipple to base just like a light bulb,if the fuse is good there would be continuity and the tester should sqeal like a piggy,no sound indicates an open or blown fuse.

 

[Guest]

Bulls eye

Bulls eye

If you or a neighbor have a continuity tester you can remove the fuses and check them nipple to base just like a light bulb,if the fuse is good there would be continuity and the tester should sqeal like a piggy,no sound indicates an open or blown fuse.

All about the right tool for the job. But if you have to go buy one get a volt meter it can do alot more, after you learn how to use it. Twice as much tho, for a cheap one.