Weird Electrical Question
FL
Recently Ive started having problems with the wall switches in my basement.
All of a sudden they've stopped working. On the dual switch circuit, if I
jiggle the switches it sometimes it works and sometimes doesn't. On the
single switch circuit, I unwired the switch and connected the wires directly
and it all worked fine. This has happened on two different basement circuits
so far.
This summer our area has been hit by a lot of short power outtages. Im
thinking that this may have something to do with it. But Im unsure b/c so
far it seems limited to the basement area of the house.
Anyone have any thoughts? I would appreciate any advice. Hopefully I wont
have to keep buying and replacing switches indefinitely.
Thanks.
wcdal...@xxxhotmail.com (remove xxx to reply directly)
Patel
news:7r32b.177522$_R5.66...@news4.srv.hcvlny.cv.net:
> On the single switch circuit, I unwired the switch and
> connected the wires directly and it all worked fine.
It seems obvious that this is a bad switch.
> This has happened on two different basement circuits so far.
One is an exception, two is a coincidence, three is a trend. You can't
draw conclusions based on two events; you sound like somthing extensive
is hppening but it is only 2 circuits.
> Anyone have any thoughts? I would appreciate any advice. Hopefully I
> wont have to keep buying and replacing switches indefinitely.
You post does not indicate that you have ever replaced any switches. Did
you put in a new swich and thn have the same thing happen?
jim
with it,,trying to see how it worked.. blew some fuses, no problem, i
got pleanty.... but then the adjoining wall inside the house the outlets
do not work with the new fuse... i then figured that all the outlets in
the garage and the inside wall of the house are on the same line.. move
some furniture and sit on the floor in house with the power still on and
take off the face plates of the outlets.. first one(no powere, check
wires, they are all tight... go to no. 2, and then to no.3.. well when i
pulled no. 3 out of the box i was holding onto the sides of the outlet
and it hit me, knocked me out of the yogi sitting position an i leap
frogged across the room.. very weak, complete exhaustion(wife screamin,
etc.)... just leave me lay here for a few minutes.... thats all it
took.. turned off power and checked no. 3 and found that the screws
holding the wire in it were unscrewed from the heat of the current being
drawn from the cheap welding unit... this might be your problem if you
used any power tools lately down there?????
FL
perfectly. Ill tackle the other 2 switches later this week. Just wanted to
make sure that this wasnt a sign of some faulty and potentially dangerous
wiring problem in my house.
"Patel" <pa...@att-bi.com> wrote in message
news:Xns93E166...@204.127.199.17...
PhotoMan
> > wcdal...@xxxhotmail.com
.. well when i
> pulled no. 3 out of the box i was holding onto the sides of the outlet
> and it hit me, knocked me out of the yogi sitting position an i leap
> frogged across the room.. very weak, complete exhaustion(wife screamin,
> etc.)... just leave me lay here for a few minutes.... thats all it
> took.. turned off power
Why not BEFORE starting your inspection?
JNJ
basement.
> All of a sudden they've stopped working. On the dual switch circuit, if I
> jiggle the switches it sometimes it works and sometimes doesn't. On the
> single switch circuit, I unwired the switch and connected the wires
directly
> and it all worked fine. This has happened on two different basement
circuits
> so far.
>
> This summer our area has been hit by a lot of short power outtages. Im
> thinking that this may have something to do with it. But Im unsure b/c so
> far it seems limited to the basement area of the house.
>
> Anyone have any thoughts? I would appreciate any advice. Hopefully I wont
> have to keep buying and replacing switches indefinitely.
Ironically enough, the same thing has occurred with our patio light switch
this summer -- if I sort of wiggle it, the light will come on. :)
I'll just be replacing the switch -- nothing nefarious here, just a switch
that's gone bad after years and years and years and years and years and
years...and years and...years of use. :)
James
meirman
<j...@noname.com> posted:
I'm glad you're all right. I don't think an expensive welder would
have used any less electricity than a cheap one. At any rate it
didn't use any more than the circuit breaker allowed. If loose screws
were the problem, maybe they need to be tightened more, or maybe a
better quality receptacle needs to be used.
Bad connections will cause heat. This could include wires attached to
the receptacle with loose screws, loose clips that grip the prongs
inside the receptacle, and even a bad connection inside the plug of
the appliance.
Enough heat and you can start a fire. In 1980, I had an 1100 watt
heater plugged in the receptacle from 1930. I woke up to look at the
wall and see flames about an inch and a half high from the plug,
burning the hard rubber plug. I pulled out the cord and hit the plug
on the floor a couple times until the flame went out.
Check early, before everything is hot, and you can tell if the plug is
getting hot first or the receptacle
Good connections remain cold. If one of the posts on your car battery
is hot and the other cold, it doesn't mean the first one is working
and the second is dead. It means the first has a bad connection
between the post and the battery cable.
Meirman
If emailing, please let me know whether
or not you are posting the same letter.
Change domain to erols.com, if necessary.
Jeff Cochran
wrote:
>I just finished replacing the single switch and now that seems to work
>perfectly. Ill tackle the other 2 switches later this week. Just wanted to
>make sure that this wasnt a sign of some faulty and potentially dangerous
>wiring problem in my house.
Well, it is. But luckily, it appears to be all switch related. Buy a
box of commercial grade switches, replace all of them and don't use
the backstab method. Might want to check the outlets as well, if they
were wired at the same time with the same grade materials.
Jeff
FL
"Jeff Cochran" <nos...@mydomain.dude> wrote in message
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