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Please copy/paste the following text to properly cite this How Stuff Works article:
Club, Fix-It. "How to Do Home Electrical Repairs." 02 May 2006. HowStuffWorks.com. <http://home.howstuffworks.com/how-to-do-home-electrical-repairs.htm> 15 May 2008.
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Fix-It Club
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How to Restore a Circuit and Cope With a Power Outage
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How to Restore a Circuit and Cope With a Power Outage
The fuses or circuit breakers in your home electrical system are there for a purpose: to blow or trip if the circuit is overloaded. When that happens, as it does from time to time in almost every home, what do you do?The first step should be taken even before a circuit trips. If you haven't already done so, make a list of all the branch circuits in your home by number and by what area each one controls. Then you can figure out which receptacles and fixtures are on each branch circuit. If you aren't sure the list is accurate and complete, you can verify it with a very simple procedure. Remove a fuse or trip a circuit breaker to its OFF position, then check to see what equipment or devices are deenergized. Of course, it's easy to see when a ceiling light goes out, but you can check a receptacle just as easily by plugging in a lamp. A small night-light is an ideal indicator. Once you know exactly which receptacles, fixtures, and appliances are connected to each branch circuit, write all the information on a card, and attach the card inside the door of the main entrance panel.
When a circuit goes off, there may be some visual or audible indication of the trouble spot, such as a bright flare from a lamp or a sputtering, sparking sound from an appliance, that will immediately lead you to the source of the trouble. If so, disconnect the faulty equipment. Take a flashlight, and go to the main entrance panel. Check to see which fuse is blown or which breaker has tripped, and determine from your information card which receptacles, appliances, and lighting fixtures are on the circuit. Then disconnect everything on that circuit you can, and inspect those fixtures you can't easily disconnect for signs (or smells) of malfunction.
Replace the fuse, or reset the breaker. If the circuit holds, it's possible something you disconnected is faulty. Check for short circuits or other problems. If there's no evidence of electrical fault in the fixtures, the problem may be too much current draw for the circuit to handle. In this case, remove some of the load from the circuit.
If the new fuse blows or the circuit breaker refuses to reset, the problem lies in either the equipment that's still connected or in the circuit cable itself. Check the still-connected items, examining each for faults until you find the offending equipment. If the circuit still goes out when there are no loads connected to it, the wiring is faulty, probably due to a short in a junction or receptacle box or in the cable itself. If you suspect faulty electrical wiring, call an electrician.
A circuit breaker is a remarkably trouble-free device, but once in a while a breaker does fail. The result is the circuit will not energize, even when it's fault-free. When a circuit goes out, if the circuit breaker itself has a distinctive burnt plastic smell, if the trip handle is loose and wobbly, or if the breaker rattles when you move it, the breaker has probably failed. Turn off the circuit, check the breaker with a continuity tester, and replace it as needed.
Coping With a Power Outage
What do you do when all the power in the house goes off? Usually this is due to a general power outage in an entire neighborhood or district, but sometimes the problem lies in an individual residential wiring system.
The first step is to see whether the outage is a general power outage or restricted to your home. If it's nighttime, look around the neighborhood to see if everyone else's lights are off. During the day, call a neighbor to see if others are affected. Or, if you have a circuit breaker main disconnect, check to see whether it has tripped to the OFF position. If the main entrance is wired with fuses, pull the fuse block out and slip the fuses free. Check them with a continuity tester to see if they are still good. With a probe lead touched to each end of the fuse, the tester light will come on if the fuse is good.
If the trouble is a general power outage, all you can do is call the power company. If your main breaker is still in the ON position or both main fuses are good but your neighbors have power and you don't, the fault lies between your main entrance panel and the power transmission lines. The reason could be a downed service drop, a faulty or overloaded pole transformer, or some similar problem. Call the power company; this part of your system is their responsibility. If you find a tripped main breaker or blown main fuses in your main entrance panel, the problem lies within the house and may be serious. Do not attempt to reset the breaker or replace the fuses. The difficulty may be a system overload, using more total current than the main breaker can pass. Or there may be a dead short somewhere in the house.
The first step is to go back through the house and turn off everything you can. Then, if you have a circuit breaker panel, flip all the breakers to the OFF position. Once the breakers are off, reset the main breaker to the ON position. One by one, trip the branch circuit breakers back on. If one of them fails to reset, or if the main breaker trips off again as you trip the branch breaker on, the source of the trouble lies in that circuit. The circuit will have to be cleared of the fault.
If all the breakers go back on and the main breaker stays on, you're faced with two possibilities. One is that something you disconnected earlier is faulty. Go back along the line, inspect each item for possible fault, and plug each one back in. Sooner or later you'll discover which one is causing the problem, either visually or by noticing that a breaker trips off when you reconnect it. The other possibility is systemwide overloading.
This is characterized by recurrent tripping out of the main breaker when practically everything in the house is running but there are no electrical faults to be found. To solve this problem, you can either lessen the total electrical load or install a new larger main entrance panel with new branch circuits to serve areas of heavy electrical usage and help share the total load. This job requires a licensed electrician.
The troubleshooting approach is similar if the main panel has fuses, except you'll need a supply of fuses on hand. First, pull all the cartridge fuses and unscrew all the plug fuses in the panel. Replace the main fuses, and put the fuse block back into place. Then, one by one, replace each fuse or set of fuses until the one that's causing the outage blows out again. This is the circuit that must be cleared. General overloading, however, will cause the main fuses to go out again. If this happens, call in an electrician, who can test for overloading and suggest remedies.
Assembling an Emergency Blackout Kit
Is your home susceptible to power outages due to the local utility company, wind storms, or other problems? Even if it's not, you would be well served to make an emergency blackout kit that includes the following items:
 ©2006 Publications International, Ltd. Some items for a blackout kit. |
- Candles or oil lamps and matches for area lighting
- Flashlight, battery lantern, or other auxiliary light source for troubleshooting
- Correct and up-to-date circuit directory posted on main entrance panel door
- Tool kit with appropriate tools for making electrical repairs
- Circuit tester, preferably the voltage-readout type
- Two replacement plug fuses of each amperage rating in use, preferably Type S
- Four replacement cartridge fuses, including main fuses, of each amperage rating in use
- One replacement pull circuit breaker of a rating equal to the smallest size in use or one of each size in use
- One replacement double-pull circuit breaker of each amperage rating in use
- Selection of lightbulbs
- One replacement duplex receptacle to match existing units
- One replacement single-pole switch to match existing units
- One replacement three-way or other special switches to match existing units
- Wirenuts and electrical tape
It also takes preparation and knowledge to do repairs and maintenance checks on home electrical receptacles. We'll show you how to perform these tasks in the next section.
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Please copy/paste the following text to properly cite this How Stuff Works article:
Club, Fix-It. "How to Do Home Electrical Repairs." 02 May 2006. HowStuffWorks.com. <http://home.howstuffworks.com/how-to-do-home-electrical-repairs.htm> 15 May 2008.
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