Mikko Peltoniemi wrote:
>
> So I was on the computer, then all of a sudden I hear BOOM, like an
> circuit breaker tripping, and everything went quiet. The computer
> was off.
>
> I took a peek in the electrical panel, but no circuit breakers had
> tripped. Odd, I thought. But I still didn't have electricity to
> my computer.
>
> I did some investigating, and it seems the bathroom light, and two
> sockets are dark. That's it. Nothing else. Also, with a voltmeter
> I checked each circuit breaker. I thought maybe one of them had broken,
> but was still in ON position. I took my voltmeter, and checked
> the voltage of each wire going to the circuit breakers against the
> neutral. All came up as 120 V. And when I would turn off any one
> of the circuit breakers, the meter showed 0 V. So it wasn't that.
>
> But still, I have no electricity. What could be the issue? Any
> suggestions?
>
The obvious one is to figure out which breaker goes to the problem
circuit. So I'd go find an extension cord that could reach back to
the circuit breaker box. Then I'd check to see that circuit A had
no power and that there was no power at the end of the cord. AND NO
POWER FROM EACH OF THE LEADS ON THE CORD TO EACH OF THE CONNECTIONS
ON THE BREAKER. Then I'd use an ohm meter function to check if they
were in fact electrically connected. I'd always follow the one
handed rule because you are dealing with high voltage, even if you
don't think it's there.
After going through all the circuits like this, carefully as I
said, I would note what I'd learned. Then I would find a helper and
figure out what the rest of the circuits did the easy way, by
turning them off and asking someone else what happened. I'd type
this up and print it twice on a laser printer or something else
likely to last a long time. I'd tape this to the breaker box.
Of course as someone else said, a GFI could have popped. I would
include exactly where all the GFIs are in the house and on which
circuits in that write up I would do. And *where* in the circuit
too, BTW.
> Other oddball ideas that came to my mind was that maybe those particular
> outlets and lights were connected to my neighbor's circuit breaker.
> Could this be?
>
Just think what you've wasted if that's true. You could have played
coy and ran your entire house on that one circuit and your
neighbour could've paid an extra fifty billion dollars over fifty
years. You'd have the lights on all the time, the big sound, the
bright-ass wide screen TV, wow. He'd be watching Star Wars Episode
Nine on his wrist watch: "I can't figure it out, I conserve and
conserve and still my bill is way higher than that Mikko guy. I've
got to figure out his secret!" Find an excuse to check his fuses,
man.
> Actually the room where the dead outlets are has one outlet that works.
> Weird, I thought all the outlets in a room would be in the same circuit.
> And the bathroom, which has no light now, has a working outlet also.
>
A crazy person wired the house. Or it was just wired by someone who
figures: "Hey a wire, hey it's got power, hey I'll put in a plug
with it!"
> I'm pretty much at my wits end, and probably will have to get an
> electrician. But maybe someone would have any experience of a similar
> situation, before I call one to turn a circuit breaker or twist a knob.
>
For the time being, I gather you are using the extension cord to
run your computer?
--
"Question, two men starving to death decide to eat their hair like
spaghetti. Is that funny?"
"Hmmm, well, it depends on if by funny you want to make people
laugh."
-+Eddie Izzard and Joanna Lumley, "The Cat's Meow"
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