Question for Electrician or knowledgeable person out there

C. STORR

C. STORR

Joined
Feb 6, 2006
Messages
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I am going to probably end up calling an electrician out, but just wondering if I can get an opinion on an electrical problem I am having. I don't pretend to know much about it and prefer to leave it up to the pros, but this is bugging the heck out of me...

The overhead lights in my garage (just regular single bulb fixtures, 110 volt) wouldn't work the other day. I replaced the switch and problem solved.

Since then, the two rooms down the hall past the indoor entry to the garage have gone dark. Wall outlets work fine, but ceiling fixtures don't work now. Simple things like tripping the breaker and replacing bulbs didn't work. The garage lights as well as the hall light and the lights in those two rooms are all on the same circuit, and the hall and garage work fine. I checked to see if I was getting any juice to the switch in the furthest room and it is not getting any.

I haven't done anything yet, including removing the switch I installed to see if that changes anything.

Any ideas? Like I said I'm not going to do anything without help from a pro but just curious what the hell could have happened...thanks in advance.
 
I had a similar instance with my house about 2 years ago, after an electrician took two hours to find the problem, it was just some wires in a junction box that had come loose. I hope it is something that simple. My guess would be that something came loose over time. -Matt-
 
Quite often there are extra wires attached to the hot terminal on the switch that have nothing to do with the function of that switch. If you remove the switch plate and look inside, you will probably see some wires that you neglected to hook back uo to the switch.

Sometimes, the wiring in older houses is weird. In our old house, some of the kitchen outlets were wired to the wall switch in the master bedroom. I never could figure out why. Even though only two wires were required to operate the bedroom light, there were three wires connected to the hot side. (4 total)

I'm sure you know this, but be sure the power is off before you go poking around the wires.
 
Marginal connections can produce heat or sparking (arcing) which, if not corrected can lead to catastropic results. It is worth your effort, and money, to call an electrician and have him check the integrity of connections on your service panel (breakers) and, elsewhere through the electrical wiring/system.

In addition, go ahead and install arc-fault breakers for the bedroom and kitchen circuits. They are worth the peace of mind. In fact in many locations new homes are required to have them in bedrooms by the local codes. We read about fire catastophies and fatalities all the time while wondering why could't the people just quickly get out of the house. It seems like such a simple endeavor. Yet in only a few minutes following the start of some fires the temperatures at head level in a room can literally cook the lungs in a matter of seconds. It's virtually inescapable. Crawling on the floor may give one a few more seconds or even minutes to escape but, given the typical fright and hysteria associated with realizing a fire in the room, rarely does anyone think logically enough to hug the floor and crawl fast.
 
Yes , I've worked on a number of old houses and they can be weird and unsafe !! BTW the price of copper has been very high and that has led to peopls stealing copper from various sources .In the NW recently bad storms have taken down many power lines which people have stolen. However some of those lines were still hot and they've lost three people so far !! Lesson - unplug lines before working on them.
 
people tend to wire different,some take the power to the switch first and some to the light.most of the time in older houses like mine they ran the power to the light first,which i dont like,but,i do all types of wiring from 110 to 480 single and three phase,if i were you and going to look myself,that would be your choice,i or the electrican,you hire should that down those light fixtures down and check the netural(white)wires,sounds weird,but if they get lose they can and will caues all types of trouble in the oddes places
 
UffDa said:
Quite often there are extra wires attached to the hot terminal on the switch that have nothing to do with the function of that switch. If you remove the switch plate and look inside, you will probably see some wires that you neglected to hook back uo to the switch.

Sometimes, the wiring in older houses is weird. In our old house, some of the kitchen outlets were wired to the wall switch in the master bedroom. I never could figure out why. Even though only two wires were required to operate the bedroom light, there were three wires connected to the hot side. (4 total)

I'm sure you know this, but be sure the power is off before you go poking around the wires.
Click to expand...

I'm also betting that this is the case.

If you decide to call an electrician, PM me and I'll give you a heads up on who to call.
 
I've had similar adventures when I had an addition built. The lights I put in my garage are the same as yours, but mine were wired to work at two different switches. That wiring can get very confusing, how 2 switches can control the same lights. It is usually 3 wire instead of 2. Is it possible that you replaced your switch with the wrong kind of switch by mistake?

BTW, I ended up wiring my lights wrong, and had to ask one of the electricians at my work what I was doing wrong.

I guess I should stick to low voltage....

Glenn
 
Hey Guys...

To me,, it sounds like you missed something,, or a wire came off that was being used to feed more than one bank of lights...

Got in and have a look....

Even if the Merrets are on,, take them off and redo everything,, then tape everything, including the contacts on the switch. I wrap a couple of layers of e-tape around all of my plugs and switch contacts.

Make sure the power is off before you start poking around,, or you can do it Hot like I do.. :)

Let us know what happens!!

ttyle

Eric
O/ST
 
Normark said:
Make sure the power is off before you start poking around,, or you can do it Hot like I do.. :)

Let us know what happens!!

ttyle

Eric
O/ST
Click to expand...

I replaced about a dozen wall outlets for my sister a few years ago and left the wires hot while I did it. All went well till I did one next to the stove. I was very careful about only touching one wire at a time, but when I was changing the hot wire and leaned over against the stove, it grounded me and I jumped about 15' straight up in the air :x
 
Why would anyone want to work on house wiring while the wires are hot? I think the Darwin Awards committee are looking for a few good men like you guys.
 
Pull switch again and check to see if wires are tightned to switch terminals, sounds like current loop is broken, disregard wall outlets they are on different circuit.
 
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