I am having a light problems with a room.

MisterBill2

Joined Jan 23, 2018
18,167
I am having problems with a room. All outlets in this room went out but the lights didn’t. And the other rooms outlets still work and they on the same breaker. I went back and flipped all breakers and it still not working.


Mods Note:
Please don't hijack other member's thread.
This thread was split from -- Circuit breaker not tripped, but no power to two rooms.
I repaired a similar problem and save a house from burning. The problem was a poor splice in an electrical box that burned the wires apart. So to find it start by opening the outlet box covers and sniffing for a burned smell. That should show where the repair must be made. If you don't know how to make that repair PLEASE get somebody who does know to make it for you.
 

dl324

Joined Mar 30, 2015
16,839
All outlets in this room went out but the lights didn’t. And the other rooms outlets still work and they on the same breaker. I went back and flipped all breakers and it still not working.
The problem could be a bad outlet at the start of the daisy chained outlets; which could be in another room...
 

MisterBill2

Joined Jan 23, 2018
18,167
The problem could be a bad outlet at the start of the daisy chained outlets; which could be in another room...
d1234 is exactly correct. Outlets do get daisy chained and so a break at one removes power from all, the rest. In addition, it could easily be a break in the connection between the upper outlet and the lower one. I have seen several instances of that strip breaking and then nothing works. And that kind of problem is difficult to locate.
The process for locating the break requires a high impedance voltmeter, a DVM or digital multimeter is best. Then, first start with an outlet that does work, and, holding one probe in your hand, probe the hot side of the working outlet and note the voltage reading. Next, check all of the dead outlets the same way, upper and lower parts. If they all check the same, then the break is probably in the neutral side. plug a lamp that is switched on into one of the dead outlets, which will then feed a bit of voltage into the dead circuit. Now check the neutral sides of the dead outlets. When you find one that is different top to bottom, that is the one with the break. This method is tedious but it does work if the power to that string of outlets is on. Of course, you may also have a tripped GFCI device in the string, I have had parts of houses go dark because of that, as well.
 

dl324

Joined Mar 30, 2015
16,839
Use one of these to test the outlets:


The hard part will be finding the outlet ahead of the ones that don't work. That could be tedious if you don't have the electrical plans for the dwelling.
 

MisterBill2

Joined Jan 23, 2018
18,167
Use one of these to test the outlets:


The hard part will be finding the outlet ahead of the ones that don't work. That could be tedious if you don't have the electrical plans for the dwelling.
Using the type of checker shown in the picture is a quick way to search, BUT it will not help much if the outlet is done the way a lot of folks do, which is putting one wire from the incoming pair on the top and the other wire on the bottom screw, opposite side. What that leads to is a situation where when the little bar of metal that ties the top and bottom together breaks, both outlets go dead. Now, as I suggested in my last comment, the first thing to do is to check for a tripped GFCI (Ground Fault circuit Interrupter) device. It would most likely be in an area where there are faucets, such as a sink or shower, or a laundry room. It could also be an outside outlet.
But if it is not a tripped GFCI device, and you don't have a meter suitable for doing the test that I described in a previous post, you can build a simple tester using two low wattage incandescent light bulbs, two line plugs, (or short cords with plugs on them, and an extension cord. Each plug should either be polarized or have be marked, or, if all of the outlets involved are 3-wire grounding types, it is easier. You connect each light bulb between the line blade of one outlet and the neutral blade of the other outlet. Then plug one of the plugs into an outlet that is working. Then you can check every dead outlet, top and bottom, to see where the connection is broken. On the faulty outlet both bulbs may light on top but not bottom, while on the others only one lamp will light. That is presuming that the fault is a slightly defective outlet. If it is a failed splice inside an electrical box this test won't help much. For a failed splice you need to get into the boxes and inspect closely. The last two of those I found, the problem was a wire nut not installed correctly.
 
Top