Any Electricians Around?

[EtOH]

Here's the deal.

- Picked up a new Laser Printer (Brother HL-2140 to be specific)
- Turned off and removed old Lexmark Laser Printer
- Turned on the new Brother printer
- Power to room goes out

I checked the breaker, no dice. Reset all the breakers in case it was mislabelled, no dice. Hit the main for the hell of it, no dice.

Here is what was plugged in and turned on that time of the issue:

Overhead Light
Desk Lamp
5.1 speakers
LCD Flat Screen 20"
Computer
USB Hub
Vonage Router
100/1000 switch
WAP
Cable Modem
Epson Printer
Epson Scanner

I have had tons more turned on in the room without problems, including a Laser printer and 2 more computers.

UPDATE
Done some more checking.

- House was built in 1968, can't find any GFCI outlets in the entire house
- Power is out to the entire room, overhead light
- Power is out to the overhead light in the closet next to the room
- Overhead light is out in the room next to it, but the rest of the outlets in that room seem fine.

Gonna start looking at the breaker and the outlets next.

Any other suggestions?

So wtf could it be? Wife is PISSED.

 

[Codewiz]

My friend just had something similar happen to him in his garage. He thought he had burned up some wiring or something. Finally figured out that there was a ground fault protection outlet installed as the first outlet from the breaker box that fed the rest of the room. It had tripped.

Do you have any GFCI outlets in that room?

 

[Evadman]

wire nut that overheated and corroded would be my guess based on your crazy load. The breaker could also be bad, is there voltage on both sides of the breaker? (since you don't know which apparently, check them all)

 

[OdiN]

Could have blown a fuse in the breaker box.

 

[Squisher]

Originally posted by: Codewiz
My friend just had something similar happen to him in his garage. He thought he had burned up some wiring or something. Finally figured out that there was a ground fault protection outlet installed as the first outlet from the breaker box that fed the rest of the room. It had tripped.

Do you have any GFCI outlets in that room?

I have a bathroom that is downstream from a GFCI in another bathroom 50 feet from it. I think your guess is probably right, but the GFCI could be anywhere.

 

[Yzzim]

bad breaker would be my guess

 

[gsethi]

yank out the electricity outlet, hold the wires with bare wet hands, be bare foot and make sure that is no carpet under you and tell wife to reset all breakers

If something happens, you will be sure that wife will be saying "I love you" and wont be pissed anymore. You may not be conscious to hear it though

 

[us3rnotfound]

Originally posted by: OdiN
Could have blown a fuse in the breaker box.

Lol.

 

[SparkyJJO]

Originally posted by: Evadman
wire nut that overheated and corroded would be my guess based on your crazy load. The breaker could also be bad, is there voltage on both sides of the breaker? (since you don't know which apparently, check them all)

That's no crazy load, not even close. Crazy load is what I have, 9 computers all on one circuit

 

[Jesusthewererabbit]

The first thing I would do would be to check the load side of the breaker with a multimeter to make sure 120 volts is passing through the breaker. It's also possible that when you plugged it in, something in the outlet itself either shorted out or just came loose. Were any other rooms effected?

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: Jesusthewererabbit
The first thing I would do would be to check the load side of the breaker with a multimeter to make sure 120 volts is passing through the breaker. It's also possible that when you plugged it in, something in the outlet itself either shorted out or just came loose. Were any other rooms effected?

QFT...I lived in an apartment that would lose all power to the room sometimes. Turns out one outlet would cause this.

I replaced the receptical and the problem went away. I had another case where they had put a plug on each side of the wall back to back...if the plug was pushed too hard the two outlets would touch and short out (they wouldn't trip the breaker though)...solution was to put a plastic outlet box around one.

 

[EtOH]

No other rooms affected, will check the other suggestions.

My first thought is bad breaker. There are 2 open breakers in the box, thought about hitting the main and swapping an open one with the one for this room, see what happens.

 

[woodie1]

Go thru the place and reset all the GFIs. If that doesn't do it then you have a bad outlet or breaker.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Wow, people responded with the secret GFI quicker than I had expected. My money is on that. You might need t trace the line starting at hte breaker box though. I had a co-worker who said he had an electrician over for 2 hours to figure out why power to one room failed. After 2 hours, the culprate was found. Instead of the builder putting a GFI breaker in the breaker panel, a GFI outlet was placed as the first time in the circuit about 2 feet from the panel. That then went to some room upstairs and was "protected".

Fing genius!

 

[Evadman]

Originally posted by: IHateMyJob2004
a GFI outlet was placed as the first time in the circuit about 2 feet from the panel. That then went to some room upstairs and was "protected".

Probably a cheap electrician. a GFCI breaker is $50, a GFCI outlet is $10.

 

[Jesusthewererabbit]

Originally posted by: EtOH
No other rooms affected, will check the other suggestions.

My first thought is bad breaker. There are 2 open breakers in the box, thought about hitting the main and swapping an open one with the one for this room, see what happens.

Not a bad idea at all. Isn't it fun how troubleshooting electrical problems is like finding that one lightbulb in a huge wad of christmas lights that went out?

 

[us3rnotfound]

Is not a GFI recept wired in Parallel? When this trips it becomes an open and doesn't affect anything down the line, right?

 

[BigJ]

Originally posted by: us3rnotfound
Is not a GFI recept wired in Parallel? When this trips it becomes an open and doesn't affect anything down the line, right?

Not really. Most of the time it's wired "in series" (apologize for misusing the word, but it's an easy way to describe it) so that it's protection is still in place for any devices connected down the line (anything connected to the load side of the GFCI as Squisher mentioned below).

The problems arise when you have older construction homes sharing the same circuit between multiple rooms (kitchen/living room, bedroom/bathrooms). Most people don't realize this or they never had reason to know of it, so when the GFCI finally does trip, they experience symptoms similar to what the OP is experiencing. In newer dwellings, the kitchen and bathrooms will be on their own separate 20A circuits, with bedrooms separately on AFCI breakers.

 

[us3rnotfound]

Originally posted by: BigJ

Originally posted by: us3rnotfound
Is not a GFI recept wired in Parallel? When this trips it becomes an open and doesn't affect anything down the line, right?

Not really. Most of the time it's wired in series so that it's protection is still in place for any devices connected down the line.

The problems arise when you have older construction homes sharing the same circuit between multiple rooms (kitchen/living room, bedroom/bathrooms). Most people don't realize this or they never had reason to know of it, so when the GFCI finally does trip, they experience symptoms similar to what the OP is experiencing. In newer dwellings, the kitchen and bathrooms will be on their own separate 20A circuits, with bedrooms separately on AFCI breakers.

pardon my ignorance in this matter, but if you wire it in series, do you still get 120V for each duplex down the line?

 

[vi edit]

Originally posted by: SparkyJJO

Originally posted by: Evadman
wire nut that overheated and corroded would be my guess based on your crazy load. The breaker could also be bad, is there voltage on both sides of the breaker? (since you don't know which apparently, check them all)

That's no crazy load, not even close. Crazy load is what I have, 9 computers all on one circuit

You underestimate the power hungry needs of a fuser charging up. The brother printer in my wife's office will dull the lights when it fires up the first page.

No PC combination of PC's has ever done that.

 

[Elstupido]

Master electrician here, but if I post this thread will be locked

 

[us3rnotfound]

Originally posted by: Elstupido
Master electrician here, but if I post this thread will be locked

Rofl

Fair enough.

 

[BigJ]

Originally posted by: us3rnotfound

Originally posted by: BigJ

Originally posted by: us3rnotfound
Is not a GFI recept wired in Parallel? When this trips it becomes an open and doesn't affect anything down the line, right?

Not really. Most of the time it's wired in series so that it's protection is still in place for any devices connected down the line.

The problems arise when you have older construction homes sharing the same circuit between multiple rooms (kitchen/living room, bedroom/bathrooms). Most people don't realize this or they never had reason to know of it, so when the GFCI finally does trip, they experience symptoms similar to what the OP is experiencing. In newer dwellings, the kitchen and bathrooms will be on their own separate 20A circuits, with bedrooms separately on AFCI breakers.

pardon my ignorance in this matter, but if you wire it in series, do you still get 120V for each duplex down the line?

Yes. It's series in the sense that the circuit will break if the GFCI is tripped or fails, but the receptacles themselves are in parallel. That's why I apologized above for misusing the terms.

 

[Squisher]

Originally posted by: us3rnotfound
Is not a GFI recept wired in Parallel? When this trips it becomes an open and doesn't affect anything down the line, right?

On the back of a GFCI outlet are two connections "Line" and "Load." You connect the power to the outlet via the Line connections, anything you connect to the Load side will also be protected by the GFCI. When the GFCI trips anything on the load side is also tripped. Note: the Load connection is covered by a yellow tape you have to remove, this tape states what the connection is for.

 

[skyking]

I just helped diagnose the same type of problem at a friend's house. It was a bit of a ah heck to find, and it was potentially a killer.
home wiring circuits are a daisy chain from outlet to outlet, and they had a really cooked connection right behind the bed.
I did no know of that outlet, I only knew the power got to a certain point and dissapeared.
After further questioning, I was told to wait while they tore apart this crowded bedroom that had not been apart for maybe 15 years. I was forbidden entry until all possible "surprises" were picked up.
I pulled the outlet and found about 2 inches of totally cooked wire, no insulaton left at all. it was going into the push connection on the back of the outlet.
I won't use those things at all, ever. I always put the wire under the screw properly, and use pigtails into secure wire nut connections.