As you’re getting ready in the morning and plug in the hair dryer or electric shaver only to find that your electrical outlet is dead. The panic ensues and your heart drops as thoughts of wet hair, unshaven faces, and dread of calling an electrician all run through your mind. Try not to worry too much, often times dead outlets are a simple fix that you can mend yourself.
Why is my outlet not working? Well, there could be lots of different reasons but following these simple steps could help get to the bottom of the problem.
Step 1:
First, it’s important to check to see if any other outlets are affected. Check your other lights and appliances to see if they are working, and if necessary walk around with a lamp or your trusty hair dryer and test out the other outlets in the house. As dead outlets are found remove any appliances that are plugged in and mark the outlet with colorful tape.
Why? By unplugging all devices from dead outlets we eliminate the possibility that it is an overload or short from the appliance that is causing problems. Marking all the dead electrical outlets helps us locate them again.
Step 2:
Now it’s time to check the circuit breaker in the main electrical panel. Not sure where that is? Try checking your garage, basement, or laundry room. Once you find your home’s electrical panel we are going to check to see if any of the circuit breakers tripped or fuses blew.
Usually, a tripped circuit is due to a brief overload on the circuit or even just a short circuit in whatever device was plugged into the circuit.
If you’re not that electrically savvy and don’t really know your way around an electrical panel it can sometimes be tricky to tell if a circuit breaker has been tripped. So we recommend resetting all breakers just to be safe. To reset all you need to do is hold all of them to the off position and then back to the on position.
Tip: Before you do this turn off your computer!
But if after all this tripped breaker continues to trip even after being reset it is important to switch the circuit breaker off for safety reasons. Often times this is a sign that short circuit or ground fault condition.
Step 3:
Still no luck? Locate your GFCI outlets throughout the house. What is a GFCI outlet? GFCI is short for ground fault circuit interrupter. How do you know if an outlet is standard or GFCI? GFCI outlets will have the test and reset buttons on them and is usually required in parts of the home where shock hazards are the greatest, like bathrooms and kitchens. How are GFCI outlets different from standard outlets? GFCI outlets sense leaks within the electrical current and will automatically and immediately shut off power to protect you and your loved ones from electrical shocks.
Now that you’ve located all of the GFCI outlets around the house it’s time to test and reset them all. You’ll notice that when you push in on the test button on the outlet that the reset button should in return automatically pop out. Not popping out? It could be a sign that the GFCI outlet has no power or is faulty. But is that reset button continues to trip every time you press it there could be a leak somewhere in the circuit. If this is the case it is very important that you don’t continue to attempt to fix the problem yourself, call our expert electricians here at United Services to assess the situation and solve your electrical problems safely.
Did you test and reset all of the GFCI outlets throughout the house without any issues and still have no power in your dead outlet? Continue to step 4 where we will go over how to look for loose connections.
Step 4:
Now this step may seem a bit intimidating but throughout this section, we will be explaining how to look for any loose connection within the outlet box. Once you remove the face of your outlet and get into the electrical box you are going to keep an eye out for any broken or loose wires. There are generally three different types of loose connections that could be the cause of your dead outlet problem.
- Loose terminal screws: Check to see if loose connections beneath your outlet’s terminal screw.
- Loose stab in connections: Stab in connections are simply wires that have been pressed into the holes on the back of the outlet. Lightly tug on each of the wires to determine if there are any loose connections.
- Loose wires at wire connectors: Check your wire connector and again lightly tug on the wire to see if any wires are loose.
If after all these steps you still are unable to determine the cause of the dead outlet in your home and haven’t been able to troubleshoot the issue yourself it is time to call the skilled electricians here at United Services. With years of experience and dedication to excellent customer service, our team of experts will work tirelessly to solve your electrical issues.
