partial loss of power on same circuit?

Being very new to working with things electrical, I'm not sure what's happened.

The power to our suite recently went out in some of the rooms (1/2 of the suite) while not in others. All other homes in the neighbourhood had power thus, eliminating a general power outage. The electrical panel switches were intact, i.e. not tripped. This happened on 3 different occasions over a 12 hour period of time. The biggest puzzle is that two of the outlets, I believe, are on the same circuit. One had power, while the other did not.

I'm in a ground level suite of an older home. We've recently added a number of applicances and computers as well as other office and entertainment componentry. Not sure if this is the actual cause of the problems we've recently experienced. Any ideas or suggestions?

 

Could be a loose connection in one of your outlets. It could be in one of the working outlets.

 

Any time you have intermittent or permanent power outages on multiple circuits, you need to call your power company and report it ASAP! You risk damage to your appliances by allowing this to continue. While waiting for the power company to respond, it's a good idea to shut off all of your 240-volt double pole breakers to avoid damage.

 

I'm not sure if I completely undertstand what the originator is describing that is happening but...if she has numerous circuits throughout his house that are not working, while others are working, she may have lost a phase leg. This could be caused by a defective (damaged/broken) utility wire feeding the service, a burnt/broken lug in the CT cabinet, meter base or loadcenter or a defective main circuit breaker in the load center. If this is true the heavy electrically operated loads (i.e. oven, stove, dryer, water heater, etc.) will not work.

As John stated, I would call the utility company first.

Kooter

 

You should call the power company. We had a similar problem, and called the power company. It turned out that there was a failed component in the meter base. The component was slowly burning itself up each time that the power came back on. The power would return after the component cooled and start the cycle all over.

That is, the meter base that was 2 months old. Did I mention that there are no warrantees on meter bases?

 

This most likely describes a loose connection at 1 of the outlets that are on the this circuit.Turn off the breaker for the circuit (if any doubt about which breaker,turn main breaker off)and remove each outlet on that circuit and check for loose connections.If the wires are stabbed into the back of the outlets,remove them 1 at a time and place them on the screws.....black wires to the gold screws,white wires to the silver screws.

You said that you are in a ground level suite of an older home.If this is a multi-family dwelling,the work should be performed by a licensed electrical contractor