The overhead lights (ceiling fans) in two bedrooms on the same side of the house just stopped working (first the back bedroom then about a week later the next bedroom up on the same side). I thought that maybe it was the ceiling fans (they were bought and installed at the same time four years ago) so I installed another light fixture in one room and it still didn't work). All of the receptacles work in the rooms and it has just affected the ceiling fixtures. What could be wrong???

 

First, check the breakers just to make sure none have tripped.

Are these 2 ceiling devices the only things not working in the house? Sometimes the ceiling lights will be on a different circuit than the outlets in a room.

Do these 2 devices (lights/fans) use pull chains to turn them on? Or do they use a switch on the wall?

 

It is only these two ceiling fans that do not work in the house --- everything else is fine (no tripped breaker). The fans are controlled by a light switch on the wall but also have the pull cord to turn on/off the fans and lights.

 

If you haven't done so already, check the wall switches to see if power is getting to them. Perhaps economy class switches were used. Economy class switches have a shorter life span, and may may have ceased proper operation. If they are dead on the supply side, then you'll have to determine where they are fed from. If their feed is from a nearby outlet, it could be a bad connection (back stabbed, perhaps) or even a broken wire. In any case, it sounds like some detective work is in order, process of elimination.

 

Exactly. You could start at the switch, but are you positive you know what circuit these fans are on? Another important question to ask yourself once you're checking the switch is where is the switch getting power? If it's getting it from another source (besides the breaker panel) that may be compromised that would explain why your fans aren't getting power - the switch is no longer getting it in the first place.

Also, this may be embarrasing, but double-check those pull chains.

I once had a friend who plugged in a lamp in his living room in a house he recently bought. The lamp worked great until one day it just stopped working. Bulb was fine, but he discovered the outlet the lamp was plugged into wasn't getting power (he went and bought one of those cheap pencil-shaped detectors that has the tab at the end that plugs into the outlet - it lights up and beeps when it detects an electric field). Turns out there was a switch behind a piano he had placed when he first moved in that controlled power to that outlet, and someone had flipped it off.