Blew a fuse in living room and cant get power back to it.


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Old 11-29-13, 05:07 PM
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Blew a fuse in living room and cant get power back to it.

After turning on a space heater in our living room the fuse blew and now the breaker will return to the on position, however nothing is working in the room. Also after throwing multiple breakers and even the main power breaker, the bathroom remains powerless as well as several outlets in the kitchen. All breakers are in the on postion and we maintain partial power in the house, i.e., bedrooms, dining room, and basement. Any ideas why we have partial power and cant get power back on in the living room? I tried unplugging everything in the living room and then throwing the switch. that didnt work. I think im just missing something but I dont know what. thanks.
 
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Old 11-29-13, 05:14 PM
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Welcome to the forums! Often with overloads on poor connections, those connections will separate from where they are supposed to be. This will happen when the electrician used the stab back holes to insert the wires on the receptacles. It is always best to have the wires attached to the screws on the receptacles for a more solid fitment. See if you can determine the first receptacle in the run and turn off the power to the affected room(s) and pull the receptacle from the box. If the wires are back stabbed, put them on the screws. Often the wires will have pulled from the holes in the first place. If you find one, fix it, restore power and check to see if power was restored to the room(s) in question. For you to have that many receptacles (which should be on different breakers in the first place) you may have more to correct.

Check the circuits that are out. Do they coordinate with every other breaker as you go down one side, or are they at random? Do you have a multimeter? If so, check from the neutral buss in the panel to where the black wire connects to each breaker for proper voltage.

Report back and we'll move on to the next step.
 
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Old 11-29-13, 05:17 PM
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When you tripped the breaker you at the same time probably caused a connection to fail.

If all of the receptacles, lights, etc. served by that breaker are now dead, chances are the now bad connection is at the first box (with receptacle or lightor maybe just junctions) along the line up from the panel.
 
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Old 11-29-13, 06:48 PM
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Many circuit breakers are made so that the tripped position is between ON and OFF. If yours are made that way, you need to switch the tripped breaker to OFF to re-engage the handle before switching it to ON.

Do the test Chandler suggested. that will tell us which of your breakers are and aren't supplying power.
 
 

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