One of the outlets upstairs in our loft shorted when we plugged in our vacuum cleaner. When we test both of the plugs now there is no power coming when something is plugged into it. The upstairs bathroom that shares that wall were this outlet is the lights won't work, but the outlets work. The vanity light switch does not work as well as the light switch for the toilet/shower. Also the light switch to our upstairs laundry room is not working which is across the way from this shorted outlet. We also checked our master bedroom bathroom which is quite away from this shorted outlet and those light switches are not working, but the outlets are working. I check the fuse box outside and nothing seem to have popped. It seems both of the upstairs bathrooms celing/vanity lights are not working as well as the laundry cieling light as well. Is this because they are all on a same circuit?

So what could be wrong here? Do I need to get an electrician out right away to fix it? Or is this something that I can fix easily?

 

First , recheck all the breakers agsin. One may be slightly out of line and not look obviously tripped. It would next check the receptacle that had the problem for any issues. This may turn into an Easter egg hunt.

 

So it's weird that this receptacle cut the ceiling lights, but all the outlets are fine in the affected areas. Is that normal? The moment we plugged in the canister vacuum and hit the on switch on the vac, it cut right away and no power. Then we tried plugging a clock to it and no power...so it did short out. When you say check the receptacle, you mean open up the outlet that caused this and see what the issue could be? What would I be looking for when I open it?

 

There is no such thing as normal wiring. The circuit leaves the panel and for many there is no rhyme or reason what is connected to it. Your problem is listed here every day in this forum.

A short ?? No... a short WILL trip a breaker. You have an open circuit. You need to determine everything on the circuit. Now is the perfect time to make a list of what is on what circuit. The problem is between the last good device and the first dead one. It could be at either device.

You are looking for loose wiring. Wiring pushed into the back of a device is a problem. Reconnect any wires found like that to the screw terminals.

 

So it looks like the only other switches/lights that don't work are the upstairs bathroom (but outlets work) and master bathroom lights and as well as master bedroom closet light as well. All the other outlets in the loft, upstairs seem to be working.

So I should open up this bad outlet and check the wiring then and see if any wires have come loose. I did recheck the circuits and all is fine and nothing was tripped.

 

Open the receptacle that you attempted to use and check the connections .

 

Hi, if you feel comfortable working in the panel, remove the cover and use an analog meter and test each terminal on the breakers to ground to be sure you have power at each.
Geo

 

I did that this morning and it looked like one of the black wires was out a bit and not full inserted into the receptacle. So I just pushed it back in and closed the receptacle, went to the fuse box and turned everything on and when I first turned on one of the affected switch it seem it did not work and decided I was going to call an electrician.

But when I walked into the master bedroom and noticed the lights in the master closet were on (I think we left the light switch on) I was surprised by it. I then immediately tested the other switches and what do you know everything was working. I went back to the first bathroom where it did not work at first after fixing the wire in the receptacle and that too was working now. Looks like the issue was a loose wire in the receptacle and just by pushing it back in it fixed the issue.

Thanks your suggestions and comments.

 

Your not done yet. That wire that was backstabbed and any others need to be moved to the screws. If you don'tn it will probably happen again. Backstabs aren't all that reliable.

 

I did property maintenance for years and loose wires backstabbed into receptacles was the #1 problem I found. Always attach wire to a screw on the receptacle or replace it with one that does have the screw terminals. Funny it was almost always the neutral or white wire that pulled out. Also many homes are wired with the lights on one circuit and the receptacles on another.

 

The loose wire will only continue to get eorse. As it does it will heat up and become a fire hazard or fail agsin. Move the wires to the screws.