Posted: 7/19/2026 10:05:04 AM EDT
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I've been in this house for over 10 years. The house was built in the 70's and never updated. There are three receptacles in the room. One on the west wall, one on the south wall and one on the north wall. The recep on the west wall supplies power to the light and phone charger on my nightstand. This morning the light wouldn't come on. I figured the bulb was blown. I checked it and the filament looked fine. I moved the light to the recep on the north wall. Still wouldn't come on. I started checking around and nothing worked on any of the three receps. I figured the breaker was tripped. All the breakers seemed fine. I plugged a small, lcd desk lamp into the recep on the west wall. It lit up but was very dim. I barely noticed it was on because I had the ceiling fan lights on. I took that light out to a recep in the hall and it works fine. Bright as it should be. I then checked the other two receps in my room and found the same thing. Very dim. It seems there is less than normal power coming to those three receps. I have never seen this before. Could this be a breaker going bad? Or is there some other issue? Thanks in advance for all replies, gentlemen. |
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Could be a dozen things. I would start in the panel. If you know the breaker, kill it and check the connection. Also trace the black wire and find its white wire. Check its connection, if you went that far check all the neutrals. If that wasn’t it you are opening outlets and switches on that circuit and checking them all. |
If life was easy nobody would quit.
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These are handy. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08QW7K1JJ?tag=arfcom00-20 
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9 lives - 9 pellets... Coincidence?
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A follow up post to this problem. I had an electrical company come out. One of the receptacles was burned. The tech said that there are no ground wires in the house because it's outdated technology. He recommended that since it's just me here there is no reason to stress about it but if I wanted they could replace breakers in the panel box to essentially do the same job a ground wire would do. All in all I'm happy with the outcome and as stated earlier, gentlemen, thank you for your replies. |
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Originally Posted By ske714: These are handy. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08QW7K1JJ?tag=arfcom00-20 https://media.kleintools.io/images/original/klein/rt250_callout_2_b.jpg This is the exact tool that the tech used to diagnose the problem. |
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Originally Posted By Knothead71: @ske714 This is the exact tool that the tech used to diagnose the problem. Originally Posted By Knothead71: Originally Posted By ske714: These are handy. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08QW7K1JJ?tag=arfcom00-20 https://media.kleintools.io/images/original/klein/rt250_callout_2_b.jpg This is the exact tool that the tech used to diagnose the problem. lol! That's funny. Did you order one yet? 
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9 lives - 9 pellets... Coincidence?
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Originally Posted By Knothead71: A follow up post to this problem. I had an electrical company come out. One of the receptacles was burned. The tech said that there are no ground wires in the house because it's outdated technology. He recommended that since it's just me here there is no reason to stress about it but if I wanted they could replace breakers in the panel box to essentially do the same job a ground wire would do. All in all I'm happy with the outcome and as stated earlier, gentlemen, thank you for your replies. Just to be clear. Not having a ground is dangerous if there is a problem. If something goes wrong and you are touching the wrong thing, You become the ground. He probably explained that but you should be aware. |
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Originally Posted By cb69: Just to be clear. Not having a ground is dangerous if there is a problem. If something goes wrong and you are touching the wrong thing, You become the ground. He probably explained that but you should be aware. Pretty odd having been built in the 70s with no ground? Maybe early 70s. I don’t remember when they started making it mandatory. |
If life was easy nobody would quit.
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Ha, I have a stranger one than that. My front porch light is on a three switch panel. 1-porch. 2-foyer light and 3-armoire light. Turn all three on and the porch light will go off after about 40 seconds. It might come back on or I have to flip the switch two or three times and it will come on. Then it might stay on or it might decide to go off after a couple of minutes. After it does this foolishness a few times it stays on all night. All three switches are new and I copied the wiring exactly. The circuit breaker never trips and the porch light receptacle is fairly new. The old one did it also. Hmm… ETA- built in 1968 and the other lights never even flicker. |
OK, see you later, Redcoat…
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Originally Posted By DVCER: Pretty odd having been built in the 70s with no ground? Maybe early 70s. I don’t remember when they started making it mandatory. My parents house was built in 1954-1955, and it had grounds on everything. It sounds like somebody got away with murder on this one. |
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Originally Posted By ScottsGT: Maybe he was saying the house was wired with outdated technology? Originally Posted By ScottsGT: Originally Posted By Bulldog8: A ground wire is outdated technology? I question your electrician's knowledge. Maybe he was saying the house was wired with outdated technology? 
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The OP either shut it down for the night or is in the bathroom covered in shoe polish from belt to knees trying to get the lighting right -Sierra5
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Originally Posted By ske714: These are handy. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08QW7K1JJ?tag=arfcom00-20 https://media.kleintools.io/images/original/klein/rt250_callout_2_b.jpg That’s awesome, I didn’t know those existed. The last thing I need is another meter, and I have a couple of the dumb version of this. No real immediate need. Guess I’m ordering one. 
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