Posted: 4/21/2012 5:06:35 PM EDT
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I have a question for any electrical experts in the house. I had an outlet in the kitchen suddenly quit working. I went out and checked the breaker and it was fine. I reset it anyway and the outlet still did not work. So I just left the outlet alone. The next day I went to try it and it now works fine again. The outlet does not have a reset button on it so I did not do anything to it. Any suggestions to what has happened and if it is a safety issue? |
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It sounds like you have a loose connection.
It could be a loose wire: 1. At the breaker (particularly if the breaker only serves that one outlet), 2. At the connection to the outlet itself, or 3. At another outlet that is also connected to the same breaker.* *It's common to see wiring that goes from the breaker to one outlet, then is connected from that outlet to another one, etc. If a loose connection develops at any outlet along that path, all the remaining outlets along that path will be affected. One other possibility is that the outlet may be controlled by a wall switch - and you aren't aware of the purpose of that wall switch. 
ETA: Loose connections can generate a lot of heat, so there is a fire hazard if you leave the circuit breaker to that outlet turned on. |
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Gotta watch that shit.
Wife plugged a in space heater in space heater in the living room. Because the outlets were old, and wired in the back, one loose wire caused EVERY DAMN OUTLET IN THE CIRCUIT TO FRY. I had to replace NINE outlets that night. Managed to lay a finger open on a sharp edge, to boot. 
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Quoted:
If it hadn't started working again, my guess would be that it's down-line from a GFCI outlet that has tripped. Is there someone else in your house who might have noticed a GFCI outlet was tripped and reset it? It is not a GFCI outlet. It is older. But I think I will go ahead and have it replaced. The circuit breaker controls all of the kitchen outlets not just the one by the way. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
If it hadn't started working again, my guess would be that it's down-line from a GFCI outlet that has tripped. Is there someone else in your house who might have noticed a GFCI outlet was tripped and reset it? It is not a GFCI outlet. It is older. But I think I will go ahead and have it replaced. The circuit breaker controls all of the kitchen outlets not just the one by the way. It can still be protected by a GFCI. You can feed multiple outlets out of the back of a GFCI. This is common and acceptable. Someone reset the GFCI. |
