I’ve lost power to part of my home or business, what should I do?
I think that’s a question quite a few people ask themselves when they are having a problem with their electrical system. There are a few things you can check before you call that could save you the cost of a service call.
First off we get a few calls a month from customers about a loss of power to some specific outlets or part of their home. If you have several receptacles that don’t have power, it can be a good time to check for a GFCI receptacle. Many times builders will install one GFCI receptacle that will also be linked to several other outlets in your home. GFCI protection is required for receptacles in kitchens, bathrooms, garages, outdoors, and in laundry rooms. Say for instance your bathroom has lost power to the receptacle, chances are there is a GFCI receptacle in another bathroom or in the garage that has tripped and therefore shut off the power to the other receptacles it protects. The GFCI could also be part of the breaker in the panel so that’s another place to check.
If you have lost power to a section of your home or business it can be likely that a circuit has tripped due to overloading or a short circuit. You can check for a tripped breaker in your electrical panel. Breakers that are in their normal on or off position will have their handles to the far left or far right. When a breaker trips the handle will be set in the middle position. Many circuit breakers will have a trip indicator on them as well which will be a red or orange window on the breaker.
To reset a breaker that has tripped you will want to turn the breaker into the off position. Usually it will click or stay in this position. Once there switch it over to the on position. The breaker should stay on, but in the event that it does not and it trips again you likely have a short circuit somewhere and a qualified electrician should be called in to evaluate the situation.
If you have checked for both a tripped GFCI and a tripped circuit breaker and neither seem to be the problem its best to call in a professional like HB Electric Solutions to take a look at things. Many of these situations can be troubleshot and the problem fixed for a simple affordable service call. If you need an electrician to take a look at something similar to this in the Puyallup or greater south Puget Sound area give HB Electric Solutions a call at 253-256-7861. We can also be contacted via email at info@hbelectricsolutions.com and we will get back to you as quickly as we can to set up an appointment to get things fixed back up to normal.