I fixed me electrical problem...so happy now.

[SoFlorida]

I moved in 3 weeks ago into my first mobile home and my first night was really bad.

Strike one: No cable or internet: Comcast told me to just connect it myself. It didn't work so I had to stare at the walls and just watch content already on my computer for a week. .

Strike two: Go into my car to try and start it to drive to the laundry room and it's dead.

Strike three: Go to plug something in and all the power goes out to half of the house. No AC in the bedroom , No Bathroom light or exhaust fan, No living room AC, no ceiling fans in either bedroom.

It could have been worse, at least half the electric still worked and my fridge and stove still did as well as the wall sockets on that side of the house.

I was able to buy a heavy gauge extension cord and run my bedroom 5000 btu AC with it.

I called the handyman who did some work to check out what happened and also he had forgotten some drill bits. He said he would call me w hen he was in the area but never called me back after that. .

Today I decided to try it myself since it's 3 weeks now. I was just afraid that changing that socket that blew everything out was not gonna fix the problem and I was thinking I had to spend thousands to fix half the electric in my house. Plus electricity is scary to me.

Problem 1: Cable company came a week later and installed a new cable line the old one was bad.

Problem 2: Called the motor club the next day. When they got there I told him about it either being the starter or a negative cable loose. He wiggled it, as did I previously and it started right up. Drove to Walmart (where I bought it) and they tightened it up for me.

Problem 3: I had bought an electrical socket the next day but was waiting for the handyman to do it. Since he never showed up I decided to try myself. (3 weeks after the problem started)

I had watch a Youtube video plus when removing the old one I carefully watched where everything went and took pictures just in case. It was more confusing because the wires were pushed in instead of around a screw, but I figured it out.

First i obviously shut all the breaker switches and the master switches and checked to make sure the electric was off by trying to turn something on. The I disconnected the old socket, attached the new one, turned the power on and my ceiling fan stated to turn, so I new I was good.

I'm so happy that my problem was resolved by replacing a socket that only cost a few bucks

I might install some heavy duty outlets with breakers for my window AC units now that I know it's not that hard to do.

[Greg]

I would still have it checked. It bothers me that half of the home is on ONE breaker. I could see 1/4 or even half of the OUTLETS on one breaker, the lights on 2 more.

It looks to me like someone has done some not so fancy rewiring.

Greg

[Greg S]

Problem 2: Called the motor club the next day. When they got there I told him about it either being the starter or a negative cable loose. He wiggled it, as did I previously and it started right up. Drove to Walmart (where I bought it) and they tightened it up for me.

You knew that the problem was possibly the battery cable and didn't bother to try and tighten it before calling the motor club. And neither you or the motor club guy bothered to tighten it after you proved it was the cable. You had to take it to a mechanic to tighten a nut ???????????.

You may want to keep a very available handyman on speed dial.

[SoFlorida]

I would still have it checked. It bothers me that half of the home is on ONE breaker. I could see 1/4 or even half of the OUTLETS on one breaker, the lights on 2 more.

It looks to me like someone has done some not so fancy rewiring.

Greg

Did that mean it's one one breaker? I don't know about that stuff. I just know it's working now. It's a small MH 12 X 48, you can see down from the breaker box there are only two wires coming out. I know there is a connection to the shed too because my hot water heater is in there and that didn't go out. I also have a connection for a stove/oven, guessing it's 220.

But thanks I will keep an eye on it. I'm guessing the problem was that one outlet that was blocking the electricity from getting to the others and it was about 12 feet from the breaker box.

I had a previous problem with an outlet but had that fixed and replaced. there were dozens of spider eggs in there. Luckily by the time I moved in the spiders were gone. I didn't even know they laid eggs, never even thought about it, but they were a good size like a small jelly bean.

[SoFlorida]

Problem 2: Called the motor club the next day. When they got there I told him about it either being the starter or a negative cable loose. He wiggled it, as did I previously and it started right up. Drove to Walmart (where I bought it) and they tightened it up for me.

You knew that the problem was possibly the battery cable and didn't bother to try and tighten it before calling the motor club. And neither you or the motor club guy bothered to tighten it after you proved it was the cable. You had to take it to a mechanic to tighten a nut ???????????.

You may want to keep a very available handyman on speed dial.

The motor club guy said he didn't have tools to tighten it. I don't either plus I have a fear of electricity. and I a breaker I can shut off, a car battery I can't,

[HouseMedic]

I would still have a licensed electrician check out your place. If you have aluminum wire in the home you might have had a bad wire somewhere and it is just a coincidence that it came back on after you changed the outlet. Did you see a problem with the outlet that you changed?
Electric is nothing to guess at, it could cause a fire or even worse a life. I was working in a house one time and the one light flickered and then for three days while I was still there nothing else happened. Two months later when the old tenant moved out the owner wanted some closet doors changed and while I was there I thought I saw a flicker again. I opened up the breaker box and found a broken and burnt off wire going to the breaker and if I did not see it it could have easily started a fire. It was arcing like crazy.

Get it checked out.

Ron

[JeffInFL]

Plus electricity is scary to me.

I hear ya .. when I first moved in, I would go outside and turn off the main power going to the house before doing anything electrical. I've gotten more brave since then, and now I just shut off the main switch in the breaker box. Even then, I still test an outlet before I do anything with it. In the past few months, I've replaced half of the switches and outlets and haven't zapped myself once!

[SoFlorida]

I would still have a licensed electrician check out your place. If you have aluminum wire in the home you might have had a bad wire somewhere and it is just a coincidence that it came back on after you changed the outlet. Did you see a problem with the outlet that you changed?
Electric is nothing to guess at, it could cause a fire or even worse a life. I was working in a house one time and the one light flickered and then for three days while I was still there nothing else happened. Two months later when the old tenant moved out the owner wanted some closet doors changed and while I was there I thought I saw a flicker again. I opened up the breaker box and found a broken and burnt off wire going to the breaker and if I did not see it it could have easily started a fire. It was arcing like crazy.

Get it checked out.

Ron

The outlet went out because one of the black wires was loose. It must have come off when I tired to plug something in, first the power went out (half the place) and I was able to turn it back on in the breaker box. Then when I tried to plug something in again that whole side failed.

Now I know what to look for and I will replace an outlet that seems to be a problem before using it again. I will keep in mind geeing an electrician to check things out.

I don't know if it's aluminum or not, but I don't think it is. The place was upgraded some time in the past and I doubt they would spend money on laminate hardwood floors and putting in a newer (than 70s) bathroom and keep bad electric in place. The breaker box doesn't look too old, and I saw another unit while looking to buy that still had the ones you plug the fuses into.

[Norm Frechette]

[quote="SoFlorida]The outlet went out because one of the black wires was loose. It must have come off when I tired to plug something in, first the power went out (half the place) and I was able to turn it back on in the breaker box. Then when I tried to plug something in again that whole side failed. [/quote]

this to me indicates a professional electrician should be called in to evaluate the entire electrical system BEFORE future failures occur.

[ponch37300]

YOU ARE VERY LUCKY THE PLACE DIDN'T BURN DOWN. I want to make sure you and others understand how dangerous this situation actually was so my post might get long so bear with me. Ignoring electrical issues is as dangerous as working with electricity.

I grew up working with electricity and even spent a few years working as an electrician out of high school so electricity to me is easy and safe as long as you treat it with respect. With that said if you don't know electricity or it scares you that is perfectly fine. BUT if you don't know electricity and there is a problem PLEASE call an ELECTRICIAN to have them look at things. Electricity isn't something you want to be guessing on while learning. A handy man is good for some things, but there is a reason electricians have to be licensed to do the work they do. Please don't wait 3 weeks for the problem to be looked at or fixed.

From what you said it sounds like you had a loose or bad connection at that outlet. When you have a loose or bad connection it can arc. When it arcs it creates a spark, the size of that spark depends on the load on that circuit. An A/C is a heavy load and can create a big spark. This can lead to the plastic of the outlet melting or burning. Or the wood or paper on insulation starting on fire. Very dangerous situation. Arc fault circuit interrupters have been code for a while now in bedrooms and in the 2008 NEC they expanded to dining rooms and living rooms. These codes apply to new construction but the 2011 NEC does call for AFCI protection in existing homes if you are doing remodeling. Not all states have adopted the 2011 NEC and some have their own amendments but eventually AFCI breakers will be standard for bedrooms, living rooms, and dining rooms.

This is a situation where you should have shut the breaker off going to those outlets and called an electrician. From your post it sounds like the breaker tripped once and you turned it back on and waited for the handy man to come take a look at it. Some handymen are probably pretty good with electricity and might know what they are doing, but there are probably a lot more that don't know what they are doing. When a breaker trips it's telling you there is a problem. The most common way to trip a breaker is when you overload your circuit. But there is other situations like you found that the breaker will trip that is more dangerous then overloading the circuit.

Running a heavy gauge extension cord isn't always a good alternative either. You have to know that the outlet you are plugging that extension cord into and the circuit that is on can handle that. Plugging a 12 gauge HD extension cord into a 15 amp circuit that has 14 gauge wiring is pointless. You also have to know what else is on that circuit that will be used at the same time. A new 5000BTU A/C unit draws around 5-6 amps. Older units draw more and motor inrush current at start up can draw significantly more amps.

How many circuit breakers are in your panel? You say only two wires coming out of it but I have a feeling there are more, especially if you have 220 circuits for your stove and water heater. On my house one circuit breaker controls the two kids bedrooms and the bathroom lights and one wall in our living room. So if that breaker were to trip almost "half" our house would be off. So I wouldn't be to worried about half the house being on one circuit if it's just low load bedrooms. Now in the kitchen we have two circuits for our outlets and lights on another because the stuff you use there are higher load.

Aluminum wiring is silver, otherwise you should have copper colored or goldish colored wires under the insulation.

My suggestion is to call an electrician out to take a look at things. It will probably be around 100-200 bucks to get a licensed electrician out for an hour or two to check things out. It will be money WELL spent in your situation. Have him go over the panel and the circuits and test the outlets. Can also talk to them about adding circuits and other questions you might have. If you want to add the outlets yourself you still can but at least you will have some advice from him about what he would do to add them before you start. He won't tell you how to do them but if you just ask him about adding some outlets on new circuits he will tell you if it can be done and a little bit about what is involved. Please don't have a "handyman" come out to check your electrical or to add a circuit. It's like rolling the dice on weather or not they will do it to code since they are most likely not licensed and won't pull a permit.

If you are going to be doing ANY more electrical work yourself you need to get some tools. They are cheaper then hiring an electrician to add an outlet and worth the cost to save your life or prevent a fire. They make all sorts of tester from multimeters to non contact voltage testers. Different ones for different situations. But you need a way to be 110% sure your power is off before working on it. Also go to the library or home depot and buy a book on electrical work and read up on it. Like I said before it really is pretty easy, AS LONG AS you know the basics and treat it with respect. You have to know what your doing, it's not really a "learn as you go" type thing because getting something wrong can have really bad consequences. In my opinion everyone should have a basic understanding of electricity and how it works so they won't plug a million Christmas lights into one outlet and use a ton of outlet strips and cause a fire.

I know my post is long but I can't stress enough how dangerous your situation was and how bad your situation could have been and how doing the right thing and calling an electrician to fix this right away might cost a few bucks but it is a lot cheaper then what could have been by letting it go for three weeks not knowing what was wrong. I would still pay the 100-200 bucks to have an electrician come out and just go over everything to see if there are any other hidden issues.

[SoFlorida]

Okay, thanks for the advice guys.

[SoFlorida]

Good news, I have copper wire. The problem was because there was corrosion because it was overheated at some point because of the backstabbed terminal. The one I put in has the wires screwed now.

[ponch37300]

Good news, I have copper wire. The problem was because there was corrosion because it was overheated at some point because of the backstabbed terminal. The one I put in has the wires screwed now.

I hate backstabbing outlets. I'm not sure how that passes UL listing and code but it does somehow. I've seen so many that have come out. Always use the screws on the sides as you did. How many more outlets do you think are backstabbed and a ticking time bomb to cause a fire?

[SoFlorida]

Good news, I have copper wire. The problem was because there was corrosion because it was overheated at some point because of the backstabbed terminal. The one I put in has the wires screwed now.

I hate backstabbing outlets. I'm not sure how that passes UL listing and code but it does somehow. I've seen so many that have come out. Always use the screws on the sides as you did. How many more outlets do you think are backstabbed and a ticking time bomb to cause a fire?

20 maybe. I don't really know. I am going to get an outlet meter and replace any ones that seem to be a problem.

[HouseMedic]

The only outlet tester that is out there just checks to see if you have the ground and the hot and neutral wires in the right places. Ground to Green, White to silver (Neutral) and Black to black (Hot) It will not tell you if there is something that is bad unless it is not working at all.

Ron