Help- emergency electrician

It appear half of a circuit has stopped working.  Is that an emergency like immediate? Who would you call?

I'd flip the breaker for the circuit to off and call in a normal, not emergency visit.

You do mean circuit and not phase? Because that is more of a emergency.

Agree with Shadeaux - if one circuit is affected - however if you're talking phase - then the issue maybe with the lines from the pole to the house. One of them may be loose. But I doubt only one 'circuit' would be affected - it would be close to half the house without power. If that is the case - call PSEG. 

If half of your circuits are without power you may have a loose or damaged overhead aerial wire. It's very windy so perhaps a branch hit it. It could be hanging by a thread so if you would lose power completely then be extremely careful when going outside -- your wire may have come down. When in doubt definitely call the police department or fire department about a suspected downed main power line and ask them what to do.

good luck getting an electrician...I have had appointments with 3 and 2 others that said they would do the job..but they all backed out.....one said he had a death in the family...and just give him a few days....i gave him a week and got back to him...and nothing...

i assume you tried resetting the switch?  if the fridge is on that circuit...and you have a heavy duty extension cord run it to another outlet

We've had that 'half the house out' on several occasions; it always required a visit from PSE&G to do something on the pole outside. However, if it's an inside problem, I recently had a good experience with John Sileo, who was able to come promptly to handle the kind of small repairs many electricians aren't interested in -- 973 477 2625.

Thanks.  No it is definitely half of a circuit not half the house. For some reason entire kitchen is on one and dishwasher and overhead lights work but not the refrigerator and microwave.  It tripped when the  microwave was turned on.  After the hysteria and reflipping several circuits, we unplugged all appliances and that side of the room  came back on.  We have not plugged back in the microwave  but have plugged in fridge. Watcing everything carefully.  (new batteries in all smoke detectors too). Pulled one lightswitch with a dimmer control out and checked wiring.   

We used to have that happen with the microwave. Then we redid the kitchen and I asked for extra circuits - many extra circuits. The coffeemaker, toaster, stove, microwave, and fridge are all on their own separate circuits. Your kitchen sounds like you have only two circuits and the microwave tripped one. 

Did a GFCI outlet trip? 

Multiple things can be on the same circuit BUT you can only run 1 at a time!  Did the outlets have those reset buttons?

jmitw said:

Multiple things can be on the same circuit BUT you can only run 1 at a time!  Did the outlets have those reset buttons?

This is not correct. As long as the total amperage draw of the "multiple things" does not exceed the amperage of the circuit breaker and associated wiring, more than one "thing" can run.

jmitw said:

Multiple things can be on the same circuit BUT you can only run 1 at a time!  Did the outlets have those reset buttons?

if this is the case the circuit is undersized, you need to upgrade.... I find it hard to believe that a regular 15 or 20 amp circuit can not handle a microwave and other stuff on it.

jimmurphy said:

jmitw said:

Multiple things can be on the same circuit BUT you can only run 1 at a time!  Did the outlets have those reset buttons?

This is not correct. As long as the total amperage draw of the "multiple things" does not exceed the amperage of the circuit breaker and associated wiring, more than one "thing" "> can run.

The appliances aren't drawing anything when not in use..except maybe for the clock on a microwave....for example, a microwave, space heater, vacuum, toaster oven...

i had 2 window air conditioners on the same circuit...as well as a blow dryer....never a problem as long as I made sure I only used 1 at a time (it has since been corrected though so I can run everything at once if I want)

how can anything not running AT ALL be using any power that would exceed the amps?????  This assumes that none of the appliances individually is over the amps

jmitw said:

jimmurphy said:

jmitw said:

Multiple things can be on the same circuit BUT you can only run 1 at a time!  Did the outlets have those reset buttons?

This is not correct. As long as the total amperage draw of the "multiple things" does not exceed the amperage of the circuit breaker and associated wiring, more than one "thing" "> can run.

The appliances aren't drawing anything when not in use..except maybe for the clock on a microwave....for example, a microwave, space heater, vacuum, toaster oven...




i had 2 window air conditioners on the same circuit...as well as a blow dryer....never a problem as long as I made sure I only used 1 at a time (it has since been corrected though so I can run everything at once if I want)




how can anything not running AT ALL be using any power that would exceed the amps?????  This assumes that none of the appliances individually is over the amps

I am not saying that a non-running appliance has an effect. But people quite often expect to be able to use their toaster and their microwave at the same time. They need to either be on separate circuits or on a circuit with sufficient capacity to run both without tripping the breaker. 

onceinawhile, is your kitchen on a double breaker?  Meaning the switch itself is twice as wide and the whole thing takes up two slots in your panel?

It's just a hunch, but conceivably one half of a double breaker could have gone bad, which would cause half of your kitchen to be out of power.  Resetting it a couple of times might have fixed the problem but it might be a sign it needs to be replaced.

I'm betting it's a tripped gfci, as suggested earlier.

I thought about that too but I don't remember the OP saying anything about resetting an individual outlet, just the breakers.

I could be wrong.

But then again, I could be right.

the description was that half of the outlets on one circuit were out, but no breaker was thrown. 

FilmCarp said:

the description was that half of the outlets on one circuit were out, but no breaker was thrown. 

Where are you reading that no breaker was thrown? I read "reflipping several circuits". Nothing about no breaker being thrown.

I still maintain that my answer may be correct. 

I make no claim on the likelihood that it's correct.

I'm not arguing at all.  When they said in the second post that they had flipped the breakers, I figured that there was a good chance they got them all, but I could be wrong.  It has been my experience,  though, that in older houses a gfci in a bathroom or basement could be in the same circuit as almost anything.  I'm really not trying to pick a fight.  I'd love to hear what they found.

I'm not trying to pick a fight either.  It just sounds very strange.

Thanks everyone. Still a mystery. Power came back on all by itself after we unplugged Microwave. We have moved the microwave and are replacing several wall sockets checking the wiring at the sockets at each spot (there are three that were affected.) This room of appliances setup has been operational for almost thirty years in same configuration. Watching everything very carefully.

Also replaced all batteries in smoke detectors so we can sleep better a night.