Weird electrical problem

[Brian]

My electrical knowledge is limited.
The family room has a circuit for the outlets. Outlets are wired such that the is always live, and the other is switched by two switches.
The other day I plugged the vacuum into the switched outlet, and the vacuum came on for an instant, then off. No more power out of those. The always on outlet was fine.
I flipped the breaker, no change. Then I started looking at each outlet with a meter to see where power was going. No info gained.
I metered the switch that is closest to the circuit breaker (I think), and I'm not seeing any electrons there.
I'm assuming it can't be the breaker, as I'm getting power through part of the of it. Is that assumption true? Am I looking at a wiring issue? Or could I have two wires going to the breaker, and one is bad?

[wuapinmon]

Do you have more than one GFI on that circuit?

[Brian]

none that i know of. all regular outlets.

[calicoug]

My electrical knowledge is limited.
The family room has a circuit for the outlets. Outlets are wired such that the is always live, and the other is switched by two switches.
The other day I plugged the vacuum into the switched outlet, and the vacuum came on for an instant, then off. No more power out of those. The always on outlet was fine.
I flipped the breaker, no change. Then I started looking at each outlet with a meter to see where power was going. No info gained.
I metered the switch that is closest to the circuit breaker (I think), and I'm not seeing any electrons there.
I'm assuming it can't be the breaker, as I'm getting power through part of the of it. Is that assumption true? Am I looking at a wiring issue? Or could I have two wires going to the breaker, and one is bad?

Have you checked the wiring configuration on the two three-way switches? Sometimes they can get messed up where the breaker wouldn't be tripped but the configuration would be wrong (depending on the configuration, you might get power when you shouldn't or vice versa). It could also be that the wall switch was partially stuck when you plugged in the vacuum and was slightly jolted to "off" position shortly after you plugged in the vacuum.

If you are using a meter and show no power to the switched outlet I would try playing with the switch configurations and see if you always keep the power off when it is supposed to be off and if you always get power when you are supposed to. If so, I'd bet the switch was partially flipped.

[wuapinmon]

I suppose it couldn't hurt to replace the switch and see if that fixes it. However, calicoug seems to offer good advice for a starting point. I asked about the GFI's because I didn't know that you could only have one per circuit. So, when I put two in, not really understanding exactly how they worked, one of them kept cutting off the rest of the circuit, tripping the interrupt.

Yours sounds like an older circuit, so maybe the switch got overloaded. Sometimes it's worth calling an electrician though.

[Uncle Ted]

Are you getting any voltage on the non-switched outlets? If not and you don't have a GFI outlet in the circuit then I am guessing you have a bad breaker switch. The non-switched outlets are usually wired on the same circuit. Pull the breaker switch and check with an ohm meter.

[FN Phat]

Are you getting any voltage on the non-switched outlets? If not and you don't have a GFI outlet in the circuit then I am guessing you have a bad breaker switch. The non-switched outlets are usually wired on the same circuit. Pull the breaker switch and check with an ohm meter.

This. Uncle Ted is right on the money.

[Brian]

Are you getting any voltage on the non-switched outlets? If not and you don't have a GFI outlet in the circuit then I am guessing you have a bad breaker switch. The non-switched outlets are usually wired on the same circuit. Pull the breaker switch and check with an ohm meter.

The non-switched outlets are getting voltage.

[Uncle Ted]

The non-switched outlets are getting voltage.

Then it is most likely one of your 3-way switches, I am guessing. Here is how a pair of 3-way switches works:



But there are at least three different ways to wire this in practice. The easy thing to do is just check each switch with an ohm meter.

[Brian]

Then it is most likely one of your 3-way switches, I am guessing. Here is how a pair of 3-way switches works:



But there are at least three different ways to wire this in practice. The easy thing to do is just check each switch with an ohm meter.

Good point. I checked the one that I thought ran to the box, but I will check all of them. Then I will return and report.

But not until the game is over tonight.

[Joe Public]

I checked the one that I thought ran to the box, but I will check all of them. Then I will return and report.

The suspense is awful!

[Brian]

MEOW!
There was an outlet behind the couch that I forgot about it.
One of the neutrals on the outlet was loose, just barely connected.
Tightened her up, and the electrons now flow freely.

And my wife said we needed an electrician.
I'll take that 150 quid and buy a yellow belt buckle.
MEOW.

[wuapinmon]

I still can't believe how excited I was to know what the problem was. Seriously.