Among the many things I know little about is electricity, and specifically in this instance how to diagnose the following problem:
Few days ago I noticed my water softener LED panel was blank, typically it shows gallons until recharge & some other data. My first thought was the panel itself went dead but then I plugged a lamp into that outlet & I realized there was no power to it. I went to the box & found the breaker that was tripped & flipped it on, heard a buzzing/vibration type sound coming from an adjacent room & it shut right back off.
I then did a survey of all outlets on that circuit, altogether 7, spread out over three total rooms. Two of the outlets also contain light switches for overhead lights which are also of course dead.
To narrow this down I unplugged everything that was plugged into these affected outlets. I then tried to turn the breaker back on & it did the same thing, the buzzing sound followed up shutting off. I’m thinking something is shorted out but there’s nothing on the circuit now.
Next I pulled the covers off of all outlets to visually inspect, thinking I might identify something burned or chewed up, no luck. I then pulled the cover off the breaker box to look at the breaker itself for anything that might reveal, nothing.
So that is the extent of my ideas. I’m thinking that the breaker itself may have gone bad, or there’s a wire somewhere behind a wall that’s been compromised, likely by a good for nothing but destruction liberal. I mean rodent.
I’d usually call an electrician at this point as I’m only good for changing outlets, switches & installing ceiling fans but before I pull the trigger and call someone can anyone point me in a different direction that might help identify & fix this issue? Based upon the above does it make any sense to change the breaker & see if that solves the problem? I’ve never done that but I have a main power shut off outside on the box so I think I can make the change without killing myself, or is that a waste of time given the symptoms?
Few days ago I noticed my water softener LED panel was blank, typically it shows gallons until recharge & some other data. My first thought was the panel itself went dead but then I plugged a lamp into that outlet & I realized there was no power to it. I went to the box & found the breaker that was tripped & flipped it on, heard a buzzing/vibration type sound coming from an adjacent room & it shut right back off.
I then did a survey of all outlets on that circuit, altogether 7, spread out over three total rooms. Two of the outlets also contain light switches for overhead lights which are also of course dead.
To narrow this down I unplugged everything that was plugged into these affected outlets. I then tried to turn the breaker back on & it did the same thing, the buzzing sound followed up shutting off. I’m thinking something is shorted out but there’s nothing on the circuit now.
Next I pulled the covers off of all outlets to visually inspect, thinking I might identify something burned or chewed up, no luck. I then pulled the cover off the breaker box to look at the breaker itself for anything that might reveal, nothing.
So that is the extent of my ideas. I’m thinking that the breaker itself may have gone bad, or there’s a wire somewhere behind a wall that’s been compromised, likely by a good for nothing but destruction liberal. I mean rodent.
I’d usually call an electrician at this point as I’m only good for changing outlets, switches & installing ceiling fans but before I pull the trigger and call someone can anyone point me in a different direction that might help identify & fix this issue? Based upon the above does it make any sense to change the breaker & see if that solves the problem? I’ve never done that but I have a main power shut off outside on the box so I think I can make the change without killing myself, or is that a waste of time given the symptoms?