AboutMaster Bob Expertise Master Electrician / Owner RKO Electric (USA Only) - can answer most of the typical residential, commercial and industrial electrical questions regarding new installations, wiring additions, lighting, switches and receptacle outlets and electrical upgrades of any nature.I will make every effort to respond to your questions as soon as possible at the end of the work day...very busy electrical company - your patience is appreciated. Stop by and see us at: www.rkoelectric.com
Experience Licensed Master Electrician with over 32 years licensed experience - updated with the latest NEC Codes every 3 years. Over see the daily electrical operations of two electrical companies. Also serve as a judge (for Electrical Contracting Products Magazine) to help select which new products are fit and safe for electricians and the electrical market.
Question I have an outlet in my dining room that all of sudden doesn't want to stay working right and when you have something plugged into it you have to jiggle it to make it work and just tonight it actually started sparking. I also have an outlet in my garage that doesn't work at all. What could be wrong?
Thank you
Answer Good Morning Kristy,
Based on your description...you clearly have a problem with the connections (or internally with the receptacle outlet itself) in the dining room receptacle outlet. It may be simply a loose connection of the wiring to the outlet...or the outlet may be worn internally and need to be replaced. And where you state you saw "sparking"....this arcing is not a good sign...for your safety - I do not recommend you continue to use this outlet and the circuit be shut down until the problem is found and corrected. Arcing can cause injury and the heat from arcing can potentially cause a fire.
If you have something that is plugged into it right now and is on...go to your panel and try to identify the breaker that controls that circuit and shut it off. Once the circuit is confirmed off.....reomove the outlet cover plate and then the outlet...and examine the connections (do not remove any wiring) - looking for any loose connections.If you find a loose screw connection...or a wire loose in a wirenut...re-tighten it..re-install the outlet and plate...and test. If no loose connections are evident...the outlet will need to be replaced. You must make sure the power to that dining room circuit is confirmed off before doing any examination or replacement. If you are uncomfortable with doing any of this work...a quick call to a local electrician is recommended.
There can be several reason why a receptacle outlet in the garage is not working...if the wiring was done in recent decades, by Code - the garage receptacle must be GFCI protected...and the GFCI may be tripped. But the GFCI can be installed anywhere...the basement, the kitchen, a bathroom or even outside...and feeding this garage receptacle downstream (a common approach to save on GFCI's) - so you may need to look around to find a GFCI that has tripped. If you find one...push the reset button in to see if power was restored to the garage receptacle outlet. There are several other possibilites for this garage outlet problem...just the above is the most common.
In either event...the circuit controlling the dining room receptacle outlet needs to be shut down until that problem is corrected. Both of these problems could be a quick fix by a local electrician (or even an experienced handy man)...so you may want to go that route..but if you decide to investigate either of these problems yourself...make sure the circuit breaker controlling those areas are shut off first.
Hope this helps Kristy...if you need more details or have new questions or information...please follow-up here or at the email below if you find me "maxed out".
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