dying outlet?

scratchzilla

scratchzilla

A friend came over last night to play some music with
me. We experienced something weird. The amplifiers
would work like normal for about 5 minutes, and the
fade out completely. We would have to unplug them
and then plug them back in, and again 5 minutes later
they would stop working. They were getting enough power to stay on, just not enough to operate. Now the
amps were plugged into the same outlet I was using
to run my 250w light, until that shit the bed on me.
Well, it got me thinking, and so today I tried plugging
that light into a different outlet, and wouldn't you
know, it fired right up! So is the outlet just at the end of it's lifespan? Would replacing it do anything, or do
you think there's something else at play?
 
That is some scarry shit mang. I would say you have a faulty breaker in your panel and now the wire and outlet have been compromised. It would have been nice to check the breaker for heat while this was happening. Breakers should trip when overloaded and yours was not. Whoa...

First, identify the breaker for that specific outlet/circuit.
Second, check the breaker for any visible damage. Be VERY CAREFUL and DONT TOUCH ANYTHING! Take the cover off to VISIBLY inspect for any heat damage to the wire coming out of that breaker.
Third, while breaker is OFF, remove outlet cover and outlet device from wall box (two screws top and bottom). Check again for heat damage to device and/or wires. Repeat inspections on ALL other outlets/switches/lights on that circuit. If no damage is visible anywhere, I would still replace the breaker itself and you should be ok. If damage is visible... and I mean this, CALL AN ELECTRICIAN.

What brand is your panel and breakers? 'Square D'? 'Bryant'? etc...?

This could be going on in your panel, but call an electrician to perform this inspection...
View attachment 8940

This is what can happen when a breaker is not functioning properly.


Keep us posted on what you find out. I will try to get SalsaLady in here, she is the best electrician I have ever known. (and I have been a General Contractor for 20 years)
 
id like to mention that i have had outlets literally break apart on me before. the ones in my garage have been untouched for the life of the house(30+years), on two occasions they have cracked and come apart on me after some light abuse. they never shorted or anything, just cracked in half.  they were in a super hot garage for 30 years, and probably crap quality to begin with, but never the less.
 
ill let the real electricians comment on what might be happening... however might want to pop that breaker till you know for sure whats happening... 
 
+1 to Scovie's comments - that dude seems to be helpful with everything.
Its also worth checking for a GFI on another outlet on that circuit. It could be faulty and only 'partially' tripped. If you find one, test and reset and see if anything changes. If it turns out to be the problem I would replace it.
...also, check you smoke alarms :)
 
you can stick a multimeter into the outlet to see if you're still getting anything, then take the outlet off and see if the wires are still getting anything. If so then you may just need to buy a new outlet which is cheap @ lowes/depot

i'm assuming you already checked the breaker. And checking for the little reset switch is up on any of the outlets is good too.
 
you may also have been putting yourself into a brownout state, the total items on a circuit drawing greater than 80% of the circuits rated amperage. perhaps running an extension cord from another circuit would have allowed you guys to rock on. barring any breaker damage, perhaps there are more items drawing on the circuit you plugged into.
 
here is a pic of my panel, you can see i outlined the rooms and items on each circuit. i had to do this because the wife is notorious for buying shit and plugging everything into the kitchen circuits running the 1200W microwave, turning on the 1500W kettle, running her new 350W mixer, turning on all the lights anything to make that old meter spin faster. so, i am always resetting the breakers. so when all our lights go off but are neighbour's lights are on, down to the basement i go and i have a flash light mounted right at the breaker because it happens so often.
 
 
Burning Colon said:
the wife is notorious for buying shit and plugging everything into the kitchen circuits running the 1200W microwave, turning on the 1500W kettle, running her new 350W mixer, turning on all the lights anything to make that old meter spin faster. so, i am always resetting the breakers.
Click to expand...
Quick fix to this is splice two male ends of an extension cord together and bridge two different circuits :) Less that optimal for sure, but its what I ended up doing for a while when I couldn't find the damned GFI because it was behind a pile of boxes. Disclaimer: Don't do that
 
OK, DON'T do what Impending said!!!  That worked for that scenario, definitely would NOT work for Scratchy's situation!!!!!
 
 
What usually happens in these situations is- when a circuit is being used, especially with a heavy load, things heat up and expand, then when the load is turned off, the wire, connectors etc contract.  Over time of this expansion/contraction cycle wire nuts and terminal screws work loose and you have a bad connection.  This could be what's happening with the amp situation.  Using the amp the wires start cool, then expand as they heat up and the connection is lost.  Turn off for 5 minutes, things cool down and they work again....until it heats up again... 
 
It could be a loose connection, a bad breaker or it could be the bits inside the receptacle that have worn out from years of use.  There's really no way to remotely diagnose the issue.  Things need to be looked at with a meter in hand.   
 
You could try replacing the receptacle if you feel comfortable tackling that job.  Cheap components do wear out like what happened to queequeg.  Or it could be a connection somewhere in the circuit, it could be in the panel.  Some brands of panels are notorious for doing what Scovie showed a picture of.  If you don't have a reasonable working knowledge of electricity and electrical systems, call a pro. 
 
 
 
 
 
PS- thanks Scovie~ xoxo   
 
:) yea, good on ya for that!  :lol:
 
Burning Colon said:
you may also have been putting yourself into a brownout state, the total items on a circuit drawing greater than 80% of the circuits rated amperage. perhaps running an extension cord from another circuit would have allowed you guys to rock on. barring any breaker damage, perhaps there are more items drawing on the circuit you plugged into.
 
here is a pic of my panel, you can see i outlined the rooms and items on each circuit. i had to do this because the wife is notorious for buying shit and plugging everything into the kitchen circuits running the 1200W microwave, turning on the 1500W kettle, running her new 350W mixer, turning on all the lights anything to make that old meter spin faster. so, i am always resetting the breakers. so when all our lights go off but are neighbor's lights are on, down to the basement i go and i have a flash light mounted right at the breaker because it happens so often.
 
 
Click to expand...
 
My $ is on the Scoville Scenario, possibly exacerbated by this sort of repeated overloading.  Check the huge breakers at the power entry point (if they exist), as well as the smaller ones in your breaker box that distribute juice to various parts of your house.  Grab the trip lever and wiggle the breaker body while someone watches your bulb.  If it flickers more than usual, or suddenly starts working great, you've found the ratty connection.
 
A voltmeter is handy (and a nice way to avoid killing yourself if you opt for DIY repairs!) but be sure to load the circuit when testing.  With no load, even a 99% dead connection will happily provide 120V at the outlet.
 
Cool, thanks for the input guys! I'll try replacing the receptacle, and call up my electrician buddy and get him over to poke around.
 
Turn off for 5 minutes, things cool down and they work again....until it heats up again...
Click to expand...
 
I had a mustang with a coil that cracked. Would start up and run just fine at first, then as soon as it got hot, die. Took forever to figure out wtf was wrong.
 
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