I was ironing the other day when the circuit went dead. When I went to the box, the circuit breaker was not tripped. But I turned it off and back on anyway. An overhead light on the circuit went on briefly and then all went dead again without tripping the breaker. When my main handy one came home to check, the same thing. She unplugged everything and reset the breaker. Still the same. So she checked took off the box cover and checked the circuit as it came off the breaker. 125 volts as expected. All outlets were dead however. So she pulled the outlet that I had the iron plugged into when the problem started. Replaced it. Now the overhead light didn't go on at all.

Do I now have to go through and remove each outlet and switch or should I be concerned that the breaker is faulty? I can't get the power to go on long enough to do things like plugging in one at a time and such.

Thanks,

I would make sure power coming out of breaker before looking for power in recepticles.
I would look at connection where breaker makes Electrical Connection with buss.
For now, reverse the 2 wires on 2 breakers, will confirm bad breaker.
Plus wire needs to be tight on breaker and neutrals tight. Would Tighten all, eleminate as cause.

There is a loose connection at one of the outlets in the circuit, esp if the wires are pushed into the back of the device, instead of wrapping around the screw. The can be a loose splice also in any outlets box.

Only way to find this is to open each outlet box checking all connections.

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Originally Posted by Karen Kilowatt

I was ironing the other day when the circuit went dead. When I went to the box, the circuit breaker was not tripped. But I turned it off and back on anyway. An overhead light on the circuit went on briefly and then all went dead again without tripping the breaker. When my main handy one came home to check, the same thing. She unplugged everything and reset the breaker. Still the same. So she checked took off the box cover and checked the circuit as it came off the breaker. 125 volts as expected. All outlets were dead however. So she pulled the outlet that I had the iron plugged into when the problem started. Replaced it. Now the overhead light didn't go on at all.

Do I now have to go through and remove each outlet and switch or should I be concerned that the breaker is faulty? I can't get the power to go on long enough to do things like plugging in one at a time and such.

Thanks,

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Thanks Guys, I suspected as much. Since I had checked the breaker voltage first and it was OK. I'll start taking things apart. The first one was "pushed in" and pretty short at that. In fact, it took me hours to try to get the wires hooked up to pig tails to try to do it right. Any hints on what to do when the wires in the box are too short to hook up correctly?

If wires too short, pigtails are probably your best soultion, If it was my house, I would remove all recepticles and connect around screws. Since you are making all new connections, I would replace with Decora Style Recepticles and Switches. That style is common with most lighting, automation, audio, etc...