# Outlets and dining room lights don't work



## NewEnglandCamper (Nov 5, 2011)

I came home to find out that some of the living room outlets, dining room light, and porch light no longer works.  I checked the breaker and everything seems fine. 

Could the outlets need to be changed out to fix the problem in the circuit? 

Any suggestions?


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## joecaption (Nov 5, 2011)

Look  for a tripped GFI outlet. May even be out on the porch, bathroom or kitchen.


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## NewEnglandCamper (Nov 5, 2011)

I checked all the GFI outlets. Unless there is a hidden one somewhere. Could it be something else?


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## joecaption (Nov 5, 2011)

Might be in the Garage.


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## JoeD (Nov 7, 2011)

Turn the breaker OFF then ON. Sometimes they still look ON when they are tripped.


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## AdamFoose1 (Nov 8, 2011)

Can anyone help, when buying a old house if all outlets are two prong and there is no ground wire lead there, how do you change them to the three prong outlets? Do I have to add a ground wire some how??


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## BridgeMan (Nov 9, 2011)

You'd be far better off to run completely new Romex (w/ ground) to all of the outlets, switches and fixtures.  Adding just a ground wire would be no easier, but you'd still be living with out-dated insulation (more prone to over-heating and igniting) on the hot and neutral wires in the walls.

Don't even think of cheating by running a short pigtail between the neutral and ground leads of new 3-prong outlets--that's a "no-no".


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## JoeD (Nov 9, 2011)

You should not have even mentioned the bootleg ground.

If  you truely need the ground then running new cable is the best solution.
If you only need the three prong hole then GFCI is an option. You will still not have a ground connection but can legally replace the two prong receptacles with three prong receptacles if they are GFCI protected.


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## joecaption (Nov 9, 2011)

Adam it's best if you add your own post so the ansewers you get do not get confused with the orginal posters replys.
By you not having a ground that also tells me you have an undersized main line coming into the house, to small a breaker box and most likly fuses not breakers, under sized and failing wiring behind the walls, not enough outlets per room and no GFI's in the kitchen, bathroom, garage and basement if there is one.


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## JoeD (Nov 9, 2011)

joecaption said:


> Adam it's best if you add your own post so the ansewers you get do not get confused with the orginal posters replys.
> By you not having a ground that also tells me you have an undersized main line coming into the house, to small a breaker box and most likly fuses not breakers, under sized and failing wiring behind the walls, not enough outlets per room and no GFI's in the kitchen, bathroom, garage and basement if there is one.



How do you get all these defects from just not having a ground?


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## joecaption (Nov 10, 2011)

To Joe D
I've been working on 100 plus year old houses for over 30 years. That was just a list of some of the things I find everyday with houses so old there's no ground.


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## NewEnglandCamper (Dec 3, 2011)

Well I found the solution to my problem. I changed the electrical outlet on one of my outlets. It looked like the wires were a bit burnt.  This solved the rest of the circuit problem. 

Now I'm going to post my next issue! 

thanks,

Bob


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## nealtw (Dec 3, 2011)

Did you find pigtails hooked to the outlet or were all the wires attached to the outlet?


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## nealtw (Dec 3, 2011)

In your new post you said black wire"s". There should be one wire to one screw and as was suggested remove the little joinner between the screws that have red and black wires.


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## JTGP (Dec 3, 2011)

AdamFoose1 said:


> Can anyone help, when buying a old house if all outlets are two prong and there is no ground wire lead there, how do you change them to the three prong outlets? Do I have to add a ground wire some how??



Odd question here. Is your house piped? Some older homes in the past have been piped. My house is 50+ years old and I piped her!


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