Electrical Troubleshooting in Phoenix: Dead Outlets, Flickering Lights, Tripping Breakers

Things to check before you call

Some of these you can check yourself:

1. Reset every GFCI in the house. Those are the outlets with test and reset buttons: kitchen, bathrooms, garage, outside, laundry. One GFCI often protects outlets in other rooms. A dead bathroom outlet is often a tripped GFCI in the garage.
2. Check the breaker panel. A tripped breaker often sits in the middle, not all the way to off. Push it fully off, then back on.
3. Try a different bulb. A flickering light is often just a loose or dying bulb.
4. Check the switch. Some outlets are controlled by a wall switch, usually the top or bottom half of one outlet in a living room or bedroom. Someone may have turned it off.

If none of that does it, it's a visit.

Dead outlet, breaker on

When the breaker's fine and no GFCI is tripped, a wire has come loose somewhere on the circuit. Outlets on a circuit are wired in a chain, and when a connection fails at one outlet, every outlet after it goes dead. The dead outlet is usually not the problem. The last working outlet before it, or the first dead one, is. Push-in connections on the back of old outlets are the usual culprit. We trace the chain, find the failed connection, and remake it on the screw terminals.

Flickering and dimming lights

• One light flickers: the bulb, the socket, or a loose connection at the fixture or its switch.
• Lights on a dimmer flicker: the dimmer and bulbs don't match.
• Lights dim briefly when the AC or a big appliance starts: normal if it's slight. Air conditioners pull a lot of current for a second when they start.
• Lights in several rooms flicker or dim badly, or brighten and dim on their own: a loose connection at the panel or at the utility's connection to the house. That's urgent, so call us right away. If it's on the utility's side, we'll tell you.

Breakers that trip

A breaker trips because the circuit pulled more than it's rated for, or because something shorted. A breaker that trips when the microwave and toaster run together is overloaded, and the fix is to move something to another circuit, or to add a circuit. A breaker that trips the instant it's reset has a short, and nothing on that circuit should be used until it's found. A breaker that trips randomly with nothing much running may be the breaker itself wearing out.

A breaker that feels hot, buzzes, or won't reset at all is a panel problem, and we can help with that too.

Warm plates, burning smells, buzzing

These mean heat where there shouldn't be any. Turn off the breaker for that outlet or switch and don't use it until it's looked at. A warm outlet plate is usually a loose connection or a worn outlet carrying a heavy load, and that's a quick replacement. A burning smell from a wall with no outlet near it is a wiring problem, and it shouldn't wait.

What we find most often in Phoenix homes

• Push-in outlet connections from the '80s and '90s that have loosened
• A GFCI in the garage controlling the outside and bathroom outlets, tripped by a wet patio outlet after a monsoon storm
• LED bulbs on old dimmers
• Aluminum wiring in some late-'60s and '70s homes, which needs special connectors at every outlet and switch. If your house has it, we'll tell you, and we can help with the fix.
• Outlets and switches that were replaced by a previous owner with the wires in the wrong place

How it starts

Tell us what stopped working, when, and what else was going on. Which rooms are affected. Whether the breaker is tripped. Whether anything was recently plugged in or replaced. Quotes are free. For a troubleshooting visit, you get a fixed price for the diagnosis, and a price for the fix once it's found. Levi is on site.