General Question

RocketSquid's avatar

Why does the power to my bedroom keep going out?

Asked by RocketSquid (3486points) January 1st, 2010

The breaker that leads to my room goes out randomly. Not often, but at least once a month everything will shut down. I can fix it by flipping the breaker, but I’m worried it’s a deeper problem.

I originally thought it was because I had a lot of electronics running and too many things plugged into one outlet, but after moving things around it still happens, even if the only things I have on are my alarm clock and desk lamp.

What should I look for that might be causing this? Is there anything I can do to possibly fix this myself before calling an electrician?

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7 Answers

JustPlainBarb's avatar

If you’ve already reset the breaker and moved things to other circuits and still have the same probem, my husband who is an elec. engineer says it sounds to him like it might be a breaker, circuit or wiring problem. You’ll probably need an electrician to look deeper into it. There are so many variables and we don’t know your level of expertise with this stuff. It’s really safer to have a professional look into it.

cornbird's avatar

This is happening because there is too much load in the system. When I say load I mean there are too many things that is using too much current and it exceeds the breakers current rating. What you can try first is unplugging certain electronic items that you have that takes alot of current load and plug it in elsewhere. Look at the devices that you have and see how much current rating it has on it. The one with the most, unplug it and plug it in another room. Try not to have too many items plugged into one outlet. This could also be a problem. If the problem persists call electrician.

Pretty_Lilly's avatar

You must have industrial heavy-duty sex toys which run on 240v rather than the 120v ! You need to upgrade your circuit breakers !! J/K
But seriously there could be a problem with your breakers and they might need to be replaced !!

cornbird's avatar

Check current rating on alarm clock

Merriment's avatar

You need to figure out all that is on that circuit. Sometimes random other areas are all on the same “run” and breaker and it’s something outside the bedroom causing the overload.

In any event you should have it checked out to be safe.

jerv's avatar

Moving things around the room won’t help if every outlet in the room is on the same circuit.

I had this issue a lot where I used to live since most of my downstairs was on the same circuit; all six outlets most of the way around a 20’x20’ room. That meant that running the vacuum would take out our TV, computer, cordless phone base unit, and most of the lighting unless we shut something else off.

However, without knowing how your house is wired, it’s really hard to say. Maybe there are outlets in another room on the same circuit?

woodcutter's avatar

after time and several breaker snaps, breakers tend to wear out more and become even more susceptible to tripping. If the home is old there may be outlets spread to other rooms in the house on the same circuit.. In the old days we didn’t need to have so many outlets because many electrical things weren’t invented yet as well as the guage of wiring may be smaller like 14 ga instead of 12ga. If you are using an electric portable room heater all will be well until the thermostat on the heater kicks it on and there will be a sudden power demand that might be more than the circuit will handle. We are in an old house so we have it figured out what to unplug or switch off when we want to turn something on. It’s a pain.

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