It can be frustrating to plug your phone into an outlet only to discover that it isn’t working. Worse than that, the outlets around it seem to be working just fine. What gives? The good news is that you can often fix the problem yourself.
Anatomy of an Electrical Outlet?
The vertical slots on an outlet are called “shutters”, and the small hole under them is the “ground.” Most outlets are either 2-prong or 3-prong. If you live in an older home, you probably have outlets that don’t have the “ground” hole. This is also an indication that your home has older wiring that you may want to think about updating.
Troubleshooting Electrical Outlets Not Working
1. Plug something different into the outlet. Doing this will let you know if it might be your cell phone charger that isn’t working rather than the outlet itself.
2. Test the other outlets to see if they’re working. Most of the time you will lose power to nearby outlets when one isn’t working. Plug you phone charger into other outlets in the room to see if they have power. If all the outlets are dead, you may have an issue with the breaker panel.
3. Flip a light switch in the room to figure out if you have a half-hot outlet. You may have plugger your phone into an outlet that is powered by a switch on the wall. It is usually the bottom half of the outlet. You may need to flip the switch on the wall for the outlet to work.
4. If it’s GFCI outlet, you may need to reset it. Ground fault circuit interrupters are installed in kitchens, bathrooms, and laundry rooms-anywhere near water. They are designed to cut power if they sense a surge in electricity. This of course minimizes the risk of electrocution. You can reset it by pushing the small rectangular button in the center of the outlet.
5. Check the breaker panel. The breaker box has multiple switches with each one controlling the power to a different part of your home. You will see a row of switches labeled “OFF” on one side and “ON” on the other. When a breaker flips it will be in the middle. Simply flip it OFF first and then ON. This should fix the problem.
6. Overloaded electrical outlet. You may need to unplug something that might have overloaded the circuit if flipping the breaker panel didn’t fix the problem. The circuit will continue to flip if you keep trying to draw more electricity from the circuit than it can handle. If the breaker flipped and you haven’t overloaded the circuit, you may have a short circuit. This can be a dangerous situation and needs to be looked at by an electrician.
Electrical Services in Delray Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, Jupiter & Boca Raton & Palm Beach County Florida
If these steps haven’t worked, you may need to call an electrician. The wiring system in your home is complex and electricians have the experience to pinpoint exactly what the problem is and how to fix it safely contact the professionals at Simon Electric.
