My power went out...but only in 2 rooms?

[kelvinhall05]

This afternoon I was testing an iMac with some old hdd's I had lying around, when the power suddenly goes out. I was confused, because the lights in the rest of the house were still working. Could I have overloaded the curcuit in some way? Is this permanent??!

[Drak3]

No, you either kicked a breaker or blown a fuse.

[kelvinhall05]

Just now, Drak3 said:

No, you either kicked a breaker or blown a fuse.

Uh oh...is that really bad??!

[DevilishBooster]

A breaker probably tripped, so check the breaker/fuse box. If you don't know anything about electrical systems then don't mess with it and find someone to check the breaker/fuse box for you. If you don't know what you're doing and touch the wrong thing in a breaker box it can kill you deader than Jacob Marley.

[TheKDub]

2 minutes ago, kelvinhall05 said:

This afternoon I was testing an iMac with some old hdd's I had lying around, when the power suddenly goes out. I was confused, because the lights in the rest of the house were still working. Could I have overloaded the curcuit in some way? Is this permanent??!

 

You probably tripped a breaker, go check the breaker box in your house. (Or blew a fuse if your house has fuses instead of breakers)

[kelvinhall05]

Just now, DevilishBooster said:

A breaker probably tripped, so check the breaker/fuse box. If you don't know anything about electrical systems then don't mess with it and find someone to check the breaker/fuse box for you. If you don't know what you're doing and touch the wrong thing in a breaker box it can kill you deader than Jacob Marley.

 

IDK anything about fuses and stuff. Will it cost a lot to fix it is (one of) my questions?

[Mira Yurizaki]

Just a note: before you reset any electrical circuit, make sure all the devices in the affected area are unplugged and/or switched off. You don't want to subject the circuit to the same power that caused it to fail again.

[W-L]

Just now, kelvinhall05 said:

IDK anything about fuses and stuff. Will it cost a lot to fix it is (one of) my questions?

If it's a breaker no you just flick the switch back on but for a fuse maybe like a couple of dollars, just be sure to get the right one.

[kelvinhall05]

Just now, M.Yurizaki said:

Just a note: before you reset any electrical circuit, make sure all the devices in the affected area are unplugged and/or switched off. You don't want to subject the circuit to the same power that caused it to fail again.

 

As I have said before, idk anything about these things. Is there a switch on my fuse box (big gray thing in my garage) that will reset it?

[kelvinhall05]

Just now, W-L said:

If it's a breaker no you just flick the switch back on but for a fuse maybe like a couple of dollars, just be sure to get the right one.

 

How can I tell? Also, would it be a fast fix, as my family is moving on december 8th (london canada if your interested)

[Mira Yurizaki]

Just now, kelvinhall05 said:

As I have said before, idk anything about these things. Is there a switch on my fuse box (big gray thing in my garage) that will reset it?

If it's a circuit breaker than it'll just be a switch that you can throw to the other side. If it's a fuse... you'll have to find a replacement. But I'm going to assume your home has a circuit breaker.

[Drak3]

Just now, kelvinhall05 said:

Uh oh...is that really bad??!

It means you ran too many electrical devices on a single circuit at one time, or something shorted out.

 

If your system shorted out, and that caused the kick or blow out, then it'd be bad.

IT'S VERY UNLIKELY THAT THIS HAPPENED

 

Find your breaker/fuse box.

If it's a breaker box, it'll have a bunch of switches. Look for the one that seems "stuck in the middle," it won't be in the 'ON' or 'OFF' position. Turn it off, then back on.

 

If it's a fuse box, it'll either have small fuses that screw in, little boxes that can be pulled out with cylindrical fuses, or just cylindrical fuses in plain site.

If they screw in, look in the exposed glass center. If the metal isn't one solid piece, that is the one to replace.

[DevilishBooster]

1 minute ago, kelvinhall05 said:

IDK anything about fuses and stuff. Will it cost a lot to fix it is (one of) my questions?

If you are renting right now, talk to your landlord. Otherwise ask one of your neighbors (or a family member if they live nearby) if they can help. If it's just a breaker then all you have to do is flip it back to the closed position like the rest of them. If it's a fuse box then you will have to replace the fuse, so that will cost a little bit and you have to make sure that you have the right one, but if it is a fuse box then I would definitely have your landlord take care of it because that should fall under maintenance and you don't want to potentially put in the wrong kind of fuse.

[W-L]

2 minutes ago, kelvinhall05 said:

How can I tell? Also, would it be a fast fix, as my family is moving on december 8th (london canada if your interested)

It's very straight forward, the fuses look like mini light bulbs, breakers will e a simple switch you can flick back to on. 

Theses are breakers:

[TetraSky]

Usually, when a breaker is tripped, instead of being completely One side(like a light switch would look like), it will be in "the middle" facing you, neither ON or OFF. Just switch it back on, unplug whatever power hungry device you had plugged.

Fuse boxes are kind of a much older/rarely used type of breaker box, so if you do have actual fuses and just just a bunch of black ON/OFF switches, look for one that's burnt up I guess.

This is a Breaker


This is a fuse

 

 

As it is most like a 15A breaker, it means you've exceeded the amount of power the breaker can handle (something around 1500~1600W). Did you have a AC unit plugged in in the rooms that went dark? Hair dryer? Microwave? Vacuum cleaner? Some other high power device?

[kelvinhall05]

Thanks guys! My mom just came home and fixed it. Turns out it was a breaker box (phew!)

 

[AshleyAshes]

1 hour ago, kelvinhall05 said:

Thanks guys! My mom just came home and fixed it. Turns out it was a breaker box (phew!)

How have we reached a point in society where people don't know what to do, or what even happened, with a circuit in their home tripped out? >_>

[kaiju_wars]

3 hours ago, kelvinhall05 said:

Thanks guys! My mom just came home and fixed it. Turns out it was a breaker box (phew!)

 

I would of just gone to the breaker box myself and switched it back.

1 hour ago, AshleyAshes said:

How have we reached a point in society where people don't know what to do, or what even happened, with a circuit in their home tripped out? >_>

I'm guessing so.. 

[AshleyAshes]

Just now, kaiju_wars said:

I would of just gone to the breaker box myself and switched it back.

Who needs things done when your mom can come home and do them for you!?

 

At the very least, the OP sounds like a kid, this would have been a prime opportunity to teach their child the basic adult skill of 'Household electrical circuits and how to reset them'.

[kelvinhall05]

2 minutes ago, AshleyAshes said:

Who needs things done when your mom can come home and do them for you!?

 

At the very least, the OP sounds like a kid, this would have been a prime opportunity to teach their child the basic adult skill of 'Household electrical circuits and how to reset them'.

 

Your very right, I'm only 11