Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
In my house half of the electrical is not working. I've checked and reset circuit breakers, still no power to both bathrooms, both light switches in kitchen, hall, and door bell.
If half the power is out, in sounds as if you lost one leg of your electrical power. Power comes in on three wires with two hots and a neutral. 120 VAC from hot 1 two neutral. 120VAC from hot 2 to neutral. 240 volts AC from hot 1 to hot 2.
The two hot wires feed the main breaker. The main breakers feed all the other breakers that feed your house.
Each of the hot wires is called a leg.
The question is, where did you lose your power? It may be the incoming to your main is dead on one leg or it may be that the main breaker is dead on one leg.
If you tell the utility one leg is dead and have them come out to service it and it turns out to be your breaker, you will probably be billed and nothing will be fixed.
I would suggest having an electrician come out to diagnose the problem and only involve the utility based on the opinion of the electrician.
I'm an older lady who lives alone and only half my power works in my house. Is it fixable or do I have a way of fixing it myself? What is causing it? Thank you.
Unless you know what you are doing, it's best to call a qualified electrician in. Your circuit box may have old wiring that needs to be replaced.
Call your power company. It sounds like you may of lost a leg, which would be outside on the power company side of the meter.
Check your breaker box before anything else. I'd go so far as to flip everything "off" then "on." Perhaps unplug an appliance or three on the "not working" side to see if that makes a difference?
If the problem persists, do call the professionals. But ask the power company about their fee beforehand? They may charge more than a qualified electrician.
