Topic: Any electricians here?

[oddball]

On my moms house the electrical outlets in her garage and backyard aren't working. Also the bathroom and kitchen lights don't come on right away, (fluorescent) I kind of have to flick the switch a couple of times. When you first turn them on, no light. The second time the lights are real dim, the third time its full power. Any suggestions? I'm pretty sure its the light switch and the outlet. The house is only ten years old

[88runner]

for the fluoressent it's normal maybe the module(don't know how it's called in english) warming up the gaz is getting old you can buy that at any hardware store.

[dirtbag]

flourescent, as 88Runner said, is the module, or ignitor. It *SHOULD* be a round cylindrical-looking device about an 1" long, some have buttons on them. They're cheap to replace.

As for the garage & backyard plugs, have you checked the breakers? sometimes, the breaker itself goes out, so start cheap before tearing out the whole wiring system, only to find out you could've spent $20 for a breaker or something small, rather than at least $1,000 for new wiring that you didn't need. Just my

[oddball [OP]]

Thanx guys. I did check the breakers,their fine, I was hoping maybe it was the outlets. Ill check the ignitor thing

[AJ]

Hey im pretty good with wiring and it sounds to me like one of the jumper wires on an outlet came out. Are any of the outlets on that indivduale circuit workin? If so they run in a line. pull the last workin outlet from the wall and make sure all wires are conected. If so move to the next one and pretty sure youll find your problem.

[lowgeared]

In a fluorescent fixture, where the lamps make contact can become dirty.  Try moving the lamp in its holders or replace lamps.  Replace the ballast.  Sounds like you may have a loose neutral in your panel.  Check all of your connections at the neutral bar and make sure they are tight.  We get lots of calls like this and it is usually just a loose wire in the panel.  Sometimes if a lot of stuff in the house stops working and the stove, dryer, and furnace doesn't work right, you have lost a whole leg of 120 coming into the house.  This happens in the panel or before.  Sometimes underground and you get to dig!  Good luck!!

[Willy Mammoth]

If you don't know much about electricity and what it can do to you then please find someone that does. I work with the stuff all the time and still get shocked evey now and then. come to think of it that may explain a lot.
If your bulbs are dark on the ends replace them first. As for the outlets some are on wall switches.

[89 toy]

some times the outlets have reset buttons on them check the outlets in the garage you will probably find one. same thing hapened to my buddys house we tried to plug in the shop lights and nothig would work and that was the problem

[oddball [OP]]

Yeah this whole house was jinxed since new, the AC went out when the house was a year and a half old. I replaced that, now the furnace doesn't work turns on but no heat so I guess thats next. But thanx for all the suggestions I'm going to try them next weekend, and thanx Willy Mammoth I understand a little bit so I'm gonna be careful

[freds40]

Flourescents: check the ballasts, they are cheap tlo replace. In the garage, depending on the year of your house, you might have a GFI protected garage. If you have less than 10 outlets, there would most likely be just 1 GFI outlet. The outlet should be in the garage but some electricians will tie the garage in with the bathroom GFI circuits or even the kitchen GFI circuit.

If you can't find a GFI outlet for the garage, grab a tester and start @ the panel. Check the breaker, check the first plug in line in the garage (usually the closest to the panel location) and then check the rest of the outlets. Should be able to narrow it down pretty quick.

[FATB0Y]

they also make GFCI breakers

[freds40]

they also make GFCI breakers

Yeah but he already stated that he checked the breaker and it was fine and besides most residential electrical sub contractors won't use a GFCI breaker unless absolutely necessary as they are about 4-6xs the cost of an outlet that will do the same thing on the same circuit.

[Willy Mammoth]

I find wires falling out of wire nuts all the time. They just aren't lining up the wires rite and tightening them enough.

[oddball [OP]]

Thanx guys for the ideas, Im going to check everything on Saturday