Electrical Outlet Question

My wife plugged an extension cord with two items (a lamp and an alarm clock) into an available slot on a surge protector, which is then plugged into an outlet. The surge protector already had three other items plugged into it.

As a result, the upper socket on that outlet and an adjacent outlet have no power, but the lower socket has power. Turning the breaker off and on did not help. The other outlets in the room are fine.

Is this a simple case of going to the hardware store and buying two replacement outlets, or could it be something else? Why would the lower socket on an outlet work but not the upper?

Reply to
Dimitrios Paskoudniakis
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Upper outlets sometimes controlled by a wall switch for turning lamp on/off while lower one is always live.

Reply to
Flatus Johnson

It might be a simple as replacing just the outlet that was involved in the trip. It sounds like that outlet is bad.

This would happen more commonly if the outlet was shorted instead of overloaded.

The lamp or the clock may have a short. There would have been sparks involved if this were true.

If sparks were involved, I would plug everything back in one at a time. You might have a problem with the lamp or clock.

Reply to
metspitzer

Sometimes there are switched outlets in a bedroom where one half of the outlet is switched and the other half is on all of the time. You may have some loose connections on the outlets. Before you buy anything you should open each one up and find out what the problem is. The problem may not be at one of the non-working outlets, but at an outlet or switch that is working.

Reply to
John Grabowski

Sometimes the electrician makes one of the sockets switchable. There should be a wall switch to operate the upper sockets in the room. An electrical outlet has a break-off tabs to separate the upper and lower sockets. Also, check if any of the circuit breakers have been tripped.

Reply to
Phisherman

Sorry all. I guess I'm an idiot for not noticing that my wife had turned the wall switch off. Thanks for reminding me to check this. That was all. No problem.

Reply to
Dimitrios Paskoudniakis

Chuckle. Happens to all of us at times.

-- aem sends...

Reply to
aemeijers

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