Has this ever happened to you?
You want to turn on the coffeemaker in the morning… only to press the button and not see any coffee being brewed! Or maybe you plug in your phone to charge but it never charges!
We never really think about our home’s electrical systems until something doesn’t work correctly. And then we notice that something’s wrong!
Your home is made up of many systems, one of them being the electrical system: wires run through your home to power your lights, fans, and receptacles so you plug in your appliances and gadgets.
So, when something is not working, what should you do?
- First, see if there is power anywhere else in the house. It could be that there’s a power outage affecting your home or the whole block but you didn’t notice because it was such a sunny day!
- If there’s power elsewhere, make sure there is nothing wrong with the appliance or gadget that you’re trying to plug in! (It happens a lot: you might think there’s something wrong with your home’s power when in fact your coffeemaker has just decided to stop working or your phone cord has actually broken.)
- If there’s nothing wrong with the device then the problem may be associated with that receptacle and/or any other powered items sharing the sale electrical line. (For example, maybe there are too many appliances plugged in and turned on to that one line.) Unplug other items that share the same circuit.
- Next, head to your electrical panel (sometimes people call it a “fuse box” or “circuit panel”) and look for any breaker that has been tripped. Reset it to restore power to that line. (Your circuit panel is made up of circuit breakers that will temporarily “break” the line when something is wrong.)
- If power is restored to the line, great! Go back to making coffee… and just keep an eye on how many items you plugging in to the receptacles that share the line at any one time.