Power Out From Electric Space Heater

[Kiko]

I ran my electric space heater this morning and the power went out on that circuit. I checked the breakers and none had tripped. I reset all the breakers, but still no power on that circuit. I have three GFI's, but none of them are tripped, and they are on a different circuit anyway.

I've unplugged everything and still no power, but no tripped breakers.

Could a breaker be bad, even though it resets like all the other breakers and feels locked into the "on" position?

What else could cause no power in that circuit?

[jimbo]

Be aware that you can't always "see" a tripped breaker. The only way to be sure is to flip is positvely all the way to OFF position, then back to ON.

Also, I was tripped up once by an electric room heater that had a built in timer! The timer was turning it on and off per the default settings.


If these don't help, you should probably have an electrician check the cord, the receptacle, and the breaker.

[cacher_chick]

The available voltage can be tested at the breaker. It is very possible that you had a poor connection somewhere which has now burnt, causing a lack of continuity. This could be a fire hazard, and any loads should be removed from the circuit until it is properly diagnosed.

[DonL]

It could be that the internal Thermal fuse on the Heater opened.

That would not normally happen unless you have a air flow or fan problem.


The Best Space heater, is a Fat Woman. No electricity required.

[jwelectric]

Why hasn’t anyone asked if there was voltage on the receptacle in which the heater was plugged?

[hj]

That was going to be my first question. It is also the easiest thing to check and isolates the problem to the heater OR the circuit. There are many things that can cause a circuit to go bad, starting with a burned out breaker, or a breaker with a "melted" connection the bus bar, going all the way to a bad outlet. NO way for us to diagnose it without being there and doing our own testing.

[Kiko]

Here is what I've learned so far:

The portable electric heater is fine. It's working perfectly on another circuit and has never overheated.

The breaker is also good. There is power coming out of it. And whatever is going on does not trip the breaker. But there is no power making it to any of the devices on that circuit, which includes three outlets, one light switch and one stacked light switch.

There are no loose wires or evidence of burning on any device.

I replaced all three outlets anyway, since they were very old.

Behind the stacked switch, there were several hot wires pig-tailed together and wrapped with dried-out electrical tape. I removed the tape and checked for loose wires and voltage. No loose wires and no power making it to those wires either. I re-taped the connections.

Above the breaker box is the access panel to the attic. I suppose the next step is to go up there and check for a break in the romex. Maybe an animal chewed through something. But that wouldn't explain why the power went out after the heater was running for a few minutes. You would think if an animal had severed the romex, the heater would not have gone on at all.

If there is no obvious break or burnt-out connection in the attic, what is the quickest way to find the source of the problem if it's in the wall somewhere?

PS: I've got the breaker shut off until the problem is corrected.