When you plug a lamp or an appliance into a socket, you expect to be able to turn it on. Sometimes, though, you’ll find that the outlet is “dead.”
Before you call an electrician, check a few things out:
- Plug something else into the same outlet. It could be that the problem is with the device and not the outlet. If this one turns on, that’s the case.
- If more than one device is plugged into the same outlet—or if a full power strip is plugged in there—check to see if everything else is working. If not, try this: Unplug one device at a time until something turns on. It could be that you’ve overloaded the outlet.
- If nothing is turning on at that outlet, check your circuit breaker. Open the door and notice if a single switch is turned off; if so, turn it back on. If you can’t locate the circuit that belongs to that outlet, turn off all of the breakers then turn them back on one at a time.
- If you plug the lamp or appliance back into the outlet and the circuit trips again, it’s time to call an electrician.
- And if your dead outlet has a ground-fault circuit interrupter, you might be able to solve the problem simply by pressing the reset button on the face of the outlet.
