Troubleshooting Guide for Power Outages

Imagine you’re huddling around your phone or tablet in the greater Seattle area, looking for solutions on how to get the power in your home back up and running. I recently found myself in the same situation – waking up in total darkness and seeing that my entire block has lost power, enduring the same post-apocalyptic feeling. What could have possibly happened? How do you fix it? Let’s examine your potential solutions to your power outage, as well as looking at preventatives and planning that will make sure you are more prepared than a boy scout for the next outage. We hope this troubleshooting guide will see you through the next time you find yourself in the dark.

Troubleshooting Guide: Identifying the Cause

Before you can get to solving your outage issues, you first need to understand what caused the problems in the first place. More often than not, you’ll find it’s own of these four common issues.

GFCI Tripped

Did only part of your home go out? Sounds like you tripped a GFCI then. This typically happens when you add a new appliance to the room and it overloads the circuit when you turn it on. There will be a ground fault circuit interrupter outlet with a “reset” and “test” between the two 3-prong outlets. Press reset and it will temporarily fix the problem, but the circuit overloaded for a reason. It could be either from too many appliances, an appliance that has a lot of draw in power, or a short.

Circuit Breaker Tripped

So you looked outside and saw your neighbor’s lights still on but you are still in the dark. Well, it seems like your circuit breaker might have tripped. Your electrical panel can placed in a number of places throughout the house. Most common areas are inside the pantry, laundry, garage, bedroom closet, or even outside.

Seattle Winds Causing Outages

Whether you’re new to the greater Seattle area or a seasoned veteran, you’ve probably heard about the wind gusts happening every year around fall. It might not seem like a big deal, but with trees still having leaves and gusts getting upwards of 55 mph, branches and even trunks have a chance of tumbling down and knocking into power lines. This can create massive outages within and around Seattle.

Unpaid Power Bill

Did you forget to pay your power bill? This could be completely unintentional and, with how payments are 50% recurring, it be because of insufficient funds in the account or even a false positive. I actually had my power shut off one month because supposedly I was paying for another resident’s address without my knowledge or consent.

Preparing For Next Time

With the power being back online and everything getting back to normal, it’s important to take precautionary measures just in case something similar (or even more severe) happens in the future. Here is a list of emergency items that could help you if the power goes out for a longer period of time:

  • Non-perishable food

  • Flashlight or candles (caution: candles are extreme risk of fire)

  • Spare batteries

  • First Aid Kit

  • Car Charger (for your phone)

  • If someone in your home is dependent on electric-power (not your friend wanting to play minecraft), remember to include backup power in your outage plan

Preventatives with Surge Protectors

Speaking about all this power outage, sooner or later it has to come back online (we hope). But there are these things called power surges that are sent through the lines when you power comes back on. This could be an internal surge like starting up a hair dryer or power tools, whereas an external surge is a larger power surge and happens from tree limbs touching a power line, small animals getting stuck in transformers, or lightning striking a utility box. The larger surges are rarely common but can wipe out your electronics if not protect. Smaller surges happen all the time and can gradually degrading internal circuitry.

I always suggest having a surge protector connected to all of your electronics. One strong surge and BOOM – your electronics could be fried without warning.

All Else Fails

If all else fails, Wire Craft Electrician in Seattle can always come out to you to diagnose power outage problem and get everything back up and running in no time. If you have more specific questions about the information provided in this troubleshooting guide, please feel free to call us today at 206.542.0208.