Call your utility first
This is bigger than one outlet
When half the house or many rooms are out, check for a tripped main breaker, then call your utility. Work through the half the house lost power guide.
Why this happens
Jefferson County PUD explains that most homes are fed by two 120-volt hot wires and a neutral. If one hot wire comes loose or disconnects at the transformer, the meter or the main breaker connection, roughly half the house goes dead with no breaker tripped. That is the utility's equipment first, and possibly an electrician's.
What to do right now
- Check whether neighbors or street lights are out too. If so, it is an outage; check your utility's outage map or call them.
- At the panel, open only the hinged door. Never remove the metal cover behind it; that cover is for electricians. Keep your hands dry and do not stand on a wet floor.
- If any breaker, including the main, is tripped, reset it once: stand to the side, face away, push it firmly to OFF and then ON.
- If nothing is tripped and half the house is still dead, call your utility first and let a licensed electrician know at the same time.
- Stay away from the meter and any wires outside. Do not touch service equipment.
What to tell the utility and the electrician
- Which rooms and appliances are dead and which still work.
- Whether any breaker was tripped and whether neighbors are out.
- Whether lights were flickering or dimming before it happened.
- That you called the utility, and what they found.
Build the full list: what to tell the licensed electrician.
Start this troubleshooter over
References (every fact above comes from one of these pages)
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