Below are a few helpful ideas for troubleshooting. Kennedy Electric has many years of experience to work through your problem quick and effectively. If you don’t want the aggravation of trying this yourself – call us at 619-295-6568 and we can help!

Light Fixture Won’t Work

Check for:

1. Burnt out bulb or tubes
2. Defective ballast
3. Faulty switch and/or socket
4. Loose wiring

Tracing a Short Circuit or Overload

A blown fuse or tripped circuit breaker is a signal that you may have either a short circuit or an overload in the electrical system.

1. Look for black smudge marks on switch or receptacle cover plates, or for frayed or damaged cords or damaged plugs on lamps and appliances connected to the dead circuit.
2. If the circuit goes dead after an appliance has been in use for a short time, you probably have an overloaded circuit.
3. Move some of the lamps and appliances to another circuit and replace the fuse or reset the circuit breaker for the first circuit.

Don’t find any of the above signs of trouble? Trace your way through the circuit.

1. Turn off all wall switches and unplug every lamp and appliance on the dead circuit.
2. Install a new fuse or reset the tripped breaker.
3. If the fuse blows or the breaker trips right away, the problem may be a short circuits in the switch or receptacle.
4. If the new fuse doesn’t blow or the breaker doesn’t trip right away, turn on each switch, one by one, checking each time to see if the fuse has blown or the circuit breaker is tripped.
5. If turning on a wall switch causes a fuse to blow or the breaker to trip, there’s a short in a light fixture or receptacle, controlled by that switch, or there’s a short circuit in the switch wiring.
6. Call Kennedy Electric to repair.

Problem still not solved? You probably have faulty wiring.

If turning on a wall switch doesn’t blow a fuse or trip the breaker, the trouble is in the lamps or appliances.

1. Test them by plugging them in one by one.
2. If the circuit doesn’t go dead, the circuit was overloaded.
3. Move some of the lamps or appliances to another circuit.
4. If the circuit does go dead just after you’ve plugged in a lamp or appliance, then you’ve found the offender.
5. If the circuit goes dead as soon as you plug in a lamp or appliance, the plug or cord is probably at fault and should be replaced.
6. If the circuit goes dead when you turn on the lamp or appliance, the appliance or lamp or its switch is probably defective and should be replaced or repaired.
7. Call Kennedy Electric to repair.