Electrical problems can be dangerous for you, your house and your electrical equipment. The first step to troubleshooting one, whether it's an outage, flickering lights or power surge, is to ask the neighbors if they are having the same problem. If they are, you probably can resolve the situation by calling the power company. If only you are having the problem, it may take some detective work to discover the source.
Flickering lights is a sign of a poor electrical connection, and you can trace the source of the connection by noting which lights are flickering. If all the lights in the house flicker, you have bad connection in the panel or the weatherhead, where the utility line drops into the house. Fixing this is a job for an electrician. If the flickering is localized to a single room, however, the problem often is a bad switch or a loose switch connection. You can fix that yourself. You also should check the connections at all the outlets in the room since some of them may be wired to the light circuit.
Dead Outlets and Lights
Outlets can wear out and go dead, and when one has, it's usually evidenced by discoloration and inability to hold a plug. You have to replace worn-out outlets. Sometimes, however, one or more outlets go dead for no obvious reason. Some lights also may go out. The culprit often is a tripped GFCI outlet on the circuit located in the laundry room, outdoors or in some other obscure location. When a GFCI trips, it not only stops working itself, it cuts power to any branch circuits connected to its "Load" terminals. The GFCI may not be easy to find, but resetting it restores power to the other outlets.
Power surges can be deadly to sensitive electronic equipment. Surges can happen when the power company makes changes to the main grid or, more commonly, when you power off an appliance such as an air conditioner that uses a lot of power. You can protect your equipment from power company surges and lightning strikes by hiring an electrician to install a panel-mounted surge suppressor, and you can protect individual outlets with plug-in suppressors. It's a good practice to identify safe circuits -- those that power no large appliances -- and reserve those for electronic equipment.
Circuit breakers are safety devices designed to prevent fires and electrocution, so when one trips, it's a warning, especially if you can't reset it. The breaker itself might be bad, but before you suspect that, you need to check the entire circuit for loose connections. If there is one, it's usually easy to find. You'll often see blackening around a switch or outlet, caused by a loose connection. In some cases, the loose connection may be in a junction box in the ceiling or attic. Occasionally, the problem is a faulty appliance; if you suspect that, plug the appliance into a different circuit to test it.
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