Visionz

So the GF had one of her incense burners plugged into an outlet in the living room. I get home, and try to turn on the tv (which was also plugged into the same outlet) and nothing. I check the circuit breakers, they are good to go. I go back to the living room where the outlet is, unplug he incense burner and see that the outlet is burned up some. I unplug the tv and put it into a different outlet and all is good. However, I found out that an outlet about 6 feet away in the living room is dead, and every single outlet in my finished basement is dead, that's on the same side of the house as the 2 outlets in the living room are on. I have 3 other outlets in the living room and they work just fine.



So, am I wrong in thinking that the burned out outlet is wired to all of the other outlets that are dead?



What am I looking at, as far as best case scenario? Fix the burned out outlet and all the others ones will work?



Worst case scenario? The wiring is melted in the walls somewhere and I have to rip apart the walls to get it so I can rewire everything?



Hoping the first scenario is all I have to do. I have no clue about electrical work so I dont know what I'm getting into it. I'm asking around now to see any electricians can come in and check it all out. Hoping this doest cost an arm and a leg to fix. One thing though...my GF's incense burning privileges are now revoked for a long time!



I'm just glad the house didnt burn down, because this all happened today while I was at work.

i8acobra

The air freshener probably shorted to ground, caused the burnt up outlet. The freshener should definitely be trashed. You probably need to replace that one outlet only. You should just have a tripped breaker or GFI that needs to be reset.

Visionz

The breakers were fine. Nothing was tripped and the outlet doesn't have a GFI, unless it's part of the electrical box behind the outlet cover.

i8acobra

Do any of the outlets have a GFI? A GFI anywhere on the circuit will pop. When the one in my garage pops, my bathroom outlets don't work.

Visionz

Nope....no GFI's anywhere

JonGTR

Yes, typically if a GFI is somewhere in the circuit, it will not allow any other outlets to have power. So be 100% sure there.

You said the circuit breaker did not trip either at the panel? That's not right. You should have had to reset it. Go back and flip it open/close to be sure. Sometimes they appear to be closed and they are not.



If those did not close the circuit, then you will need to check the outlet. It could have a bad connection, or need to be replaced. The odds are that the fault is localized there.



The wiring in the burner is of a smaller gauge than your circuit, so that should have burned up before anything in your wall, so I'd find it odd that you'd have to replace the wiring or even the plug. A fault always happens at the point of resistence, which would be the smaller gauge or where there is a bad connection.

Visionz

Got a family friend coming over tomorrow who is a licensed electrician to look at everything. He said best cast...just swap out the outlet and I'm good. Worst case...the wiring is fried all down the series to each outlet and everything needs to be replaced.

JonGTR

I very much doubt it. A receptacle change should be it at most.

JonGTR

You can change the outlet yourself and check the wiring in 5 minutes. Just be sure to turn off the breaker, obviously.

Stocker

Go flip the breaker off and on again. Best case, that's it. Next-best is there's a GFI you don't know about and it's tripped. Next-best is the outlet was first in a string and replacing the outlet will fix you right up.



Worst case involves rewiring and sheetrock work, then repainting, so here's hoping it's not that.