oldviolin wrote: 
All of the sockets in the house have been replaced with modern ones, not entirely sure about the wiring they're connected to, tho.  Yes, gonne get one of those tools.

 oldslabsides wrote: 
well it's easy to tell if a socket is grounded by whether it has a 3 holes in it. Unfortunately that is no guarantee since sometimes people have replaced the 2 prong socket with a 2 + ground when it hasn't been re-wired. There are relatively inexpensive test devices to help. 
First of all, if your sockets have 2 prongs, they are not grounded. If they have 2 + ground  there is a plug in device that will also determine whether the hook-ups are proper; ie the neutral or white wire is connected properly to the wide slot. This is very important.
Also, there is a small device that you can simply hold over any electrical cable that will light and buzz and indicate whether the wire is hot. 
edit: what Dave said

 DaveInVA wrote: 
Well, except that I don't want to pile insulation over the old stuff.  No old fuses; we have a modern breaker box.

 oldslabsides wrote: 

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This device will tell you what wires are live without actual contact with the electricity...
If only the overhead light circuits are still old wiring I'd just leave it as they are not likely to fail. (unless you have several 150 watt bulbs in each fixture maybe) As long as all the outlets are wired correctly with Romex you should be ok. Unless you still have a fuse box instead of breakers of course but that can be switched out for a lot less than also  pulling new wires throughout the house.

A month or so ago, I had an electrician come out and give me an estimate on re-wiring the entire house.  I said I didn't want any additional outlets or lights with the exception of making a four-pack out of the outlet near our living room electronics and a 30-amp dedicated exterior outlet in back for a future hot tub.  His estimate was $5k-$5.5k for the job.

Last weekend, I started putting R-30 insulation up in the attic wherever I could; i.e. where the old wiring isn't.  I did a bit of looking around while up there and learned that a good bit of the wiring has already been replaced.  It looks as if most of the wall sockets have been upgraded with ROMEX, but the ceiling light fixtures are still connected to the old knob & tube stuff.  This is very encouraging, as it will make a huge dent in the contractor's estimate.  I'm going to pickup one of those gizmos that you plug in a socket and it will tell you if it's grounded or not; that will tell be definitively which sockets have been re-wired.  Isn't there also a sort of clamp tool that will indicate whether or not a wire is live or dead?  That sort of thing would be useful in finding the parts of the old wiring that have been abandoned so I can bury them with insulation.

 islander wrote: 
An electric kettle is more than capable of oerloading a poorly designed set of circuits, especially if its on the same thing as the oven etc...

 callum wrote: 
Resetting a breaker or replacing a fuse is within the tennants realm. But replacing the breaker would definitely be the landlords responsibility in the states, unless there was some really unusual circumstance was put together. It sounds like there may be some other wiring issues going on, and from a purely liability standpoint I would think the landlord would want to be all over it.

In re-reading (okay actually carefully reading for the first time) Rose's message. I'm wondering if "hot water boiler" is a teapot or somesuch instead of a boiler for hydronic  heat or a water heater. If these are all plug in appliances that are dying, then the first thing I would check is line voltage and quality (but what do I know, I'm just a marrette).  Voltage can be checked with a simple meter, quality will require a little more (something like a Kill-a-watt - starting at about $20). If the voltage is high, low or really poor quality that might cause issues with the appliances.  Also, how is grounding?

 islander wrote: 
Well...kinda depends on the contract.  And looking over the circuit breaker could be something she is expected/allowed to do.

 cc_rider wrote: 
hmmm... I've been called a wire nut by a Canukian, does that make me a marrette?

 Lazy8 wrote: 
Really. If it's a rental she/you shouldn't be doing anything other than plugging in a circuit tester like this:


And reporting the results to the Landlord for a fix. You can get those ^^^ for less than $10 at Lowes/Ace/Home Depot. Bad Hot water heater should just be reported to the landlord.

 marko86 wrote: 

 rosedraws wrote:  If the place is old, it could have 'Federal Pacific' circuit breakers. These are OLD and DANGEROUS, and should be REPLACED.

http://www.inspectapedia.com/fpe/fpepanel.htm

Otherwise, it could be any number of problems, from deteriorated insulation, rat-chewed wires, loose connection somewhere, who knows.

 marko86 wrote: 
In soe fo these apartments the electric oven is on a normal plug socket.  or, at least, that happens in the UK.

 rosedraws wrote: 

1st thing I would ask is how old are the apartments. It would seem more likely wiring/breaker issue the older it is, especially whether or not it is wired to code. In any case, I would think the landlords would have responsibility. the water heater and stove would be on completely separate breakers, It would seem to me a short to ground would affect the whole house as a small place would not likely have 3 phase. The outlets in the kitchen maybe a simpler fix. They should be on a GFI circuit. Either the kind of socket that has the little red reset button or the breaker has the reset button. The sockets in kitchen maybe tied in together so you have look at all of them. It's not a very good electrician that can't isolate the issue in short order.

 rosedraws wrote: 
With my experience of little apartments it definitely sounds like too much current coming off one circuit.  Is the boiler next to the kitchen?  Did the fridge go out at the same time?  Finding the reset button might do it, and if the problem persists try not not have everything on at once, or move it all around.


When Lorna moved into her latest rented house I helped her move in.  The (galley) kitchen was a bit of a state.  It had one double socket in, on the wall between the two counters that ran down the long walls.   One plug from the socket ran straight into the washing machine to the right.  The other had an extension lead running up, over the top of the oven (lain over the grill) and was stuck on the wall in the middle of the counter.  It was a four-way socket with one of those devils spawn four way plug blocks* in the side.  Running from it was a toaster, kettle, fridge, electric oven**, toasty maker and radio.  I reached to pull the socket out of the wall, and the whole conflabration came off in my hand with a lump of plaster...


*these: http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=1185
**with a red plug.  I can never remmeber what it means but it shouldn't really go on an extension 

 rosedraws wrote: 
If the stove arrived after the other problems it wasn't the cause. There may be a short in the stove but if the circuit it's plugged into is dead you'd never know.

It sounds like a fuse/breaker or two has blown. If she's too scared to open the breaker box and reset/replace them (or if they are someplace she can't get to) she needs to get the landlord on the case. That's what they're for.

Breakers/fuses don't trip on their own. Something tried to draw too much current thru one of them. Somewhere there is either too many things plugged into a circuit or a short. That has to be fixed or the breaker will keep tripping/fuse will keep blowing.

Surge protectors don't have any effect on losing power. They're a good idea on sensitive electronics but popping a breaker won't cause a power surge.

Question:

My daughter's little apartment, she's lived there a month: Her hot water boiler stopped working; the toaster stopped working; they bought a stove, plugged it in, and it wouldn't work (the repair guy said there was a short in the stove (it had never been used) but he couldn't find the problem).  

No other signs of electrical problems.(She's got surge protectors on the TV and computer equipment, thank God).  

Is it possible there's something wrong with the electric?  Or is it just coincidence?  Should she be concerned?