Bathroom lighting question

[Jer]

Hi Guys

The wife went to turn on the light in the bathroom fixture and there was nothing. Tried changing bulbs and nothing. Know if the guy I bought the house from was up to his out wiring tricks he probably used electrical tap to connect the hot wire from the fixture to the house wiring, finding lots of that. So I have to go back with marrettes and make the appropriate connections.

Failing that, Would anybody have any idea on why im not getting any illumination in the bathroom? Maybe im missing something. It was working before.

I just hope the wires have come loose from "ol, electrical tape Kevin" (Why didn't this guys use marettes its not like they cost much????) and I hope it will be a quick job for me tomorrow.

But seeing im a few wobbly pops in and tired, its just best to wait until the morning and use the other bathroom for the night.

Any thoughts on what it could be, plus some tips would be great. Real not confident with electricity yet but this seems like a project I could handle.

Jeremy

[John Kogel]

Hey Jer. "Marrettes" is a Canadian term. They would call them wire nuts here on this Yankee board. []. Out this way, we call them "Marr nuts".

No doubt if you have found connections that were made with electrical tape alone, there is a good chance you will find the same in the bathroom light circuit, possibly at the switch were there is constant motion of the device.

You should have an electrician go thru all the affected circuits methodically and repair all those flaky connections.

Go to the big box store and find a book on electrical circuits. If you see a red book written by P S Knight, buy it. Good luck.

[Richard Moore]

Maybe once the "wobbly pops" wear off you will find the light on the load side of a tripped GFCI?

[Joe Johnson]

I would get a tester to check the fixture and switch. I would also check ALL connections in the house.

[Tom Raymond]

Or make sure your insurance is up to date and turn everything on as you make your way out the door.

[Jer]

Or make sure your insurance is up to date and turn everything on as you make your way out the door.

What do you mean by that?

Anyways guys,

Hi Guys

I had the fixture down and there are wire nuts attached firmly. I also used my voltage detector tool and it wasnt picking anything up at all? weird as everything was working yesterday. Also there seems to be power at the light switch

[Tom Raymond]

I meant to hi-light how dangerous the electrical system in your house is. If there are numerous improper connections and fixtures that work intermittently you need an electrician to fix all of it ASAP, or prepare for the inevitable fire.

[hausdok]

It's probably a tripped GFCI someplace. The house I did yesterday afternoon had a nicely remodeled bathroom. I tested the GFCI in the main bath and then it wouldn't reset. Found that all baths were on the same circuit and the owner, thinking he was being really safe, had put a GFCI receptacle in all three. The two that were downstream from the first in the voltage stream wouldn't reset until one went to the first and reset it.

That wasn't to hard to figure out. Later on though I found a hall light and a bedroom light wouldn't function. I was about to write them up when the client mentioned that they'd been working fine earlier. I went to check the panel - no tripped breaker. Then I thought, "I wonder..." and went back to the bathrooms to check the GFCI's. Yep, the do-it-yourselfer had tapped into the same circuit that powered the hall and bedroom and had put that GFCI upstream of those circuits. Tripping that bath GFCI cuts power to half the second floor.

Wiring looks easy to do; but if you don't think things through you can end up with some odd and interesting circumstandes.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[Jer]

I meant to hi-light how dangerous the electrical system in your house is. If there are numerous improper connections and fixtures that work intermittently you need an electrician to fix all of it ASAP, or prepare for the inevitable fire.

Ahh Cheers,

The ones that had been done shotty I have since gone back and put on wire nuts. We had all new electrical outlets put in by a electrician when we moved in. And the home inspaection didnt note anything wrong with the wiring. We also had a new breaker panel installed. The only outlets that didnt get replaced new were three or four in the basement but have never had any problems. When I called him "ol electrical tape " I was just being smart, I only really saw it in a couple spots.

[Jer]

Im starting to think it might be the switch causing problems also? could it be being flicked off and on hundreds of time might have caused it to wear out?

[Tom Raymond]

It could be worn out, defective, or just plain broken. As could the light fixture. Or, it could be a tripped GFCI like others have mentioned, or a loose connection somewhere (anywhere) else in the circuit.

If you are comfortable changing out the switch that's great, but it sounds to me like you don't have the tools to troubleshoot this fault safely. Please, get a book on basic wiring and some simple testing tools to figure this out, or call your electrician back in to fix it for you. It's bad for business for professional consultants to give DIY electrocution advice for free via the internet.

[Jer]

I have changed out a switch before and installed light fixtures.

[Jer]

well that was the problem.

Turned the power off removed the old one, installed a new one and stuck a piece of electrical tape over top of the wiring terminals for piece of minds. Light turns on faster now too.