Power Point Not Working? Here’s What to Check Before You Call

Why is my power point not working?

A power point usually stops working for one of a few reasons: the circuit breaker or safety switch for that circuit has tripped, a wire inside the socket has come loose, the socket itself has worn out or burned, or the appliance you plugged in is the faulty part. If several power points have gone dead at once, the fault is more likely to be on the circuit than in one socket.

What to Check When a Power Point Stops Working

When a power point suddenly stops working, it’s easy to blame the kettle or the phone charger. Sometimes that’s right, and sometimes the outlet or the circuit behind it is the problem.

We find faulty power points in homes across Werribee, Altona and Tarneit, caused by wear and tear, loose connections or a fault further along the circuit. The checks below are the ones you can safely do yourself before you book an electrician. None of them involve taking a cover off or touching wiring.

1. Is It One Power Point or Several?

Start by working out how far the fault goes. A single dead socket points to a problem with that power point. A whole wall or room of dead sockets points to the circuit or the switchboard.

Check the nearby power points

Plug a lamp or a phone charger into the power points on the same wall and in the next room. If those work, the fault is probably limited to the one outlet. If several are dead, go to the switchboard next.

Try an appliance you know works

Plug in something you have just used somewhere else in the house. If that appliance works in the suspect power point, the original appliance or its lead is the faulty part, and the outlet is fine. Also check that the switch on the power point is turned on, because it’s an easy one to miss behind furniture.

2. Check the Safety Switch and Circuit Breakers on Your Switchboard

Energy Safe Victoria explains that a safety switch monitors the flow of electricity through a circuit and turns the power off within 0.03 of a second when it detects a risk to personal safety, while a circuit breaker protects against short circuits and overloads, such as an overloaded power point (Energy Safe Victoria, Household wiring). Either device can cut power to your power points.

Open your switchboard and look for any switch sitting in the OFF position. Safety switches have a test button and “30mA” printed on them, which helps you tell them apart from the circuit breakers. Then work through these steps:

• Switch the tripped breaker or safety switch back on once
• If it trips again straight away, unplug everything on that circuit and try again
• If it stays on, plug appliances back in one at a time to find the one that trips it
• If it still trips with nothing plugged in, leave it off and call an electrician

A switch that trips with nothing plugged in means the fault is in the wiring, a power point or something hardwired on that circuit. Our guide to a circuit breaker that keeps tripping or won’t stay up goes through this in more detail. If the fault happens after hours and you can’t leave the circuit off, our emergency electrician service runs 24/7.

Why Are My Power Points Not Working but the Lights Are?

Many switchboards have separate switches labelled “Lights” and “Power”. When the power circuit, or the safety switch protecting it, trips, the power points go dead while the lights keep working. So when the power points are not working but the lights are, check the switchboard first.

If every switch on the board is on and the power points are still dead, the fault may be a loose connection at one power point that feeds the others along the same circuit. Our article on what to do when half the house has lost power covers the same situation across a larger part of the home.

3. Common Causes of a Faulty Power Point

A worn-out socket

Older power points can loosen inside or fail from internal arcing. You might feel the plug sit loosely or hear a click, and still get no power from the outlet.

A loose connection behind the power point

Wires can work loose from their terminals over time, through vibration, age or poor installation. A loose connection can stop one power point working, or every power point further along the same circuit.

Burned terminals

If a plug was loose or an appliance such as a heater drew heavy current for long periods, the socket can overheat and burn inside. Brown or black marks around the pins are a sign of this.

A fault on a shared circuit

Power points in a room or along a wall are often wired on the same circuit. A fault at one socket can kill power to multiple outlets on that circuit, even though the other sockets are fine.

Damage from drilling or renovation work

Did you drill a hole for a shelf and lose power soon after? A drill or a nail can clip a cable inside the wall. Turn that circuit off at the switchboard and leave it off until an electrician has traced and repaired the damaged cable.

4. When to Stop and Call an Electrician

Energy Safe Victoria’s advice to Victorian householders is to never do your own electrical work, and to always engage a registered electrical contractor and get a Certificate of Electrical Safety for the work (Energy Safe Victoria, Working with tradespeople). After the simple checks above, the next step is to book a licensed electrician. Call one if:

• The breaker or safety switch trips every time you reset it
• You can smell burning at the power point
• The outlet feels warm or looks discoloured
• You can hear crackling or buzzing from the socket
• A working appliance still gets no power from the outlet

If you notice burning, heat or crackling, stop using the power point and switch that circuit off at the switchboard until it has been checked.

5. What Happens When We Check a Faulty Power Point

When one of our electricians comes out for a power point that isn’t working, the visit follows the fault from the outlet back to the switchboard. Depending on what we find, the visit covers:

• Testing the output at the power point
• Inspecting the wiring and terminals inside the socket
• Testing the circuit the power point is on
• Checking the breakers and safety switches on your switchboard
• Replacing or upgrading the faulty power point

Before any work starts, we explain what we found and what we recommend. A Certificate of Electrical Safety is the legal record of the electrical work a registered electrical contractor or licensed electrician has done, and Energy Safe Victoria lists power points among the work it covers (Energy Safe Victoria, Certificates of Electrical Safety for consumers). If the fault turns out to be wider than one outlet, our electrical fault finding service traces it through the circuit.

6. Upgrading Your Power Points at the Same Visit

If one power point has failed and the others in the room are old, cracked or discoloured, it can make sense to replace them at the same visit. While the electrician is there, we can also:

• Fit USB power points
• Install weatherproof outdoor power points
• Swap double power points for quad outlets
• Move power points or add new ones in living areas, bedrooms or kitchens

Our residential electrician page lists the other work we do in homes across Melbourne’s western suburbs.

Power Point Not Working FAQs

Getting a Faulty Power Point Checked in Melbourne’s West

A power point that isn’t working might be a tripped switch you can reset yourself, or it might be the first sign of a wiring fault. If the checks above haven’t brought it back, Electrx Electricians can find the cause and make the outlet safe. We’re a Registered Electrical Contractor (REC 31135) based in Brooklyn, and you can call us on 0447 139 493 or book a visit online.

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