Home electrical circuits

Oh wait... Federal Pacific. 
 

Do you have a split bus panel?

(Are there more than 1 main breaker?)

Send pictures of the panel. Best if you can do it with the cover removed. 

itsarebuild said:

Yeah. Federal pacific stab locks are on the no no list for a lot of multifamily property sales transactions. Almost always require reserves for replacements. Swapping that breaker box is in your best interest.

Many home owners insurance carriers will mandate removing those panels as well.  I agree 100% with a replacement.  Might be pricey, but far less than a catastrophic event. 

SV reX said:

In reply to 759NRNG :

Ok. Multiple circuits. On the same side. 
 

Are ALL the circuits on one side of the panel down?

No...they are not.... pictures forth coming

SV reX said:

If all the circuits on one side of the panel are down, then your 240V circuits should not be working either.  It's a power company problem. (They've dropped a feeder leg)

If several (but not all) on 1 side are down, then you have more than 1 problem (and it's NOT the power company). Possibly deteriorating connections (aluminum wiring?). You will have to start tracing them one at a time. 

copper wiring ......."tracing one at a time"....switches /outlets with my voltmeter or circuit tester? I fixed a light switch situation in the grosh with new components. 

I'm confident this is not a light switch problem. 

In reply to 759NRNG :

Are you certain it's multiple circuits?  Just because it's different rooms does not mean it is multiple circuits. 
 

You are describing problems that don't sound like only 1 problem. It's almost a statistical impossibility for several mechanical devices (breakers, etc) to all fail at the same time, in the same unusual manner. 
 

If it's one circuit, then you begin tracing that circuit. 
 

But the suggestion that several circuits all had similar weird failures at the same time makes no sense. 
 

If it's one circuit, it's one problem. If it's a split bus panel, several circuits could be effected at once with a single problem. 
 

A dropped feeder leg would effect multiple circuits at once with one problem. But you haven't dropped a feeder leg. 

This seems to be rapidly tipping into the "pay the man" sort of situation.    Electricity is a lot like being at the Bentley dealer.  "If you have to ask, you can't afford it" or "If you have to ask, you probably shouldn't attempt repairing it yourself"

OP and I had a pretty good conversation about this last night. 
 

Turns out, he has NOT confirmed it is multiple circuits. It's possible it could be only 1. 
 

Additionally, he has a questionable outlet at the beginning of the circuit. It stopped working when he plugged in a piece of equipment. I pointed out to him that the backstabbed outlet could easily have a loose connection which effects the whole circuit.

He is checking the outlet to see if there are any problems (like a loose connection feeding the rest of the circuit). After that, it becomes an electrician's problem. 
 

Im updating just to get all the advice on the same track. Hopefully we will hear good news from OP soon. 

Update ......got into the outlet in question no visible signs of loose wiring, but none the less will be pursuing the expertise of an electrician.  Which will entail a panel transplant.....more later thanks y'all for the input.  I'm a total noob on electrical and wishin' I wasn't     Hey shout out to SV reX for the truth n' dare session last eve ......fist bump bro

In reply to 759NRNG :

No problem. Glad I could help. 
 

Sorry to hear it wasn't a simple fix that could be done without an electrician. Good luck!

In reply to SV reX :

In all honesty this is something that shouldn't be poor boyed....

well well well y'all....while I've been in B'Ham Al (01/23-now)the power pole at the corner of the yard(decker prairie,tx) with the Transfomer from Hell has been R&R'd. Lo n behold there  appears to be no more circuitry hocus pocus (for the time being)....could all this have been the "wiring at the pole" that was suspect???

There are a pair of spotlights over a built in bookcase in our living room. They worked fine for about 15 years after the house was built and then just stopped working one day. I swapped the switch but they still didn't work. I wound up buying a circuit tracer kit and tracked the wire to a spot outside the wall beside the bookcase. There's a cabinet below the bookcase and inside there was a false panel hiding a junction box. I pulled the wiring out of the box and a hot lead popped right out of a wire nut. Upon inspection it appeared that the wire was never fully seated and there were burn marks on the very end of the conductor. It probably just had physical contact with the other two wires due to the way the wires were crammed into the box.