I recently installed a window air conditioner in my master bedroom, which is on the second floor of my 2600 sqft house built in 2001. The unit worked fine for about 25 minutes when I first turned it on, but then I turned it off since I didn't need it. However, when I switched it on again last night because it was hot, I woke up to find that my phone hadn't fully charged, and my ceiling fan wouldn't turn on either. It turns out several things won't work: all the bedroom outlets, the overhead light, the ceiling fan, the air conditioner, and the stairwell light. The upstairs hall light still works, but the master bath lights and outlets are just fine. I thought I might have tripped a breaker, but after checking the basement, I found no issues. I even reset all the breakers for good measure. Can someone help me figure out what might have gone wrong? Did I damage my wiring?
2 Answers
Before you panic, have you checked if you flipped every breaker fully off and then back on? Sometimes it takes a total reset. If everything looks fine but it's still not working, calling an electrician might be your best bet. They can thoroughly inspect the wiring and see if anything got damaged when you installed the AC unit or if there's a simple fix.
It sounds like you might have a broken connection in the circuit. Since you added the AC unit to a 15amp circuit, that could have overloaded it. Even if there's no tripped breaker, something could have failed at the outlet where the AC is plugged in, especially if it was back stabbed. If you’re comfortable, you might want to visually inspect the outlet, but make sure to use a voltage tester. Otherwise, definitely call an electrician to get a professional opinion on this.
Thanks for the insight! I've got a friend who's a journeyman and can check things out. I'll let you know what they find!
Yeah, I did notice it's generally good practice to cycle through all the breakers even if they look okay. Just in case.