First, make sure the breaker to the outlet is switched to the OFF position. If you’d like to check the wiring yourself, it’s not too difficult. If you’re not comfortable checking outlet wiring, this is the time to call the electrician. If you’ve gone through the previous troubleshooting steps but you still don’t have power to the outlet, there’s a chance it’s due to loose wires. Loose connecting wires can cause an outlet to lose power. Then, pug in your charger and see if it comes on. But it’s an easy fix: Just push the small rectangular button on the center of the outlet and it will reset the GFCI. Unfortunately, GFCIs can be temperamental and shut off occasionally, even when a surge has not occurred. When a GFCI outlet senses a surge in electricity, it’s designed to shut off to minimize the risk of electrocution. The electrical current could surge through the person, electrocuting them. Before the advent of GFCIs, electric shock injuries were more likely to occur if someone was standing in water, sitting in a tub, or otherwise in contact with water and they were using an electrical appliance, such as a hairdryer. As you (hopefully) already know, water and electricity don’t mix. If it’s a GFCI outlet, it might have shut off automatically and need to be reset.īuilding codes require the installation of ground fault circuit interrupters (GFCIs) in bathrooms, kitchens, and laundry rooms-anywhere near water. On the off-chance that it’s not the electrical outlet but rather your cell phone charger that’s not working, plug something else into the same outlet, such as a hairdryer or a lamp. Plug something different into the outlet. If you’ve noticed a switch on the wall that didn’t seem to go to anything, it could very well control a half-hot outlet-flip this switch and then try the outlet again. The purpose of a half-hot outlet is to allow you to plug in a lamp, turn it on, and then control the lamp from the light switch. Sometimes called a “lamp outlet,” this type of outlet is a little different from standard outlets in that half of it (usually the bottom half) is controlled by a switch on the wall.
Flip a light switch in the room to determine whether you have a half-hot outlet. Keep this anatomy in mind as you try the following troubleshooting tips.
If your home has older wiring, the third hole (the “ground”) may not be present. We’ll help you troubleshoot the issue by walking through the most common causes and solutions, starting with the ones you can remedy yourself.įirst, a quick note on outlets: The vertical slots in the outlet are called “shutters,” and the small hole beneath each set of shutters is the “ground.” Most outlets will accept either 2-prong or 3-prong plugs. Is there something I can do to fix the outlet myself? Or, should I call an electrician?Ī: While there is a chance that you’ll have to bring in an electrician, in many cases, the problem behind a non-working outlet can be easily resolved by the homeowner. I could charge it elsewhere, of course, but we have very few outlets in that space already. Q: When I plugged my cell phone charger into a kitchen outlet, my phone didn’t start charging as it normally does-rather, it seemed that this one electrical outlet was not working.