Various wall outlets stop working and then later they start working again, what is happening?

You have a loose connection in back of one of your outlets. Outlets are wired in a parallel circuit configuration also called a piggy back or daisy-chain type circuit. The power is wired so that the wiring goes from one outlet to the next in a parallel circuit, (NOT series)! When any of the wires in the back of the outlet gets loose, Then all of the outlets down stream of that outlet are affected by getting intermittent power from that loose wire. Sometimes you can find the culprit by putting a 3-pronged plug in an outlet and then wiggling the plug back and forth in the outlet. If the wires in the back are loose, then stuff downstream of it will start to go off and on. (you do have to have something on in the other outlets). You can do this to each outlet until you find the one that is defective.The actual repair should be handled by an experienced electrician. Fixing electrical problems in the house should be done correctly in order to prevent a possible fire.

These wires get loose because a lot of residential type electricians use the quick connection on the back of the outlet. This quick connect is just a barbed prong that in time can stab into the copper wire and make an indentation in the wire. When the outlet gets a heavy load on it, like a portable heater, then that quick connect can get loose and start to become an intermittent connection. Then is when you start to see weird things happening.

I have repaired several wiring problems in our local older home area that were all due to the loose barbed connection on the back of both switches and outlets. It’s just a matter of finding the one that is the culprit!

———————

Laura is correct about a possible fire. This type of electrical problem is not an overload. So as the connection becomes more intermittant, it will arc across the connection. The arc will create heat. Since this is not an overload, the circuit breaker will never actually trip. The heat created by the arcing can create a fire in your home. Loose connections should be treated very seriously!

When I first started out as an electrician back in the early 70’s, I actually had a fire break out in a home that I was doing some re-wire in. Thankfully it started right in front of me while I was in that part of the house.and I quickly put it out before the fire could spread. It first started to hum real loud, then it started to smoke, then it burst into flames. I had already closed up the wall that it was in , but the outside wall was still open. It was due to a loose connection in a wire nut that I did not screw in tight enough. It was a very valuable lesson to me about making sure all connections are tight! The home owner was in the other side of the house using that particular circuit to power a portable floor heater so there was a lot of current on the loose connection.

Nothing like a harrowing event to bring home how serious it is to be an electrician!

You need a qualified electrician to find the problem, sooner rather than later. If you have deteriorating wiring behind the walls you could have a fire. These kinds of fires can go undetected long enough to spread. A few years ago a house in my neighborhood burned down, and the mother and 10 year old child died because of this kind of behind the wall wiring fire.

only a mermelize would call a group of recepticles wired together a daisy-chain. altho her theory is correct. they’re wired in whats called series. power is feed to one, then all the others are run in a series from one to the next. finding which one will be difficult unless you know where to start, so an electrican would be my advice. wish I could help more.