When my living room lights are off, touching the screws on the faceplate for the electrical switch gives me a tiny little frisson of electricity. When my living room lights are on, I get a fairly painful shock from touching the screws on the faceplate. How dangerous is this? [more inside]
posted by jacquilynne on Nov 9, 2008 - 23 answers

Home electrical problem/mystery: I accidentally plugged the phone charger into an outlet incorrectly and now that outlet and the dishwasher don't work. Help? [more inside]
posted by mundy on Jun 27, 2008 - 10 answers

2 outlets & a ceiling light stopped working at the same time. None of the circuit breakers were flipped. What would cause this, and how can I troubleshoot it? [more inside]
posted by designbot on Aug 30, 2007 - 15 answers

I know, I know, light bulbs seem to fail in clusters, but I don't think this is to do with putting a bunch of lights in at the same time. This week for instance, I got up and turned on my kitchen lights (8 x 50w small spots) and one blew and tripped my Ground Floor Light fuse. A day later and I get home and turn on the same lights, another goes and trips the lights circuit again. Later in the week, another goes in my study. I replaced all the bulbs today. I turn them on, everything is fine, I go outside and turn on the porch/side lights (3 x 60w) and two of them blow. I nearly always have an inop light or two. My question is this : Is there an electrical fault which might explain this pattern of failure ? Thanks
posted by matholio on Oct 7, 2006 - 11 answers

Why would the lightbulbs burn out much more frequently in one room of my house? [more inside]
posted by pornucopia on Feb 22, 2006 - 9 answers

Is there a safe, easy way to ground a household outlet? [more inside]
posted by Gilbert on Sep 1, 2005 - 11 answers

We just moved into a townhouse. In the guest bathroom, the light and fan are operated by the same switch, so that the fan automatically comes on when you turn on the light. We hate the sound of the fan and would prefer to have two separate switches, one for the light and one for the fan. How complicated is this to do? Is it something we could reasonably learn how to do ourselves or should we leave it to an electrician?
posted by widdershins on Oct 18, 2004 - 10 answers