How do I figure out which outlet is clicking, if any?

December 5, 2015 10:45 AM

I hear an infrequent popping noise coming from my kitchen every few days. I think it's coming from an outlet in the kitchen, but I don't know which one. How do I narrow down which outlet, and should I be concerned?

All the power is working except for one bum outlet that's never worked. There are about five breakers in the panel for this room. Only two of the room's five outlet panels have GFCI test and reset buttons. The kitchen serves all my appliances, including the lights, fridge, kettle, microwave, dishwasher, washer and drier, and I don't really want to turn them all off and then on again, one by one, over many days, waiting for a click, especially if it's nothing to be concerned about. Is there an easier way I can figure out if an outlet has a problem? Should I just have my landlord call an electrician?

posted by theraflu to Home & Garden (10 answers total)

Have your landlord call an electrician. A popping noise makes me think there's an issue with the wiring or fault current. You'd probably need a voltage tester to isolate the outlet which you can buy at a hardware store but if you don't own, don't fix it.
posted by toomanycurls at 10:48 AM on December 5, 2015 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Is the kettle electric? Mine's a cheap electric one and it sometimes clicks itself on and off. This forum talks about it, but I have no idea if the science they're using to explain it is valid.
posted by jaguar at 11:56 AM on December 5, 2015 [1 favorite]

You don't have a gas stove, do you? The intermittent popping from my kitchen turned out to be one of the electric igniters sparking.
posted by olinerd at 12:08 PM on December 5, 2015 [2 favorites]

Seconding jaguar. Is your kettle always plugged in? If so, unplug it and see if it goes away. If it was me, I'm around all day tomorrow so I'd do that and then call my landlord Monday if I still heard popping. Mine pops from time to time for the same reason.
posted by good lorneing at 1:26 PM on December 5, 2015

Best answer: Seconding electric kettle. I have a nice-ish one and it automatically does the switch off pop every so often. I was glad when I finally figured out what it was, because it is a bit creepy.
posted by monopas at 2:39 PM on December 5, 2015

theraflu: "All the power is working except for one bum outlet that's never worked."

Have the land lord call an electrician. A non working outlet can be a fire hazard all on it's own and the electrician can pop each of your outlets out for a visual inspection.
posted by Mitheral at 3:01 PM on December 5, 2015 [1 favorite]

Seems like turning the breakers off/on to test would be the easiest route second to having the landlord get en electrician in there. You could also buy a receptacle tester (link to home depot) and see if the outlets are grounded properly to begin with then decide what to do.
posted by eatcake at 6:45 PM on December 5, 2015

I was hearing a weird pop/click in my kitchen and it turned out to be the inner lid of a mason jar on my windowsill (an empty Ball brand jar that had the lid screwed on). The lid was sealing itself and popping down when it got cool at night and the air in the jar contracted, and popping up when the sun warmed it each day.

But I you're sure it's an outlet, call an electrician! Why risk a fire?
posted by pseudostrabismus at 11:56 PM on December 5, 2015

Response by poster: I do have a cheap plastic electric kettle that I use every day, and the noise did sound like it was coming from the outlet where the kettle is plugged in. I'm going to unplug it and see if the noise happens keeps happening.
posted by theraflu at 7:32 AM on December 6, 2015

Response by poster: It was definitely the kettle. I realized it clicks pretty reliably about 45 minutes after using it, especially if it's sitting on the cold windowsill where I keep it.
posted by theraflu at 11:17 AM on February 4, 2016