Electrical Emergencies in Columbus
Leave the House and Call 911 From Outside
If you see fire, smoke or sparks, or smell burning from an outlet, a switch, a fixture or the panel, leave the area now. Get everyone out of the house and call 911 from outside. Don’t open the panel, pull plugs or throw water on anything electrical. Once the fire department says the house is safe, have an electrician find the cause before that circuit is used again.
A Dead Circuit, a Breaker That Won’t Hold, a Warm Outlet
These are urgent without being 911 calls. Switch off the breaker for anything that buzzes or feels warm, keep that circuit unplugged, and call Polaris Electric. The call starts with a few questions about what happened, so look at the panel first if it is safe to reach.
Most power problems start in one of three places: the utility’s lines, the service and main breaker at your house, or a single circuit inside it. A few checks you can make without tools tell them apart.
Narrow Down Where the Power Problem Is
Answer from where you stand. None of these checks means taking the cover off the panel or touching a wire.
Choose the answers that match what you see, then press “Show My Next Steps.”
When the Whole House Goes Dark
Look outside first. Dark streetlights and dark windows next door mean the outage is on the utility’s lines, and only your electric utility can bring the power back. Report it, switch off the air conditioner and large appliances so they don’t all restart at once, and leave one lamp on so you know when the power returns.
If the neighbors have lights and you don’t, the fault is at your house: the main breaker, the wires that run to the house, the meter or the panel. Open the panel door and check the main breaker, usually the large one at the top. A main that has tripped can be reset once. A main that trips again, or a house that stays dark with the main on, needs the utility to check its side and an electrician to check yours.
After a summer thunderstorm or an ice storm, look at the service wires from a safe distance, one of the storm checks worth making each year. A falling limb can tear the wires loose or pull the mast, the pipe they enter, off the wall. The wires up to the meter usually belong to the utility. The mast, the meter base and the panel are the owner’s to repair, and that repair normally needs a permit and an inspection before the utility reconnects the house.
Partial power is a warning of its own. If half the lights work, the dryer and the air conditioner won’t start, or bulbs glow brighter or dimmer than usual, the house may have lost one of its two incoming hot wires or its neutral connection. Switch off computers and TVs and call your utility first.
When Some Rooms Go Dead and the Rest Still Work
A dead room, or a run of dead outlets, usually comes back to a tripped breaker, a tripped GFCI outlet or a loose connection somewhere along the circuit. You can reset the first two yourself. The third needs an electrician.
Resetting a Tripped Breaker
A tripped breaker rarely looks off. Its handle usually rests in the middle, or leans the other way from the rest of its row. To reset it:
- Unplug or switch off what runs on that circuit: heaters, hair dryers, window air conditioners, microwaves.
- Push the handle firmly to OFF until it clicks.
- Push it back to ON, one time.
- Plug things back in one at a time and watch which one trips it.
A breaker that trips the instant it is reset points to a short circuit. One that holds for a while and then trips points to an overloaded circuit or a connection heating up. Either way, leave it off and call. Never fit a bigger breaker to stop the trips: the wire behind it is sized for the breaker you have.
Finding the GFCI That Cut the Power
GFCI outlets, the ones with TEST and RESET buttons, cut the power when current leaks where it shouldn’t, through water or a person. They sit in kitchens, bathrooms, garages, basements and outdoors, and one GFCI often feeds the plain outlets wired after it, sometimes in another room. A dead bathroom outlet can trace back to a GFCI in the next bathroom or out in the garage.
Press RESET firmly. If it won’t stay in, or it trips again as soon as something is plugged in, the fault is on the circuit or the device has worn out.
Frank came out because half our garage outlets quit working. Turned out a GFCI by the workbench had tripped and was going bad, and everything else was wired off it. He replaced it and tested the rest…
What counts as an electrical emergency?
Fire, smoke, sparks or a burning smell, a wire down, and water reaching outlets or the panel are emergencies for 911 or your electric utility. A breaker that trips again and again, an outlet or switch that feels warm or buzzes, lights that flicker all over the house, and a dead circuit you can’t do without, such as the furnace’s or the sump pump’s, need an electrician soon, before they turn into the first kind.
How many times should I reset a breaker?
Once. A breaker that trips again right after the reset, or keeps tripping over the next few days, is doing its job: something on that circuit draws too much current or has a fault. Leave it off and call. Every reset into a fault heats the wire and wears the breaker, and a worn breaker can fail to trip when it should.
The power came back after a storm, but part of the house is still out. Why?
Look at the breakers first, because a surge or a short can trip one as the power returns. If every breaker is on, the storm may have left the house on one incoming hot wire, or damaged the service wires or the meter. Ask your electric utility to check its side. If the utility finds nothing, the fault is in the panel or the wiring, and an electrician picks it up from there.
Are flickering lights an emergency?
One flickering bulb is usually the bulb, a loose fit in the socket or an LED on a dimmer it doesn’t suit. Lights that flicker or dim in several rooms at once, or brighten when a big appliance starts, point to a loose connection in the panel or a failing neutral. Loose connections run hot and get worse, so call (614) 963-3246 rather than waiting. If bulbs suddenly glow much brighter than normal, switch off electronics and call your utility first.
What to Do, What to Leave Alone and Who to Call
Most electrical emergencies fit one of these situations. The safe first move is rarely complicated. The usual mistakes come from trying to fix something that is still live.
| Situation | What to do now | What not to do | Who to call |
|---|---|---|---|
| Burning smell, smoke or sparks | Get everyone out and call from outside | Open the panel, pull plugs or put water on it | 911 first, then Polaris Electric once the house is safe |
| A wire down in the yard or the street | Stay well back and keep people and pets away | Touch the wire or anything it rests on, such as a fence or a car | 911 and your electric utility |
| Water rising near outlets, cords or the panel | Keep everyone out of the water | Wade in to reach the panel | Your electric utility to cut the power, then an electrician |
| The whole street is dark | Report it, switch off big appliances and leave one lamp on | Plug a generator into a wall outlet | Your electric utility |
| Only your house is dark | Check the main breaker and look at the service wires from the ground | Climb to the mast or open the meter | Your utility, then (614) 963-3246 if its side checks out |
| One breaker keeps tripping | Unplug what runs on it and reset it once | Hold it on, tape it or fit a bigger breaker | Polaris Electric if it trips again |
| Dead outlets in a kitchen, bathroom, garage or outside | Find the tripped GFCI and press RESET | Keep resetting one that trips straight away | An electrician if it won’t hold |
| A warm, buzzing or discolored outlet or switch | Switch off its breaker if the panel is safe to reach | Plug anything back into it | Polaris Electric before it’s used again |
| Lights dim or flicker all over the house | Note when it happens and what was running | Wait for it to sort itself out | An electrician, and your utility if the neighbors see it too |
Power Still Off After the First Checks
Call with what you found: the breaker that won’t hold, the GFCI that won’t reset, the outlet that ran warm. Polaris Electric works on tripping breakers and dead outlets in houses, rentals and small businesses across Columbus.