Those dead outlets or that tripping circuit breaker doesn't deserve an overkill solution, just a simple and efficient fix. I am Larry, The Circuit Detective. I remember that as a younger electrician, Redmond was where I learned to wire homes. I've been in business for myself now since 1982. For the last 10 years I have been doing only repair of problem circuits. I have gotten so good at this troubleshooting that my average job costs under $100. I'm glad for your sake that you found me.
I live just east of you, in Carnation. So I want you to consider me your local electrical mystery solver. I'm not aware of any other electrical contractor in Washington who works strictly in this troubleshooting/repair. To get details about exactly what I do, see Eastside electrician. And to get better acquainted with me, see About.
How Much Money Are We Talking?
It takes $40 for the house call (in 98052, $30 in the 98053 ZIP), to which we then add $1.00 per minute of actual work time. The average time I take is 40 minutes. If you do the math, that means you'll probably be out $100 or less. These outages and malfunctions in your electrical system don't allow accurate estimates. By the time the exact diagnosis is made, the repair is usually just a 5 or 10 minute process at the end.
Am I booked Up?
NO! Unlike many other electrical contractors, I can usually come within a day or two of your call. Most jobs I schedule for Mon-Fri 9am-5pm, but we can see about exceptions. And, most important, I purposely answer my phone personally Mon-Sat 7am-9pm. The number is 425-333-4400.
Want to Solve It Yourself?
Even if you don't have much familiarity with circuits, you can get better educated at my main Troubleshooting page. Don't get over your head, but don't shy away from handling what you can. It's your place! They should teach things like this in high school.
Some Circuit-Solving Stories from Redmond WA
Education Hill Story. Pam told me her washing machine might have a short. Its circuit's breaker would trip off after awhile when she did the wash. When I got there, power to the machine was on. Yes, it could be that a short in the machine would only show up at a certain point in the cycle. On the other hand I wanted to look at that breaker. It sounded to me like the breaker was just getting hot from a poor connection in or around it. Heat is able to trip a breaker even when current is normal. The breaker felt OK when I turned it off and back on, but I opened the panel and pulled it out. Sure enough, it had been making heat with the live busbar it gets power from. It had been arcing from poor contact with that bar. So I replaced it. Not in the same place in the panel though. The arcing had done a little damage to the busbar there; any new breaker at the same spot would develop the same problem over again in a matter of months.
Novelty Hill Story. A recent kitchen remodel at Jim's place seemed fine for awhile. But then a GFI receptacle there would occasionally trip power off to his refrigerator. Because this was not frequent, it is hard to diagnose. I knew that having a fridge wired downstream from a GFI is not normal, though it is allowed. It must have been set up that way during the remodel. But now, what if the GFI trips while Jim is away for a week? Goodbye frozen salmon. So I was at least able to connect things differently at the GFI receptacle, so that the fridge would no longer be subject to it. It could even be that something about the fridge was causing the tripping. It won't now. Thanks to one electrician, Redmond won't let home circuit trouble get it down.
THE CIRCUIT DETECTIVE