Issues after power outage

9 years ago

Last week, we had a wind storm that knocked out nearly a million homes and businesses. Our electric was restored yesterday and once the power came back on, we have had some issues. The first thing that I noticed is that one of our GFI outlets was blackened and our coffeemaker was fried. Our kitchen overhead lights, the microwave and several outlets aren't working. There is power going to the outlets, but the GFI breakers won't reset.

The TV, which is right next to the kitchen, has a purple and green line scrolling top to bottom when we are watching cable, but disappears when we are watching something via the Fire Stick.

Nothing else in the house was affected. These issues are falling along one side of the house.

I called the power company and they have opened a ticket, but I'm sure it's going to be awhile before they get back to us. They still have a few thousand outages that need to be restored, so I'm sure we are very low priority (as it should be.)

Does this sound like something in a line or the transformer or am I going to need to get an electrician in to fix the aftermath? I'm not going to do anything until the power company comes out, but was just wondering if anyone had any insight.

Also, is there any risk in using the TV?

Thanks!

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Comments (6)

Ron Natalie
9 years ago
I doubt there's any problem with using the TV, it's just likely to fail eventually due to the surge.

Doubtful, you'll get anything useful out of the power company. You need to have an electrician look at the damage and fix it. If the lost appliances and the electrical work amount to a bit of money, you may get relief from your homeowner's insurance.
randy427
9 years ago
I suspect the cable box was fried, but not the TV. I'd call the cable provider.
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Ron Natalie
9 years ago
Good point, I missed that it didn't happen with the firestick on the first read. If you have more than one cable box you can even try swapping them and see if the problem follows the box.
toxcrusadr
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
The blackened GFI outlet definitely needs to be replaced. Lights shouldn't be on a GFI circuit but it's possible. Do you know what is on which breaker in the main power panel? So you're sure power is getting to lights that aren't working?

Some of those GFI out lets are pretty cheaply made and will go bad even in normal use. If there was a surge, they can easily fry, I would think. Note that a GFI outlet will protect other outlets downstream of it in the circuit, so you may have one bad GFI outlet and several downstream of it that also don't get power because it comes through the GFI.

If you're not comfortable troubleshooting and replacing outlets and checking wiring, you'll need an electrician.
hideyhoho
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks for all the suggestions, everyone! At this point, I'm not going to do anything until I hear back from the utility. I had heard of someone else experiencing a similar issue and that it had something to do with a faulty transformer and that we may have lost one of the hot legs of incoming power. So, it's hurry up and wait for them to get to us. They are still have another 2000 restorations to do. After being out for six days ourselves, I can only hope they get those folks back up soon. It's bone-chilling cold outside.

Thanks again!
mike_kaiser_gw
9 years ago
Some of those GFI out lets are pretty cheaply made and will go bad even in normal use.

Some years back Menard's (mid-west home improvement chain) sold a no-name GFCI. On the packaging the word aluminum was spelled wrong. <lol>