Partial power or no power to part of the home
First determine whether the issue may be a utility outage. Do not force breakers or open electrical equipment.
Half the house dark while the other half runs normally is not an ordinary tripped breaker. A home receives power on two 120-volt legs, and losing one kills a scattered set of circuits while the rest carry on. The 240-volt appliances, like the range and dryer, get caught in between.
Rule out the utility first
Before touching anything, see whether neighbors have power and check the utility's outage map. A lost leg can sit entirely on the utility's side: the overhead or underground service drop, the transformer, or their connection at the weatherhead.
If the street is out, it is the utility's event; report it and wait. After a storm, the after-outage guide covers what to look at when power returns. If yours is the only house affected, keep reading.
What a lost leg looks like
- Roughly half the circuits dead, scattered across the house rather than grouped in one room.
- The dryer tumbles but will not heat, or the range clock works while burners stay cold: 240-volt equipment limping on a single leg.
- Lights oddly dim in one part of the house and oddly bright in another, which points at the neutral rather than a leg and is at least as serious.
Why this cannot wait
The failure point is usually where the whole house's current concentrates: the main breaker, the meter connections, or the panel's main lugs, the heavy terminals where the service conductors land. A connection failing there can arc and build heat under the entire house load.
Wrong voltage is the second hazard. A failing leg or neutral can push abnormal voltage onto ordinary outlets, so unplug computers and other sensitive electronics until the service is stable again.
What not to touch
Do not pull the meter, remove the panel cover, or cycle the main breaker back and forth. If the main will not hold on, leave it off.
Scorching, a hot smell, or any smoke at the panel or meter base means call 911, from outside the house.
Two owners, one repair
The utility owns the drop and generally the metering equipment; the home's side of the service point is licensed electrical work. It is common for a utility crew to test their side, confirm their equipment is good, and hand the problem back to the house.
That handoff is where we start. Describe which rooms died and how the big appliances behaved through Request an Estimate, or call (206) 718-3047 and say a leg is down; tracing a service fault is core troubleshooting and repair territory.
Common questions
Half my outlets are dead but no breaker looks tripped. How?
Breakers only protect their own circuits, and a lost service leg happens upstream of all of them, so the panel can look untouched while half of it is dead. Verifying the legs at the main is instrument work, not something to probe by hand.
Why does the dryer run but not heat?
Its motor runs on 120 volts from the surviving leg, while its heating element needs both legs to make 240 volts. Half-working 240-volt appliances are one of the clearest signatures of a lost leg.
Do I call the utility or an electrician first?
Utility first if neighbors are affected or you can see damage at the drop or meter; their check rules out their side. If their equipment tests good, the fault is on the home side and the work is licensed electrical repair.
Why unplug electronics when the power is already half out?
Because the voltage that remains may be wrong rather than merely low. Failing legs and neutrals can deliver overvoltage that destroys power supplies, and an unplugged computer cannot be hurt while the service misbehaves.