Why does my electrical outlet only work sometimes?
An electrical outlet may work only part of the time or stop functioning shortly after plugging in an appliance. This prevents your devices from staying powered consistently.
What the numbers show
Counted from the threads quoted below. How we count
- People have been saying this in most months since August 2026.
- This comes up 65.5× more often in r/askanelectrician than across the site as a whole.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Checking for switch controlDid this help you?
- 2Inspecting internal tabsDid this help you?
- 3Replacing the receptacleDid this help you?
- 4Looking for loose connectionsDid this help you?
- 5Put a potted plant, small table, or chairs in front of it to hide itDid this help you?
- 6Replace the bulky cover with a more compact or standard outdoor faceplateDid this help you?
- 7Have the electrician unhook and relocate the outletDid this help you?
- 8checking voltage levelsDid this help you?
- 9inspecting neutral wire connectionsDid this help you?
- 10Waiting for the power to come back on its ownDid this help you?
- 11Informing the landlady about the electrical failureDid this help you?
- 12Resetting the circuit breaker temporarilyDid this help you?
- 13Unplugging heavy appliances from the affected outletsDid this help you?
- 14Plugging affected appliances into outlets on different circuitsDid this help you?
- 15Shutting off all breakers to prevent fire riskDid this help you?
- 16Asking neighbors if they are experiencing similar electrical issuesDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Top one works 100% of the time. The bottom works 20% of the time and when it does it only powers my appliance for a few minutes before it stops working.”source ↗
“yesterday our bedrooms in a 2 bedroom apartment the outlets stopped working it was as like a breaker tripped but nothing happens on the circuit breaker and the rest of the apt has power.”source ↗
“I messed around with all the outlets down stairs it made no difference.”source ↗
“This morning, we noticed 4 of the outlets in the kitchen (all on a 240v double pole switch) aren’t acting right. The power seems to be “blinking”, shown in the attached video.”source ↗
“Unplugging all appliances and resetting the breaker will fix it, but only for a little bit. The breaker does not flip on its own when the blinking starts happening.”source ↗
“We called the electric company, but they quickly insisted it was on our end. I’ve flipped off all the breakers in case there’s fire danger.”source ↗
“So the breakers are not tripping to my knowledge outlets in my the bedrooms go out lights stay on rest of the house has power I go downstairs and breakers are normal even if I manually reset them I still don’t get power to the rooms”source ↗
“I feel like this bad boy is sticking out a long ways. I know that the GFCI needs the room and I can replace the cover with a more compact one, but the install does not seem right.”source ↗
“Not really sure if this setup can be changed as concrete has been poured and the wall is glued. Just seeing if we need to go back to the contractor to see if there is a better way to position this outlet or if there is a way I can make this look better.”source ↗
“When I turned the panel back on, and plugged in a led work light to the one remaining breaker/outlet, it was very dim and seemed to flicker slightly.”source ↗
“What could be causing and how might I fix.”source ↗
“What voltage you getting? flickering can be a bad neutral.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 6Why do outlets stop working when the breaker isn't tripped?
- 12Is a melted electrical socket safe to leave until morning?
- 3Power strip sparked and tripped the breaker
- 16How to replace two-prong outlets with three-prong without rewiring
- 4Why does touching my breaker panel turn my electric dryer back on?
- 3Not enough electrical outlets in the room