Electric outlet works sometimes not others and the outlet that works changes.?

Question

Have an air conditioner. Stopped working in EITHER outlet. Next day tried it and it worked. Following day tried it in the outlet it was plugged into and it didn't work. Tried it in other plug (there are two outlets in the wall) and it worked. I am very concerned that there might be something dangerous going on within the wall. The problem is not the air conditioner per se, because the same thing happens with a small fan or night light.

Answer 1

Sometimes half the outlet is wired to a wallswitch for a lamp.

Answer 2

Just replace the outlet. If it has been there long enough to get a loose connection, its been there long enough to need replacing.

Simply put: you will have a black wire, a white wire, and a bare wire. Put the Black wire under the Gold s***w, put the White wire under the Silver s***w and put the Bare wire under the Green s***w. Nothing to it. If you have two blacks, put one under each gold s***w. Same for white. When you're done wrap electrical tape around the back of the outlet to cover the screws.

Will take less than 1/2 an hour, that includes a coffee break.

Answer 3

Trip the breaker to kill all power, and replace those two recepticals.  Not that difficult to do.  depends on how handy you are.  They might be jumped and this could be more tricky.  Kill the power, take out the recepticals and check the wires.  You will need to replace with the same pole as you have.  One of these might be single, the other double.  

Go to hardware store and get appropriate recepticals and when installing them, follow the same wiring procedure as what was on there.  So leave the old ones hooked up until you have the new ones and can swap right out...this way you know the wiring.

Or simply call an electrician.

If attempting yourself....please turn off the main breaker in the house.  Since these outlets are working sometimes and not working others, you may think you flipped the correct breaker...but it may just be that outlet is on its 'not working' cycle.  Be careful.

Good luck.

Answer 4

Just replace the outlet, sounds as the tension in the plug is getting hot and expanding causing poor contact. When you plug something in it should need to be pushed a little. If it just slides in replace it.

Answer 5

Get a flashlight and look into the slots in the receptacle.  You should be able to see the metal contacts that mate with the plug.  If they are dark and pitted, it is time to replace the receptacle.  (Were it in my house, I'd replace the thing without looking.)

Answer 6

Turn off the power. Remove the face plate them remove the 2 screws that hold the plug in the box. If the wires are pushed into the back of the plug use a very small s***w driver and push it into the small hole beside where the wire is pushed in to release it. If you see no burnt areas on the back of the plug take the wire and put it around the s***w on the side of the plug and tighten it down. Do all the wires on the plug to the screws on the side and be sure its beside the hole you took the wire out of. You need to keep the polarity the same. Then do the other plug. One of the plugs is down stream so to say from the other one. The plug  with 2 wires on it plus the ground is the last one on the line. I have had trouble in 2 different houses with this and the wire looses connection just pushed into the back of the plug. It is faster just to strip the wire and push it in than to bend it around a s***w and tighten the s***w down. They just loose contact after a while. When you take the wall plug out you will see what I'm talking about.