We Have Juice!

Wiring is interesting.

Our old house was just that....old.  It was an old farmhouse.  We had re-done the two larger rooms downstairs- the family room and the living room and had installed more outlets.  But the kitchen/dining room and the upstairs were deficient in outlets.

One thing that I was excited about when we moved into the new house was the number of outlets and light switches.  Who ever would have guessed that I would be that excited about outlets?  But I was!  More outlets in the living room and family room.  More outlets in the bedrooms.  More outlets in the sewing room.  More outlets in the kitchen and dining room.  But the upstairs bathroom was a mystery.  Only one, just one outlet in the bathroom by the sink and none anywhere else in the bathroom area.  No other in the room with the sink and toilet.  No outlet in the area with the shower.  Just a light switch which controlled the ceiling light.

Imagine my distress when I showered upstairs, plugged in the hair dryer in the ONLY outlet in the bathroom, and the dryer wouldn't work.  What???  The dryer wouldn't work.  I took the dryer downstairs and plugged it into the outlet by the sink.  It wouldn't work.  I tried the outlet on the little wall by the toilet.  Voila!  Power!

For over a year I have been showering upstairs, then going to the main floor bathroom to dry my hair.  An alternative plan is to sit on the bed and plug the hair dryer into the outlet next to my dresser, then stretch the dryer around to the left side of my head and lean, trying to see in the mirror to fluff.  That doesn't work well.

On a side note, we discovered that the lamp by the front door is controlled by the switch by the front door.  The lamp and the front porch light cannot be on at the same time, just one or the other.  The two switches are next to each other and there is alternating current with them, I guess.  Also the lamp on the table in the entry way is plugged into an outlet which on on the wall by the closet.  We haven't figured out exactly how that works but sometimes the lamp will be lit; sometimes it won't be lit.  It depends on whether the other two switches by the door are up or down and if the lamp on the table is on or off.  Sometimes both lamps will be on; sometimes just one.  Not sure of the rhyme or reason for that one yet.

A few weeks ago when Blaine was installing the new blinds in the spare bedrooms, Hilary turned on the hanging lamp in the futon room and it wouldn't light.  It had been lit.  It just wouldn't light that evening.  Gary investigatged, and sure enough, the outlets on the south wall of the two bedrooms upstairs are controlled by one of the light switches on the wall by the front door.  If the porch light is on, the outlets will not work.  If the porch light is off, the outlets will work.

Which brings us to the bathroom/hair dryer issue.  Sunday when Blaine and Landon came in to chat after doing the chores, I asked Blaine what it would take to fix the outlet in the bathroom so I could dry my hair there.  He went up to check.  When he plugged in the dryer and turned it on, it worked!  What????  It worked in both plug ins in that outlet.  He turned on the bathroom light.  The dryer worked.  He asked me to turn on the light in the shower area.  The dryer would not work.   The outlet by the sink is controlled by the outlet for the light in the shower area.

Which led us to the mystery about the outlet in the main  floor bathroom.  There is a set of switches in the entry way from the garage.  One controls the light in that area.  The other controls...nothing.  Gary plugged in the hair dryer, and it didn't work.   Switched on the extra switch in the entryway?  The dryer works!

I am not sure who wired this house or why it was wired the way it was.  Totally confusing.

I wonder what other things we will find that work---or don't---or will if a certain switch is flipped...or not.