What if only part of my power is out in my rental home or apartment? GFCIs, and circuit breakers. If all of your power is out, it’s probably a power outage. Contact Dayton Power and Light (DP&L) Call 1-877-4OUTAGE. If power is out to some of your outlets, then let’s do some testing, and watch a great video on it! Tripped GFCIs GFCI with tell-tale yellow light indicating it is tripped. Hit Reset. This is really just a variation on tripped breakers. Many circuits in a home (especially the kitchen, bathrooms, and outside outlets) have what’s called a GFCI (or GFI). It’s a “ground fault (circuit) interrupter”. The GFCI is a device that shuts off an electric power circuit when it detects that current is flowing along an unintended path, such as through water or a person. That’s a good thing! GFIs can trip for a variety of reasons and they kill the power to the circuit until the GFI is reset. To reset it, you have to find an outlet that has two buttons on it: test and reset. It will also most likely have a glowing yellow/orange light when it is tripped. Push reset. If it immediately trips again, try unplugging stuff from the area and resetting it. If you find that it doesn’t trip after you unplug something, then there is likely something wrong with that device. It is also possible for outlets or lights to end up with a ground or neutral wire move and touching something else, creating an “unintended path.” If resetting doesn’t fix the issue and you can’t find a problem device, then submit a ticket and we can have an electrician come out and check it. Note, resetting a GFCI is like home-dweller 101, basic stuff. Tripped Breakers Circuit panel. Look for a breaker that is either off, or partially off, then push it all the way off, then back on. Ah, so, in most cases, if some, but not all, of your houses/apartments power is out, you have most likely tripped a breaker. Perhaps too much stuff was plugged into an outlet, or a surge caused an overload. Find your circuit breaker panel (often in the garage or a closet), and see if one of the breakers is partially flipped back. If so, push it all the way off, then all the way back on, and see what happens. It should reset the part of the house without power. If it trips again, then a couple things can be going on. The most likely is that something attached to that breaker is shorting out and caused it to trip. In rarer cases, a breaker can be bad, but this is not very frequent. This video covers everything from the GFCI to circuit breakers, and a bit more. Lost Phase There is also a very rare situation where power can be apparently out in part of your house and it is still DP&L’s responsibility. It’s possible for something to happen to one leg of the line (“one phase”) to your home, causing the home to essentially operate on half the voltage. If this happens, most lamps and similar devices will still work, but big appliances that require more juice will not. If power is out for part of your home and you can’t figure it out, just submit a maintenance request through your portal and we will have an electrician come check it out. Note that if you have something plugged in that is tripping the power, this service call will be wholly your responsibility. Space heaters and such are some of the most common culprits.
If you smell gas, then this could be dangerous, but first, do you actually have gas service? Gas is not something to mess with. If you think you smell gas and you have gas utilities, be safe. Crack some windows. Go outside, keep reading, and decide what to do next. When in doubt, call Vectren, the gas company, 800.227.1376. Note that it is totally normal on automatic pilots (pilots that do NOT stay lit all the time) to smell a little natural gas when they are first turned on. A little gas will escape as the pilot and burners light on your heat or appliance. Does your unit actually have gas service? Yes, we do get calls from people who don’t have gas but smell ‘gas’ and are freaked out. If you don’t have gas service, then it is likely not explosive gas (i.e. natural gas or propane). Of course, if your whole area around your house smells of gas, then there may be a nearby gas line leak and that would be a big deal, so call Vectren if so. Have Gas? Check Pilots! You confirmed you actually DO have gas service. Check the pilot light on your furnace and on your stove. On the furnace, there is usually a front plate. With the lights off, bend down and see if you can see a small blue flame. On the stove, if you lift up the lid, you should be able to see a small flame (sometimes more than one) and/or if you put your hand on the top of the stove it should feel warm between some of the burners. Newer gas stovetops have automatic pilot lights and will not be warm or have a pilot unless turned on. If either the stove or furnace is not lit, relight it. If you don’t know how, turn the gas off at the source (usually a knob behind the stove and a knob leading to the furnace). If only one appliance has the pilot out (like the stove) or smells, you don’t need to turn off the other. S ewer Gas vs Utility Gas Pilots on or you don’t have gas service? It is very likely what you smell is “sewer gas” which can come up into a house when the traps in drains get dry. It’s a pungent gas-like smell. Run water down ALL your drains and fill a cup of water, find your drain by your furnace and pour water down it too (think big cup, not shot glass). See our site for more information. Still not sure what to do? See “gas leaks,” on page one, call Vectren, 800.227.1376, then call us.
Here are a few steps you can take to protect your home during cold weather: Leave the heat on!! Turn down heat to 60 to save energy but DON’T turn the heat off or pipes may freeze and burst damaging your residence, your belongings, or even your neighbor’s property. Run a trickle of water. A trickle of hot and cold water might be all it takes to keep your pipes from freezing. Let warm water drip overnight, preferably from an indoor faucet on an outside wall. From The Weather Channel: Letting a faucet drip during extreme cold weather can prevent a pipe from bursting. It’s not that a small flow of water prevents freezing; this helps, but water can freeze even with a slow flow. Rather, opening a faucet will provide relief from the excessive pressure that builds between the faucet and the ice blockage when freezing occurs. If there is no excessive water pressure, there is no burst pipe, even if the water inside the pipe freezes. The drip can be very slight. Even the slowest drip at normal pressure will provide pressure relief when needed. Where both hot and cold lines serve a spigot, make sure each one contributes to the drip, since both are subjected to freezing. If the dripping stops, leave the faucet(s) open, since a pipe may have frozen and will still need pressure relief. Open cabinet doors below sinks. Pipes under the kitchen and bathroom sinks are particularly vulnerable, leave the doors open to allow them to get more heat. This is particularly true for sinks on exterior walls. Be sure the heating vents are open. Be sure the heating vents are open in the kitchen, bathrooms, laundry rooms or any room where there are pipes, faucets, fridges with water lines, washing machines, etc. Close crawl space vents. You may not be in house with a crawlspace, but if you are then close the crawlspace openings and air vents. In cold weather, closing these (if you have them) conserves energy and lowers your bills. In warm weather, open them to allow air to circulate. Remove hoses from outside faucets. Be sure the faucets are off and the hoses removed. Hoses left attached can not only wreck the hose, but can break the faucet or line. If you will be gone during periods of extreme cold, you or a roommate, friend, or family member should check on your apartment periodically. NEVER turn your heat off when leaving town.
