Inoperative wall plugs

[Warren]

The wall plugs at the right side of my home entry and two adjacent bedrooms quit working. An independent electrician located the circuit breaker switch(which is wobbly) but turning it off and on did not solve the problem. He attached an extension to the entry plug from a live plug for a period of several minutes which solved the problem for several days but the plugs went dead again. This house is 32 years old and is believed to have aluminum wiring. Can the one breaker switch be replaced? Any suggestions on curing this problem and any safety issues will be appreciated.

Thanks, Warren

[Dan O.]

The electrician deemed your problem 'fixed' after that? Do not call him back.

You will want to find out for sure if you have Aluminum wiring. Some circuit breakers have terminals that are made specifically for aluminum. If you replace it, make sure the breaker is the correct type for the wire. If it is Aluminum, you may want to take the wire out of the breaker (shutting off the main power first, obviously) clean it of (sand it) and try the circuit again. If that fixes your problem there are some specific terminal greases out there that are conductive and will keep down the oxidation (try the local H.W. store). Aluminum can build up an oxidation easily if the terminal is loose at all. Otherwise, replacing a single breaker is easy, mostly they just snap in and out.

[Warren]

Dan-0- Thanks for the information. I won't try to fix the problem myself but I can now pick an electrician that"knows what he is doing". I am encouraged that there are people like you in our society that are willing to help someone they don't even know. Thanks again.