Lost Power to Half the House? Here's What to Check

When half your house goes dark but the other half hums along normally — and the breakers all look fine — it's a confusing situation. The good news: the pattern itself is a strong clue. A partial outage points to a specific set of causes, and a few safe checks will tell you whether it's a simple reset or a job for an electrician.

Know when to stop. A burning smell, warm or scorched outlets, buzzing, or flickering lights means a dangerous connection fault. Don't keep testing — turn off the affected circuits if you safely can and call a licensed electrician.

Step 1: rule out the utility

First, confirm the problem is inside your home. Check whether neighbors have power and look for any utility outage alert. If the grid is down, there's nothing to fix indoors. If only part of your house is dark while the rest works, it's an internal fault — keep going.

Step 2: check for a tripped GFCI

This trips people up constantly: a single GFCI outlet can protect a whole string of outlets downstream of it. If a bathroom, the garage, the kitchen counters, or the outdoor outlets all went dead together, one tripped GFCI is often the cause.

Find the GFCIs (outlets with Test/Reset buttons) in kitchens, bathrooms, garage, basement, and outdoors, and press Reset. See how to test a GFCI outlet and keep up the test GFCI outlets task.

Step 3: reset the breakers properly

A circuit breaker can trip so slightly it still looks on. At the service panel:

• Switch each suspect breaker fully OFF, then firmly back ON.
• Do the same for any AFCI breaker or GFCI breakers in the panel, which have their own test buttons.

If a breaker won't stay reset, that circuit has a fault — leave it off and have it looked at.

Step 4: read the warning signs

Before going further, look and listen. Flickering or dimming lights, outlets that feel warm, buzzing, or any burning smell are not normal. They point to a loose or burned connection — a real fire and shock hazard. Stop and call an electrician.

Step 5: a "lost leg" needs a pro

If breakers and GFCIs are all fine but half the house is still dead, the likely culprit is upstream of your panel. Your home is fed by two 120-volt legs that combine for 240V. If one leg fails — at the utility drop, the meter, or the main breaker — roughly half your circuits go dead while the other half keep working.

A related and more dangerous fault is a failed neutral, which can push voltage too high on some circuits and damage electronics. Both are utility/electrician territory — not a DIY fix. Schedule the have the electrical panel inspected task and call a licensed electrician.

Prevent the next one

Loose connections that cause partial outages develop over time, especially in older homes and knob-and-tube systems. Periodic panel inspections and checking outlets and cords for damage catch trouble before it leaves you in the dark. See the full electrical system overview.

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