When half the lights and outlets in the house go dead at once — while the other half works fine — the cause is usually bigger than one breaker. Most often, your home has lost one of the two 'legs' of its electrical service.
Some causes sit on the utility's side and cost you nothing to fix. Some are in your panel or service equipment and are genuinely urgent. This page helps you tell the difference, safely. If anything smells like burning, or the lights that still work look strangely bright, skip the reading and call (561) 786-1337.
How Your Home's Power Is Split in Two
Homes here are fed by two 120-volt legs that combine to make 240 volts. Roughly half your circuits run on each leg, and the big 240-volt equipment — the air conditioner, electric dryer, oven, and water heater — needs both legs working together.
Lose one leg and you get the signature pattern: about half the house dead, and every 240-volt appliance down or struggling — even though no breaker in the panel has tripped.
Safe Checks Before You Call
- Check the panel for a tripped breaker and reset it exactly once — fully OFF, then ON. A tripped main or a failing large double-pole breaker can take out a whole leg.
- Look outside: are the neighbors dark too, or is a utility crew working on the street? After storms, a dropped leg is most often a utility problem.
- Note which appliances are affected. If the AC, dryer, and oven are all down together, that points to a lost leg, not a string of coincidences.
- Rule out the simple cause: press the reset on one bathroom or kitchen GFCI. A tripped GFCI kills a handful of outlets, not half a house — but it takes ten seconds to check.
The Warning Sign: Lights That Get Brighter
If lights on the working half of the house get unusually bright — or swing brighter and dimmer as appliances cycle — unplug your electronics and call right away. That pattern can mean the neutral connection is failing along with the leg, and voltage on the live circuits can climb high enough to damage TVs, computers, and appliance electronics.
A lost leg by itself is an inconvenience. A lost leg plus a failing neutral is how electronics get fried. Until it's diagnosed, unplug sensitive electronics on the circuits that still have power, and leave the struggling 240-volt appliances off.
What Causes a Lost Leg
On the utility's side: a storm-damaged service drop, a failing transformer connection, or a burned connection where the service meets the house. South Florida storms make this the most common cause of all.
On your side: a failed main breaker, corrosion at the meter base or service connections — our humidity and salt air accelerate it — or a damaged service entrance cable.
The dividing line matters. Utility-side faults are the power company's repair and cost you nothing. House-side faults — the main breaker, the meter base, and everything past them — are yours, and they're electrician work.
What an Electrician Does About It
We test voltage on both legs at the panel and at the meter to find exactly where the power stops. If the fault is on the utility's side, we'll tell you precisely what to report so the repair happens fast — and we won't sell you work that isn't yours to pay for.
If it's house-side, we repair or replace the failed equipment — a main breaker, corroded connections, or a damaged service cable — and pull permits where required. If the panel itself is at the end of its life, we'll walk you through panel upgrade options while we're there. Either way, you get a confirmed diagnosis before anyone replaces parts.
Common questions
Is it safe to keep using the half of the house that still has power?
Mostly, with two exceptions: unplug sensitive electronics if the lights look brighter than normal, and don't run 240-volt appliances that are struggling — a motor starved of voltage can overheat. If you're not sure which pattern you have, call us and describe it.
Could this just be a tripped breaker?
Yes — a tripped main breaker or a failing double-pole breaker can mimic a lost leg, which is why the panel check comes first. If a breaker resets and holds, you're done. If nothing in the panel is tripped and half the house is still dead, the fault is in the service equipment or on the utility's side.
Will the power company fix it for free?
If the fault is on their side — the service drop, the transformer, or their connections at the meter — yes: that's their equipment and their repair. If it's in your panel or meter base, it's house-side. Our job is to find the dividing line so you don't pay for a repair that belongs to the utility.
Can a lost leg damage my air conditioner?
It can. The outdoor unit needs both legs; running on one can leave the compressor straining and the system behaving oddly. Turn the AC off at the thermostat until full power is restored or the fault is diagnosed, and don't keep restarting it in the meantime.
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(561) 786-1337