short circuit, fried outlets?

[moreira]

so here's my story, i really hope someone can help. i always use a short type of extension cord to keep from plugging things directly into the sockets because they are pretty scary looking to be honest and since it's an old house we rarely plug things directly into the walls. so anyway i was charging my phone and found the plug thing to be sticking out a bit since the prongs fit all loosey goosey in the plug in part of the extension cord ... sorry for my childish wording i really don't know what anything is called and have absolutely no knowledge regarding electrical terms or problems. so i also didn't realize i had a necklace on the ground next to the wire so i pulled my cord thinking i was going to get it up out of the way but then the necklace clasp (metal or aluminum part) and phone charger prongs made contact then there was a loud crack/pop and bright flash. it happened really quick since i actually pulled it far enough to disconnect it. i didn't' get shocked or anything but my charger prongs melted a bit and the extension cord got burnt. so now the electrical outlets in my room, one set of outlets in the bathroom, the outlets in the next room over, and one known outlet in the dining room WON'T WORK!! the only info i have is the house is fairly small built in the 1920s and i already tried to turn off and on the switches on the breaker box and well that's it i am lost and really worried that it will cost me thousands of dollars to get this issue fixed. please help?

[HayZee518]

old style outlets of a house of your year only used a two wire receptacle. what happened is that your necklace contacted both the hot and neutral prongs of the plug causing a short circuit and the flash. if your service entrance panelboard has fuses, look for a burnt fuse -or- in the case of a circuit breaker, manually move the switch toggle all the way to off and back on. some circuit breakers when they trip don't move to the center position as they're supposed to giving you a false indication of their still being closed.
as far as the cords you use, the ones with molded receptacles and molded plugs are really cheap. the spring tension in the molded connector body [receptacle] isn't all that great.

[moreira]

i tried all the switches in the box even the one that i believe is supposed to be the main switch for the house. then tried plugging a night light in all the outlets said but i still got nothing. do you think it would be something serious like having to rewire the entire house or something that drastic?

[HayZee518]

no, not really. I don't know how squeemish you are working with a live circuit, but carefully remove the outlets that don't work and check the tightness of the screws. maybe during the course of your history, somebody installed aluminum wire which is a no-no according to the fire codes. aluminum has the reputation of oxidizing and causing a high resistance at the outlet terminals to the point of the circuit not working. maybe an outlet was replaced with a quick wire or back stabbed wire connection instead of using the side screws. the spring connection inside almost always fails rendering the downstream outlets inoperable. if you are cautious, shut off the breaker that controls that circuit and remove the outlets, one at a time and check the connections.