Half my house has no power
 

Come home this afternoon and half the house has no power. I flipped every breaker except for the main breaker. Any ideas what's going on?

Tell me where this joy of home ownership thing comes in again?

Sound like one 110 volt bus bar is out,let's assume you have 200 amp service,2 110 volt legs with a common neutral rail,you should be able to confirm if one leg is out by the way the breakers are connected,they are mostly staggered but occasionally parallel.

Have a voltmeter?

Do you have one of the non-contact live wire indicators? to see if you have power coming off the breakers at the box...

do you have good 220V?

I ask becasue you may have lost 1 of the 2 phases of power coming in to the house...

220V in the USA is really 110V in two phases....

I need a multimeter. Dammit already.

And I can't do anything right now because the kid is in there sleeping.

Do me a favor, assuming you have circuit breakers go down and shut off one side only,see if that affects it,if not shut off the other side and that should confirm that one supply leg is out.

I believe everyone else is correct. One 110 leg of the 220 system is out. Any high winds or heavy snow in your neighborhood recently? Can you see any problems with the three wires coming in to your meter box? Wet your fingers and touch each wire to see if it is hot. (JUST KIDDING!)
On one of my rental properties, there is a big box with two huge fuses inside, one for each leg. Perhaps you have something like this and one has failed.

Get your digicam and post a pic of your supply panel with the COVER REMOVED {4 screws} THEN we can help you.

There's only one lever on what's labeled as the main breaker.

50mph winds here since last night.

have you turned that off then back on yet? If not try it...

TAKE THE PANEL OFF AND TAKE A PIC,MOST 200 AMP BREAKERS HAVE BUT ONE MAIN SWITCH.

I said that becasue breakers can partially trip and look like they haven't tripped....seen that too many times..

Very true,and sometimes an overstressed 110v leg can carbon up or loosen from heat{stove,dryer} deal with it frequently in my rentals.

I can tell you exactly how to fix it. Call an electrician.

"Half a House"
 

Kuan,

You can pick a "Voltage Pen" (non-contact voltage indicator,It lights up and
beeps in the presence of power)[you wave it like a wand very close to the
suspect circuit,without actually touching it]at Lowe's or the Depot for about
$10.00 U.S.

You can pick up a basic multimeter for a reasonable price from Sears (If on sale
,for about $12.00 U.S.)

50knt winds can do mucho damage to the electric co's infrastructure.

Be careful, Please. 110v and anything up to 277v are very dangerous in that they have enough power to stop your
heart(internal human electrical system)without enough power to "Blow you off" the contact(if you're stuck in contact
with the voltage it's like reverse defibrulation).

Maybe the post above mine is the best idea?