[Maximus_Ridiculousness]

Interesting; however, a couple things don't fit my predicament…

The hairdryer is brand new (and has the reset thing on the plug). I’ve unplugged it from the bathroom and plugged it into a powerstrip first, and then plugged that into a different part of the house. OH!!! We live in an apartment, 2nd floor. Could that have anything to do with anything? I’ve lived in some other old apartments and never encountered this problem before.

What say you, Dr. Jack? Can I be saved?

[Rca2000]

This MAY explain some things.

It is summer now, and the A/C is no doubt on. In apartments, too often WAAAAYY too many ckts. are tied to one supply line. It is likely that your hair dryer is just overloading the ckt. Hair dryers use a LOT of power, you could run a 15k+ A/C unit nowdays, on LESS power than one of those 1600w. hair dryers(Of course, the HD is only on for a few minutes, but while it is on, it is a BIG draw!!)

Sounds like just "too much" "stuff" is plugged into the line!!