Dead outlet in my garage!

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  • Savgun

    Well-Known Member
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    Mar 14, 2014
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    Pearl River, LA United States
    I am not sure what happened, but the outlet above my reloading bench has died. It is not the outlet and I have no power to it. No C/Bs are tripped and I cycled all off/on again and no go! The box is 5 feet from the outlet and no joy.

    Anyone in the Pearl River aera know anything about home wiring?
     

    RaleighReloader

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    Jan 30, 2015
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    Baton Rouge, LA
    There's only a few possibilities here, but they all require some sort of tool and some knowledge of electrics ... so if you're not sure, it's safer to get an electrician in and save yourself the risk of electrocution.

    1. Bad outlet. You'd need some sort of current meter or line tester to see if the wire in the box is live, and it's simply not being delivered to the prongs in the outlet properly. Odds are that this is the problem, and it's the easiest repair to make.
    2. Bad circuit breaker. Easiest way to test this is to swap the questionable breaker with another breaker that you know is working. Most circuit breakers have the hot wire screwed into them, so this swap will also require tools and know-how.
    3. Bad wire. The least likely, but it's possible. You'd need to check each wire with a continuity meter to diagnose this.

    Mike
     

    kz45

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    Im not an electrician but Im sure the wire coming out the breaker does not make the breaker hot, snapping it in the panel does. So to check a breaker just test the wire coming out, if on and hot its good. I know thats not how to test a breaker, but that will tell you if current is passing through it
     

    Savgun

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    Mar 14, 2014
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    Pearl River, LA United States
    Checked for power using a volt meter at the outlet and had none. I removed the outlet and checked for power and had none. Checked the C/B's all are in. Tripped all and reset all C/Bs and no power. Checked all GFI and all are in. I even checked all outlets to verify they had power.

    I need to check a few more things. Will check in later.
     

    m1k3

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    Mar 25, 2012
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    Central, LA
    Do you have any other outlets in the garage? You may have a GFCI in the garage that you have overlooked. If you house was built since about the 1980s, the garage receptacles should be on a GFCI circuit. They are often daisy chained around the garage with only one GFCI.
     

    shrxfn

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    I just remodeled a house and the wiring in that thing was a disaster but one thing I learned is that not all outlets are wired they way they should be wired and weird **** can and will happen with the wiring.. Check and see if you have a GFCI somewhere upstream of the outlet that is bad. One GFCI in the circuit protects all others downstream so in a possibly wet location like a garage the electrician or previous homeowner may have put a GFCI somewhere in the garage that is tripped. The only other thing would be to maybe check the attic and see if for some reason something is screwy in there. Also one of those voltage detectors from the hardware store is good but I have found that if you have a live wire next to a dead one the dead one can sometimes pick up the voltage from the live one and will give a false positive on the voltage detector.
     

    dougstump

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    Are there any other outlets on that circuit breaker? Are they hot? If they are all dead, then replace the breaker. If some are hot, then you likely have either a bad outlet or a loose/broken wire. I'd be happy to look at it for you, but I'm up in the opposite corner of the state.
     

    geauxbubba

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    Check every GFCI in the house .


    Do what dantheman says. Go around the house outside and inside and see if any of your GFCI are tripped. I had the same problem. It was a GFCI on the opposite side of the house.

    I have a Greenlee GT-11 voltage detector that is safe and works well. I think I bought it at Home Depot.
     

    noob

    enthusiast
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    Similar issue like the rest of us. My Upstairs master bathroom's plug wasn't working (I needed it to charge my toothbrush). I checked all around the room, found a GFCI and NOTHING, I pull the access panel to the jacuzzi tub, there's a GFCI plug in there, still nothing. I flipped the circuit breaker I have upstairs, nothing still. So I call an electrician.

    He comes over and says you probably have a tripped GFCI since it was working prior. Looked around my house and resets all of them (upstairs and downstairs) and who would of thought that the GFCI downstairs in the half bath/guest bathroom under the stairs was the one that controls my upstairs master bathroom. It cost me a good bit of money to have someone come over for such a quick fix, so I had him install an additional outlet for me outside and replace a breaker in my box, so I can get my money's worth for the "trip".
     

    Savgun

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    Mar 14, 2014
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    Pearl River, LA United States
    So I checked all of the GFCI outlets, tripped and reset all and no joy. A total of three outlets are not working (one in garage and two on front of house) All others are working. I may try to swap the C/B's and see if the issue follows.
     

    LACamper

    oldbie
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    Jun 3, 2007
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    Metairie, LA
    Any other outlets down?

    Is there power to the outlet? I've had outlets go bad.. put a volt meter on the actual wires, don't trust the outlet.
     

    CatCam

    Ready, Shoot, Aim!
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    Feb 20, 2013
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    3 outlets -- you lost a circuit (yeah I know, Thanks Capt. Obvious!)

    Also, I would recheck your breakers -- some breakers trip and it doesn't look like they are tripped, I'd reset it. If that didn't work, I put a tick tracer on the hot side to make sure the breaker is good...…

    I'm assuming you have no sub panel anywhere....???

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k95_Rnjr_DY
     

    JB-Glock21

    Old School
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    Nov 16, 2009
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    Denham Springs
    Have you checked for power at the suspect breaker? And, are the other "Dead" receptacles on the same circuit? If yes...suspect the breaker.

    However, how comfortable are you working in the breaker panel HOT?

    PS--I am a qualified Industrial/Residental Electrician....hope this helps.
     

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