Room in house has no electricity

[Owen Lucas]

I realized surveillance cams connected to internal outlets are no longer working. Tested all of the outlets with a non contact voltage tester, no electricity.

Checked the breaker box, no tripped switches. The sunroom with the power loss is next to the kitchen and possibly connected to the GFCI though it is operational.

The GFCI was installed by a family member that I suspect had no clue what they were doing and maybe their install failed. I haven't opened the outlet yet to inspect (tight location).

Is there a tool I can plug into the outlets that I can trace where the wire goes? Like some kind of frequency generator to help me trace where this circuit taps into?

How would you go about diagnosing this issue?

 

[brianl703]

Outlets are commonly daisy-chained through backstab connections, which sometimes fail. You can check nearby outlets to see if they don't work and pull them out to check for bad connections. Often there's no doubt because the backstab connection will pull out of the outlet as you remove it from the box.

 

[Fitter30]

Lot of times the neutral is lost. Check the reciprocal wiring.

Amazon.com

 

[mk378]

Circuit breakers can fail in a way that the handle will work normally and be in the on position, but the circuit is not closed. It's actually rather common. Test the output terminals with a voltmeter on AC volts to the neutral bus.

Identify all the dead outlets, it's usually obvious which (working) one is the next upstream outlet. Turn off the power and open up that outlet box to inspect.

A GFI outlet has a daisy chain feature which will protect additional outlets. If it is wired this way and the GFI is tripped the downstream outlets will be dead.

 

[Owen Lucas]

Outlets are commonly daisy-chained through backstab connections, which sometimes fail. You can check nearby outlets to see if they don't work and pull them out to check for bad connections. Often there's no doubt because the backstab connection will pull out of the outlet as you remove it from the box.

I'll give them all an inspection. This is an unheated sunroom so the heat / cold cycles of the the decades could have caused a wire to disconnect.

Lot of times the neutral is lost. Check the reciprocal wiring.

Amazon.com

That's the tool i was looking for, I'll check it out!

Circuit breakers can fail in a way that the handle will work normally and be in the on position, but the circuit is not closed. Test the output terminals with a voltmeter on AC volts to the neutral bus.

Identify all the dead outlets, it's usually obvious which (working) one is the next upstream outlet. Turn off the power and open up that outlet box to inspect.

A GFI outlet has a daisy chain feature which will protect additional outlets. If it is wired this way and the GFI is tripped the downstream outlets will be dead.

Thank you, I will follow these instructions.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Kitchen should be on its own circuit. Find the primary outlet in daisy chain pull and and inspect . But firstly trip and reset that breaker and look for voltage on it's HOT wire also check the suspect circuit N that it is secured on the N/GND buss. Use proper care 120 can bite.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Also are these switched half hot?

 

[Owen Lucas]

Also are these switched half hot?

I am not sure, what do you mean half hot and how can I check? I will be taking them off today.

 

[b_b]

its probably a gfi, ive had that happen before too. check every outlet in that area. look for hidden ones. theres a gfi tripped somewhere.

 

[Hall]

How would you go about diagnosing this issue?

I don't know how an electrician would do it but I would look at the layout of the outlets in that room relative to the breaker box. This is only a guide too as wiring can go anywhere once it's hidden behind the walls. As others have said, they are almost certainly daisy-chained. They will have wiring connected on both sides (4 wires total, not counting the ground), meaning it feeds another outlet. One of them will only have 2 wires, meaning it's the last in the daisy-chain. When you think you've determined the order, go to the first one and check the connections on both sides.

The sunroom with the power loss is next to the kitchen and possibly connected to the GFCI though it is operational.

Based on what else you said, I'd start there.

 

[mk378]

Forgot to mention also check the first dead outlet if the problem isn't at the last live one.

 

[Hall]

I am not sure, what do you mean half hot and how can I check? I will be taking them off today.

Probably means a switched outlet. On the duplex outlet, one outlet is powered or switched by a nearby light switch and the other always has power. On the side of the outlet will be a brass or copper strip that ties the upper and lower outlets together. When it's switched, this strip will be cut so it's no longer connected.

 

[Owen Lucas]

Ugh, it was a GFCI outlet. I pressed the reset button multiple times before but this time I could see the lamp in the room turn on. Time for a new GFCI.

 

[fantastic]

Ugh, it was a GFCI outlet. I pressed the reset button multiple times before but this time I could see the lamp in the room turn on. Time for a new GFCI.

Glad you found the root of the problem. But Before you buy a GFCI outlet, After rewiring my whole house using GFCI's I've learned they are a headache & the much better way is GFCI breaker. They are more expensive but thought I'd throw that out there. GFCI outlets are great but they are often just too buggy. I still run some but I've started swapping over to the breakers slowly as I can afford them.

 

[Elkins45]

Ugh, it was a GFCI outlet. I pressed the reset button multiple times before but this time I could see the lamp in the room turn on. Time for a new GFCI.

That’s better than a dead breaker. At least this way you don’t have to switch off the main and then reset every clock and electronic gizmo in the house.