Hello. I need help trying to figure out a "no power situation" to some basic 120 volt outlets. Here's the scenario:
First of all I am a jack of all trades (expert in none) handyman. Customer complained of two bedrooms without power that just went out. He had plugged in space heaters in each room and one day all sockets went dead. Ugh duh. The circuit breaker tripped and even when he reset it, the outlets still had no power. I spent a lot of time running some diagnostics...
1. There are three outlets in each (upstairs) room that are not working. There are two switches in each room that control one of the outlets in the respective rooms (the controlled outlets are not split, btw.)
2. There are no GFICs anywhere in the upstairs living quarters (bathrooms, etc.)
3. I tested both "light" switches for continuity and they are fine.
4. I opened all six outlets and found the sockets of the power outlet (hot, neutral, ground) all had good continuity to the wires themselves (so I did not change any outlets.)
5. I isolated the 20 amp circuit breaker, and temporarily swapped it with an identical (working) breaker and still the same problem--no electricity to any of the six outlets and yet the circuit breaker is not tripped.
6. In an adjoining hallway, there are two ceiling lights controlled by one switch. This switch shows continuity when turned on. One light works; the other fizzled a bit when I unscrewed the candelabra bulbs. And when I reinserted the bulbs, the light would not work. I removed the fixture and kept the hot and neutral wires open in case there was a short in this fixture, and turned on the power...still no power to the six power outlets.
7. There is a very, very old, hard-wired smoke detector near the two hallway ceiling lights. I opened it up and found a blue wire that appeared broken. I found the other end of the blue broken wire in one of an unmarked terminal. So I stripped the blue wire and re-connected. Using the an electrical receptacle tester, I spot tested a couple of the power outlets in question and they read proper grounding and tested positive! Giddy as the day my first of three wives said yes, I plugged in a light to the controlled light switch socket, turned on the switch, and the light worked for a second before it went out! The circuit breaker in question did not trip. . Square one again.
9. There are no other hard-wired smoke detectors in the house, just newer battery operated ones.
10. There is one GFIC downstairs in a bathroom. It was not tripped and functions ok. I did not open it to see if it's an end run or if has a load going out (I didn't think any load would be wired from downstairs to upstairs.) I did put it in test mode for fun and still no power to the upstairs sockets.
11. I drank a coca cola and it still did not help me think of anything else to do.
12. I used a tone and tracer generator and all hot and neutral wires seems to be connected to one another in each room (no detectable breaks.) The tracer seemed to show continuity from the power outlet to the switches. For the record, I'm also using my Fluke multi-meter, the receptacle tester mentioned, the tone and tracer, and my Milwakee dual range voltage detector for quick readings here and there.
13. Customer reported no new wiring done at the house recently. For the first time in my life, I believed the customer.
14. There is one power outlet outside the house, not GFIC'd, but it works fine.
15. I did all testing with no appliances plugged in.
16. I should have said this first: when I first tested the outlets, the multi-meter showed no voltage, and the receptacle tester showed reverse ground. When the socket worked temporarily in item 7, the tester showed correct grounding.
Well, I am at a loss, folks. I charged my customer for the 2 1/2 hours I spent for all the diagnostics but I am conscientious and would like to resolve it for him. I'd go back without a charge if I can figure out what might work next!
Any ideas anyone?
First of all I am a jack of all trades (expert in none) handyman. Customer complained of two bedrooms without power that just went out. He had plugged in space heaters in each room and one day all sockets went dead. Ugh duh. The circuit breaker tripped and even when he reset it, the outlets still had no power. I spent a lot of time running some diagnostics...
1. There are three outlets in each (upstairs) room that are not working. There are two switches in each room that control one of the outlets in the respective rooms (the controlled outlets are not split, btw.)
2. There are no GFICs anywhere in the upstairs living quarters (bathrooms, etc.)
3. I tested both "light" switches for continuity and they are fine.
4. I opened all six outlets and found the sockets of the power outlet (hot, neutral, ground) all had good continuity to the wires themselves (so I did not change any outlets.)
5. I isolated the 20 amp circuit breaker, and temporarily swapped it with an identical (working) breaker and still the same problem--no electricity to any of the six outlets and yet the circuit breaker is not tripped.
6. In an adjoining hallway, there are two ceiling lights controlled by one switch. This switch shows continuity when turned on. One light works; the other fizzled a bit when I unscrewed the candelabra bulbs. And when I reinserted the bulbs, the light would not work. I removed the fixture and kept the hot and neutral wires open in case there was a short in this fixture, and turned on the power...still no power to the six power outlets.
7. There is a very, very old, hard-wired smoke detector near the two hallway ceiling lights. I opened it up and found a blue wire that appeared broken. I found the other end of the blue broken wire in one of an unmarked terminal. So I stripped the blue wire and re-connected. Using the an electrical receptacle tester, I spot tested a couple of the power outlets in question and they read proper grounding and tested positive! Giddy as the day my first of three wives said yes, I plugged in a light to the controlled light switch socket, turned on the switch, and the light worked for a second before it went out! The circuit breaker in question did not trip. . Square one again.
9. There are no other hard-wired smoke detectors in the house, just newer battery operated ones.
10. There is one GFIC downstairs in a bathroom. It was not tripped and functions ok. I did not open it to see if it's an end run or if has a load going out (I didn't think any load would be wired from downstairs to upstairs.) I did put it in test mode for fun and still no power to the upstairs sockets.
11. I drank a coca cola and it still did not help me think of anything else to do.
12. I used a tone and tracer generator and all hot and neutral wires seems to be connected to one another in each room (no detectable breaks.) The tracer seemed to show continuity from the power outlet to the switches. For the record, I'm also using my Fluke multi-meter, the receptacle tester mentioned, the tone and tracer, and my Milwakee dual range voltage detector for quick readings here and there.
13. Customer reported no new wiring done at the house recently. For the first time in my life, I believed the customer.
14. There is one power outlet outside the house, not GFIC'd, but it works fine.
15. I did all testing with no appliances plugged in.
16. I should have said this first: when I first tested the outlets, the multi-meter showed no voltage, and the receptacle tester showed reverse ground. When the socket worked temporarily in item 7, the tester showed correct grounding.
Well, I am at a loss, folks. I charged my customer for the 2 1/2 hours I spent for all the diagnostics but I am conscientious and would like to resolve it for him. I'd go back without a charge if I can figure out what might work next!
Any ideas anyone?