Garage Electrical HELP!

[Johnnyboy165]

hello this is my first post and I'm really having a hard time finding out what I can do with about an electrical outlet that just stopped working.

House is a lil bit older built in the late mid 90s. we bough it year and half ago doing renovations on the house and now I'm on my part the garage.

there is an outlet that just stopped working and I checked the wires and they are not hot. I can not tell where the wires are connected to or coming from without cutting through the wall.

can anyone help me with suggestions?

 

[wyliesdiesels]

How many outlets in the garage?

If more than one, have you checked the wiring at the other outlets to see if there is a bad connection?

What if anything was going on when the outlet stopped working?

 

[katmat]

See if a gfi outlet somewhere else is tripped. The garage outlet may be serried
thru the gfi.

 

[Johnnyboy165]

there is not any outlets connected to this outlet in the garage.. the other outlets in the Garage has a GFI. but this one does not. and those other outlets in the garage are still working

 

[Johnnyboy165]

How many outlets in the garage?

If more than one, have you checked the wiring at the other outlets to see if there is a bad connection?

What if anything was going on when the outlet stopped working?

I did check to see if they were live and they are not. I also went to the breaker to see if any wires are tripped. and nothing. I'm almost about to just cap the wires and cover it and run more outlets cuz I wanna have some more? thoughts?

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Have you taken the outlet out of the J box to see if there are any issues with the wiring?

How old is the garage?

 

[dw1]

Given the time frame (mid 90's) although not sure what your location is to see what code cycle you were on, it was common to feed a receptacle in a garage off of a gfi inside the house, so I agree with Kat, check all the gfi's, bathrooms, basement or even outside, see if one is tripped or possibly bad.

 

[BobLon]

^^^Yep, seen this more than once. Do check ALL the bathrooms.

 

[jbwilkins]

GFI's do go 'bad'.....I had one do it in a rental home I was in....

The outlet in my master bath went out, I spent 2 days running around trying to find the GFI it was fed off to reset it, no luck.....What happened was the GFI in the upstairs bath had gone bad.....The upstairs outlet worked, but the one it fed in my master didn't.......

 

[CJ7VFR]

there is not any outlets connected to this outlet in the garage.. the other outlets in the Garage has a GFI. but this one does not. and those other outlets in the garage are still working

...have you checked the wiring at the other outlets to see if there is a bad connection?...

I did check to see if they were live and they are not. I also went to the breaker to see if any wires are tripped. and nothing. I'm almost about to just cap the wires and cover it and run more outlets cuz I wanna have some more? thoughts?

Do the GFCI outlets work or not? From what you are saying it sounds like either some of the outlets are working, or none of them are working.

How many outlets total, do you have in the garage? How many are GFCI protected? How many are not?

Are any of them working? Or are all of them not working?

Jim

 

[Zippercat]

Check your exterior outlets too. Garage outlet may be fed by outside.

 

[CJ7VFR]

Check your exterior outlets too. Garage outlet may be fed by outside.

Excellent advice!

Jim

 

[Johnnyboy165]

the house was built in 90s... and there is only 1 outlet that is in garage that is not working. and I checked ALL the GFI and tripped them reset them in the house. including the master bathroom.

also the master bathroom closet and lights are now not working..

 

[mcbane]

As a last resort you might see if your local tool rental place has a RF wire tracer, aka a ticker. You would clip the transmitter of that tool to the black wire in the outlet box and then trace the wire back to the breaker box. The tracer will follow wires behind sheetrock and even below ground. If the trace stops before the breaker box, you have found the discontinuity. Hopefully just a loose wirenut in a juntion box. If the black wire is good all the way to the breaker box, check that you have 120 v at the breaker (some times breakers go bad). And if the black wire and breaker are ok, you would repeat the process to find out where the white wire is broken.

 

[Johnnyboy165]

As a last resort you might see if your local tool rental place has a RF wire tracer, aka a ticker. You would clip the transmitter of that tool to the black wire in the outlet box and then trace the wire back to the breaker box. The tracer will follow wires behind sheetrock and even below ground. If the trace stops before the breaker box, you have found the discontinuity. Hopefully just a loose wirenut in a juntion box. If the black wire is good all the way to the breaker box, check that you have 120 v at the breaker (some times breakers go bad). And if the black wire and breaker are ok, you would repeat the process to find out where the white wire is broken.

where can I get one of those??

 

[mcbane]

I got this one Ideal 61-957 SureTrace Open/Closed Circuit Tracer Kit https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DEDM06M/?tag=atomicindus08-20

Amazon price is around 3 times what I paid. If you plan to buy you should shop around.


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[AP514]

If all the outlets are on GFI but 1 sounds fishy to me...I would look real close at the outlets that are closest to the 1 that is not working......
I would also trip your main and check to see if all the wires out of your Breaker panel are tight in the C/B's...Just the 15-20 Amp ones

 

[6PTsocket]

Given the time frame (mid 90's) although not sure what your location is to see what code cycle you were on, it was common to feed a receptacle in a garage off of a gfi inside the house, so I agree with Kat, check all the gfi's, bathrooms, basement or even outside, see if one is tripped or possibly bad.

Yup. My GFCI in the garage goes to front porch, bathroom1, bathroom 2, rear deck and basement, in that order. 1992

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[6PTsocket]

Since the outlets are daisy chained, a connection could l be loose on the outgoing wire from the upstream outlet, and that outlet would still have power. A long time ago an electrician friend told me to never use the spring clip rear connection on receptacles. After tracing a problem from one of those, I realized that he was right and never used one again. The rear entry screw clamp receptacles are fine and not what I am referring to. It is unlikely that a wire is broken along a run unless you have been doing some drilling or have critters in your walls. It is just a matter of figuring out the route from breaker to last outlet and following the power. Remember, just because a terminal is hot, does not mean an out going wire has a good comnnection. Put the probe on the wire.

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