Outside outlet gone bad?

[richla]

Ok, I'm stumped.
I have Christmas lights plugged into an external outlet, in front of the house. I have one of those external remote control plugs going into the outlet. And then I have the Christmas lights running into the remote control unit. Works real nice, we can turn the lights on and off from inside the house.

Everything's been great, no issues at all, and the house is about 15 years old.
It was still dark when I got up this morning, so I went to turn on the Christmas lights, but they wouldn't light.

With my outlet tester, I see that I have no power going to the plug. OK, must have tripped a breaker. On the circuit breaker panel, it turns out I do not have a dedicated, and labeled breaker for this outlet.

I have been hunting around, and flipping on and off, pretty much all the breakers. I cannot find one that appears to have tripped.

I am wondering if the outlet outside could be bad, shorted out, (but a breaker would have tripped) etc. Any ideas?

Seems like this should be simple to figure out, but I am stumped.
(This outlet does not have a reset switch on it)

 

[flat tire]

replace the outlet
just because an outlet is bad, does not mean it will trip a breaker

 

[crf731]

Most outside outlets have to be GFI

It is probably wired into one somewhere else in the house. Look around and find the one that is tripped.

My last house all the outside outlets were wired into the GFI plug in the garage.

 

[mmb617]

Most outside outlets have to be GFI

It is probably wired into one somewhere else in the house. Look around and find the one that is tripped.

My last house all the outside outlets were wired into the GFI plug in the garage.

That would be my first guess as well.

It's also possible the outlet in question has a loose or broken connection internally which could render it inoperative but wouldn't trip the breaker.

 

[Richard Cranium]

or the bathrooms

 

[SweetD]

I had a bad outdoor outlet last year and it turned out one of the wires had corroded right off of the outlet. It was due to poor installation / insulation in the past (not by me)...I replaced it with one of those outdoor rated covered outlets for both GFCI and tamper-resistance, and it's money...

 

[Dick in Wisconsin]

I had a bad outdoor outlet last year and it turned out one of the wires had corroded right off of the outlet. It was due to poor installation / insulation in the past (not by me)...I replaced it with one of those outdoor rated covered outlets for both GFCI and tamper-resistance, and it's money...

Was it already on a GFCI protected circuit?

or the bathrooms

My vote is that outside outlet to be tied to a bathroom (or even kitchen) GFCI that might be "soft".

I think that was a dumb way to wire (outside and garage outlets/circuits tied to a bathroom GFCI), but apparently that was code and if you didn't say anything to the electrician who had already reduced his bid 2x or 3x, that is what you were going to get.

No offense to the electrician (or the rest of the trades people) who had been beaten into the ground for lower bids.

 

[themiller]

I've replaced four outside outlets on two houses for same reason. Replaced with all weather enclosed GFCI and have not had a problem since.

 

[SweetD]

Was it already on a GFCI protected circuit?

No it wasn't. I bought one of those GFCI plug testers when I did it to make sure of what was going on...

 

[richla]

Now I'm really stumped. I went to the hardware store, picked up an outlet, just came back, shut off all the breakers, put in the new outlet, flipped all the breakers back on: same thing, no power at all to that outlet.
Everything else in the house is working fine. Everything.

 

[PCustoms]

You didn't find the GFCI that feeds this outlet. It's tripped.

 

[mjeff87]

I know you said no GFCI, but check the outlet(s) in your garage for one. See if one is tripped.

 

[Dick in Wisconsin]

No it wasn't. I bought one of those GFCI plug testers when I did it to make sure of what was going on...

Smart guy. Very smart!

Now I'm really stumped. I went to the hardware store, picked up an outlet, just came back, shut off all the breakers, put in the new outlet, flipped all the breakers back on: same thing, no power at all to that outlet.
Everything else in the house is working fine. Everything.

Do you have one of those three pronged things that you plug into an outlet to see if its wired right? Has I think three lights on it. The better ones have a GFI/GFCI tester button. If not, get one. At one time you had to prove you had one to join the GJF.

Start checking every outlet in the house. Eventually you are probably going to find an outlet or two or three that "don't work either". Those are probably on the same GFCI outlet that might be hidden behind a door or cabinet or box or bench or someplace that you're not aware of.

We're all working this hard for you RichLA. Stick with us. Don't give up! Keep us posted. We all want to know what the resolution is.

 

[jwh]

Done any other electrical work recently? Wife/kids/pets/etc work on electric recently? Sounds like a loose connection somewhere to me.

John

 

[richla]

You guys are good. I found a gfci in the garage that I never paid any attention too, it had tripped. Not sure why, but it did.
Lights are working, sun is setting.
I never would've checked in there, thanks to you all for your help.

 

[SweetD]

Excellent, I love a happy ending!



Dave

 

[mjeff87]

Good job.

 

[zmaxmotorsports]

Most outside outlets have to be GFI

It is probably wired into one somewhere else in the house. Look around and find the one that is tripped.

My last house all the outside outlets were wired into the GFI plug in the garage.

 

[toplessHO]

easy fix,Ive done service calls for the exact same reason.(N/C) just dont let the office know

 

[MDSPHOTO]

Woo hoo! Another problem solved by GJ!

 

[wyliesdiesels]

You guys are good. I found a gfci in the garage that I never paid any attention too, it had tripped. Not sure why, but it did.
Lights are working, sun is setting.
I never would've checked in there, thanks to you all for your help.

The GFCI could be going bad or there was a leak to ground somewhere on the circuit past the GFCI.

 

[FordTruckWench]

The GFCI could be going bad or there was a leak to ground somewhere on the circuit past the GFCI.

Considering that the "load" is Christmas lights, I'd suspect something about the lights is going bad. Perhaps a bulb is loose, allowing water to leak in and provide a current path to ground when it rains/snows enough. Similarly, what about the light string's plug?

This thread has been somewhat quick to suspect the GFCI as bad. What if instead the GFCI is doing its job and protecting people from a failing light string?