Strange electrical problem

Posted by on May 22, 2007, 8:07 pm

I have been trying to fix a strange electrical problem and am now at a
loss where to look next. My house was built in 1986 and is a two story
with basement. A couple of days ago I came home and found that my
garage door would not work. I assumed that it was a stuck button but
when I went in I found that the garage lights did not work either.
Luckily, the garage outlets (other than the ceiling outlet for the
door opener) are on a separate circuit so my freezer, etc. are still
on.

The first thing I did was go outside and flip all the breakers off and
back on but none appeared to be tripped. Later I noticed that two of
my bathrooms were also without power. I am not sure exactly which
breaker is the correct one but there are no GFCI breakers. Instead,
each bathroom has a GFCI outlet. I checked to make sure that the
GFCI's had not tripped but none seemes to be. I then thought that
maybe the contractor had wired the second bathroom and garage off of
the GFCI output so I pulled out the outlets in both bathrooms.
However, I found that the outlets themselves were the only things GFCI-
protected; the outputs from these outlets just had wire nuts on them.

I then decided to check and make sure the breakers were good. I used a
voltmeter to test the output on each breaker and they all came out at
122 volts. At this point, I am at a loss as to where to look. This
seems really strange. I haven't been working on any wiring projects
and the house isn't that old and doesn't have any aluminum wiring.

Any thoughts?

Posted by CJT on May 22, 2007, 8:17 pm

computernerd12345@yahoo.com wrote:

> I have been trying to fix a strange electrical problem and am now at a
> loss where to look next. My house was built in 1986 and is a two story
> with basement. A couple of days ago I came home and found that my
> garage door would not work. I assumed that it was a stuck button but
> when I went in I found that the garage lights did not work either.
> Luckily, the garage outlets (other than the ceiling outlet for the
> door opener) are on a separate circuit so my freezer, etc. are still
> on.
>
> The first thing I did was go outside and flip all the breakers off and
> back on but none appeared to be tripped. Later I noticed that two of
> my bathrooms were also without power. I am not sure exactly which
> breaker is the correct one but there are no GFCI breakers. Instead,
> each bathroom has a GFCI outlet. I checked to make sure that the
> GFCI's had not tripped but none seemes to be. I then thought that
> maybe the contractor had wired the second bathroom and garage off of
> the GFCI output so I pulled out the outlets in both bathrooms.
> However, I found that the outlets themselves were the only things GFCI-
> protected; the outputs from these outlets just had wire nuts on them.
>
> I then decided to check and make sure the breakers were good. I used a
> voltmeter to test the output on each breaker and they all came out at
> 122 volts. At this point, I am at a loss as to where to look. This
> seems really strange. I haven't been working on any wiring projects
> and the house isn't that old and doesn't have any aluminum wiring.
>
> Any thoughts?
>

I'll hazard a guess to get things going -- somewhere a wire nut has
come loose. It's probably at or near the most "upstream" outlet/device
that no longer has power.

--
The e-mail address in our reply-to line is reversed in an attempt to
minimize spam. Our true address is of the form che...@prodigy.net.

Posted by RBM on May 22, 2007, 8:17 pm

Sounds like an open circuit, somewhere. You need to determine if the hot
wire is open, or the neutral, then open all the boxes involved and check for
loose connections, preferably starting with the outlets, switches, etc,
nearest the circuit breaker panel

>I have been trying to fix a strange electrical problem and am now at a
> loss where to look next. My house was built in 1986 and is a two story
> with basement. A couple of days ago I came home and found that my
> garage door would not work. I assumed that it was a stuck button but
> when I went in I found that the garage lights did not work either.
> Luckily, the garage outlets (other than the ceiling outlet for the
> door opener) are on a separate circuit so my freezer, etc. are still
> on.
> The first thing I did was go outside and flip all the breakers off and
> back on but none appeared to be tripped. Later I noticed that two of
> my bathrooms were also without power. I am not sure exactly which
> breaker is the correct one but there are no GFCI breakers. Instead,
> each bathroom has a GFCI outlet. I checked to make sure that the
> GFCI's had not tripped but none seemes to be. I then thought that
> maybe the contractor had wired the second bathroom and garage off of
> the GFCI output so I pulled out the outlets in both bathrooms.
> However, I found that the outlets themselves were the only things GFCI-
> protected; the outputs from these outlets just had wire nuts on them.
> I then decided to check and make sure the breakers were good. I used a
> voltmeter to test the output on each breaker and they all came out at
> 122 volts. At this point, I am at a loss as to where to look. This
> seems really strange. I haven't been working on any wiring projects
> and the house isn't that old and doesn't have any aluminum wiring.
> Any thoughts?
>

Posted by Terry on May 22, 2007, 8:25 pm

On 22 May 2007 17:07:55 -0700, computernerd12345@yahoo.com wrote:

>I have been trying to fix a strange electrical problem and am now at a
>loss where to look next. My house was built in 1986 and is a two story
>with basement. A couple of days ago I came home and found that my
>garage door would not work. I assumed that it was a stuck button but
>when I went in I found that the garage lights did not work either.
>Luckily, the garage outlets (other than the ceiling outlet for the
>door opener) are on a separate circuit so my freezer, etc. are still
>on.
>The first thing I did was go outside and flip all the breakers off and
>back on but none appeared to be tripped. Later I noticed that two of
>my bathrooms were also without power. I am not sure exactly which
>breaker is the correct one but there are no GFCI breakers. Instead,
>each bathroom has a GFCI outlet. I checked to make sure that the
>GFCI's had not tripped but none seemes to be. I then thought that
>maybe the contractor had wired the second bathroom and garage off of
>the GFCI output so I pulled out the outlets in both bathrooms.
>However, I found that the outlets themselves were the only things GFCI-
>protected; the outputs from these outlets just had wire nuts on them.

It sounds like your assumption that the outputs of the GFCIs have wire
nuts is incorrect. The outputs of GFCI receptacles (any I have seen)
are screws.

I would look more closely at the GFCI outlets and take a tester to
verify that there is no power at the outlets.

>I then decided to check and make sure the breakers were good. I used a
>voltmeter to test the output on each breaker and they all came out at
>122 volts. At this point, I am at a loss as to where to look. This
>seems really strange. I haven't been working on any wiring projects
>and the house isn't that old and doesn't have any aluminum wiring.
>Any thoughts?

Posted by Doug Miller on May 22, 2007, 10:00 pm

>It sounds like your assumption that the outputs of the GFCIs have wire
>nuts is incorrect. The outputs of GFCI receptacles (any I have seen)
>are screws.

Depends on the age of the GFCIs. Back in the early to mid 1980s, at least,
some brands had wire leads instead of screw terminals.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

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