Any electricians? Wall outlet question

[dta1984]

So I've got a wall outlet in my garage that quit working. It happened when I was using a small welder. The welder is advertised for a 15a circuit on the low heat settings, which I was using. The breaker never tripped, just the outlet went dead. I replaced the outlet today,and still no power. Everything else on the circuit works but this one outlet. Any ideas before I call an electrician?

 

[RedSled]

Even though you think it did not trip the breaker, try flipping all the breakers off then back on then see if you have power at that outlet. If not call an electrition. He-he

 

[jwkilgore]

So I've got a wall outlet in my garage that quit working. It happened when I was using a small welder. The welder is advertised for a 15a circuit on the low heat settings, which I was using. The breaker never tripped, just the outlet went dead. I replaced the outlet today,and still no power. Everything else on the circuit works but this one outlet. Any ideas before I call an electrician?

Check and reset all the GFCIs in the house, and specifically check bathrooms, other outlets in the garage, and any outdoor outlets. If you don't know what that is, it's an outlet with a couple of buttons on the front. One says "Test" and the other says "Reset". If it's tripped, the "Reset" button will be sticking out. Push it back in. To make sure, push the "Test" button and "Reset" will definitely pop out.

This sounds like nonsense, but it happened with me; the outdoor outlets stopped working and I couldn't figure out why. No thrown circuits, and everything else in the house appeared to work. A few weeks later I randomly noticed that the outlet in the downstairs half-bath (GFCI) had been tripped, so I reset it. Suddenly the outdoor outlets were working again. The cheapskate builder managed to save a few dollars by buying a single GFCI and running all protected downstairs outlets through it.

Also, sometimes a breaker will electrically trip but the switch won't flop all the way over. Run your finger down the row of switches with very light pressure trying to flip them open. If one is already electrically tripped the pressure should pop the switch the rest of the way. You can reset it, but it would be best to replace it.

 

[dta1984]

Thanks for the tips !

I have reset the breaker a few times when I was replacing the receptacle. Also, I did go around looking for gfci outlets and haven't found any tripped.

I have a circuit tester that you plug in and it glows if there is power. It actually did glow dimly. I checked the volts with a multi meter and only coming up with 2 volts. Other outlets nearby have 120 as normal. Time to call an electrician lol.

 

[ndcent]

Gfci outlets can simply go bad too - what I thought was a dishwasher or disposal problem once was actually just a bad gfci.

 

[foxtrot]

You can also check the outlets around it to see if the wires came loose that are feeding that outlet. Happened to me before.

I would go around and pull all your outlets and switches in the garage and make sure everything is right before you call an electrician. Easy to do and could easily be the issue

 

[dta1984]

You can also check the outlets around it to see if the wires came loose that are feeding that outlet. Happened to me before.

I would go around and pull all your outlets and switches in the garage and make sure everything is right before you call an electrician. Easy to do and could easily be the issue

Thanks, I will do that today. I did check the other outlet in the garage...it was back-stabbed, so I switched it to the screws, but no change. There are other outlets in the house on the same circuit that I will check later today.

 

[foxtrot]

Make sure to check switches also, a lot of times they will do a "touch and go" to give power to the switch from an outlet

 

[cashmoney]

Gfci outlets can simply go bad too - what I thought was a dishwasher or disposal problem once was actually just a bad gfci.

I was going to say either the GFCI has gone bad or the breaker itself has gone bad. If the wire is connected then it's going to transmit power. If there was a short in the wire it would be tripping the breaker or gfci constantly.

 

[-dustin]

how old is the house/ wiring?

 

[dta1984]

how old is the house/ wiring?

House was built in 1978

 

[dta1984]

Problem solved!

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for the responses. I did fix the problem this evening.

I went out and bought a better circuit tester that actually identifies what is wrong with the outlet. Found out it was an open neutral issue.

From there I plugged a light into the dead outlet (so I could tell when it became live). Then I took a loose (not connected to anything) extension cord and went around to the other outlets on the circuit. My hope was that it was a back stabbing issue and the neutral wire was loose. So....I plugged the extension cord in the other outlets and jiggled it a little bit and finally I saw the light flicker! Sure enough that outlet had a loose back stabbed neutral wire. Relocated all of the wires to the screws, and problem fixed!

 

[jasonochs25]

Check and reset all the GFCIs in the house, and specifically check bathrooms, other outlets in the garage, and any outdoor outlets. If you don't know what that is, it's an outlet with a couple of buttons on the front. One says "Test" and the other says "Reset". If it's tripped, the "Reset" button will be sticking out. Push it back in. To make sure, push the "Test" button and "Reset" will definitely pop out.

This sounds like nonsense, but it happened with me; the outdoor outlets stopped working and I couldn't figure out why. No thrown circuits, and everything else in the house appeared to work. A few weeks later I randomly noticed that the outlet in the downstairs half-bath (GFCI) had been tripped, so I reset it. Suddenly the outdoor outlets were working again. The cheapskate builder managed to save a few dollars by buying a single GFCI and running all protected downstairs outlets through it.

Also, sometimes a breaker will electrically trip but the switch won't flop all the way over. Run your finger down the row of switches with very light pressure trying to flip them open. If one is already electrically tripped the pressure should pop the switch the rest of the way. You can reset it, but it would be best to replace it.

Happened to me as well...Couldnt figure out, for the life of me, why a back yard outlet would cause a spare bathroom GFCI outlet to trip, but thats what happened. Now, I check them ALL!!!!