Our electrical wall plugs went dead suddenly when the roofing crew tried
to run its equipment off of our outside plug. Do we have to call in an
electrician? All of the switches in the circuit box are on. And
pressing the reset button in the electrical plug unit in the downstairs
bathroom doesn't have any effect. Thanks for any advice.

Try resetting the breakers by shutting them off then turning them back
on. Some breakers don't give a clear indication that they have
tripped.

If you reset all of the breakers and run *all* of the GFCI outlets in
the house through the test/reset cycle and still nothing, then you
should probably call an electrician.

tenplay wrote:
Our electrical wall plugs went dead suddenly when the roofing crew tried
to run its equipment off of our outside plug. Do we have to call in an
electrician? All of the switches in the circuit box are on. And
pressing the reset button in the electrical plug unit in the downstairs
bathroom doesn't have any effect. Thanks for any advice.

I tried turning the circuit breakers off and on without success. Then I
tried pushing the reset button of the GFCI box but the reset button
would not stay pushed in. Finally I went outside and unplugged the
equipment that the roofers had plugged into an outside box. Then I was
able to push in the GFCI reset button and now all of the wall plugs
work. Can anyone explain what was causing the circuit break? Thanks.

Since you unplugged their equipment and the problem is now fixed,...
I'm just guessing here but maybe, and this is a big maybe, the problem
was with their equipment.

tenplay wrote:

Our electrical wall plugs went dead suddenly when the roofing crew tried
to run its equipment off of our outside plug. Do we have to call in an
electrician? All of the switches in the circuit box are on. And
pressing the reset button in the electrical plug unit in the downstairs
bathroom doesn't have any effect. Thanks for any advice.

Roofing crew, dead plugs, hmmm. Before you do _anything_ else, go outside
and look at the power entrance and follow it back to the pole and make sure
there isn't a line down. If there is, call the power company
immediately--you don't want somebody to step on it and get fried. When you
go out to look at it watch your step carefully--_you_ don't want to step on
it and get fried either.
--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

"tenplay" wrote in message
Finally I went outside and unplugged the equipment that the roofers had
plugged into an outside box. Then I was able to push in the GFCI reset
button and now all of the wall plugs work. Can anyone explain what was
causing the circuit break? Thanks.

Their equipment has a bad ground or short.

Edwin Pawlowski wrote:
"tenplay" wrote in message
Finally I went outside and unplugged the equipment that the roofers had
plugged into an outside box. Then I was able to push in the GFCI reset
button and now all of the wall plugs work. Can anyone explain what was
causing the circuit break? Thanks.

Their equipment has a bad ground or short.

Tell them to run their own power off their own generators. I hate when
contractors make you pay for their faulty equipment.

tenplay wrote:
tenplay wrote:
Our electrical wall plugs went dead suddenly when the roofing crew
tried to run its equipment off of our outside plug. Do we have to
call in an electrician? All of the switches in the circuit box are
on. And pressing the reset button in the electrical plug unit in the
downstairs bathroom doesn't have any effect. Thanks for any advice.

I tried turning the circuit breakers off and on without success. Then I
tried pushing the reset button of the GFCI box but the reset button
would not stay pushed in. Finally I went outside and unplugged the
equipment that the roofers had plugged into an outside box. Then I was
able to push in the GFCI reset button and now all of the wall plugs
work. Can anyone explain what was causing the circuit break? Thanks.

Your posting suggests that _all_ of your interior outlets died suddenly.
And then when you were able to reset the tripped GFCI "box" (what is a
box in this case? a GFCI outlet or a GFCI breaker or something else?)
they all came back. This would be a very odd situation if a large number
of outlets in an entire home were being serviced off of a single GFCI,
especially if you are referring to a single GFCI outlet.

But from your description it appears that some piece of the roofer's
equipment has a leakage path that exceeded the tolerance of the GFCI
which forced it to do its job and open the circuit.

--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]
http://johnmcgaw.com

tenplay posted for all of us...
I don't top post - see either inline or at bottom.

tenplay wrote:
Our electrical wall plugs went dead suddenly when the roofing crew tried
to run its equipment off of our outside plug. Do we have to call in an
electrician? All of the switches in the circuit box are on. And
pressing the reset button in the electrical plug unit in the downstairs
bathroom doesn't have any effect. Thanks for any advice.

I tried turning the circuit breakers off and on without success. Then I
tried pushing the reset button of the GFCI box but the reset button
would not stay pushed in. Finally I went outside and unplugged the
equipment that the roofers had plugged into an outside box. Then I was
able to push in the GFCI reset button and now all of the wall plugs
work. Can anyone explain what was causing the circuit break? Thanks.

There is a ground fault in the roofers equipment. Your gfci worked as
intended. Advise the roofers of this and you consider it a safety hazard.
--
Tekkie

Have the roofers plug one piece of equipment in at a time until the
gfci trips.
You will find out which tool has the leakage current to ground that way
and perhaps save them a nasty shock.
tenplay wrote:
tenplay wrote:
Our electrical wall plugs went dead suddenly when the roofing crew tried
to run its equipment off of our outside plug. Do we have to call in an
electrician? All of the switches in the circuit box are on. And
pressing the reset button in the electrical plug unit in the downstairs
bathroom doesn't have any effect. Thanks for any advice.

I tried turning the circuit breakers off and on without success. Then I
tried pushing the reset button of the GFCI box but the reset button
would not stay pushed in. Finally I went outside and unplugged the
equipment that the roofers had plugged into an outside box. Then I was
able to push in the GFCI reset button and now all of the wall plugs
work. Can anyone explain what was causing the circuit break? Thanks.