On Mar 1, 6:54 pm, "Ook" Ook Don't send me any freakin' spam at
zootal dot com delete the Don't send me any freakin' spam wrote:
I have lost an entire circuit - 6 dead outlets, 2 dead switches, all along
one set of walls. All of the breakers are good, I even tested the wires
coming out of the breakers to make sure they were hot (wife bought me a
nifty no contact bells and whistles dvm ), and all it tells me is that
all of the hot wires are really hot. There are no wires running to the area
in the basement, and the attic is open and I don't see any wires there
either. I'm not really sure where the circuit is fed from, and tearing out
walls isn't an option. Any suggestions on how to find where the wire that
feeds the circuit comes from? Are there any devices that can detect wires
behind sheetrock, or otherwise allow you to trace wires without tearing the
wall apart? This should not be difficult, but so far I've got a dead circuit
and no idea where it gets fed from.

Try to pick the outlet that would be the closest to the panel. Pull
it out and check there. If not, try your second guess. If you don't
get it on the second try, I would try to find something closer before
moving away.

A lot of the times when all the breakers are hot leaving the panel the
first outlet that is dead is the cause. It is most likely a loose
wire or a bad outlet.

Also, you can make sure the tester you are using is giving you a
correct reading and not an induced reading by cutting off the breaker
you are testing. I am guessing your tester is fine.