It's not necessarily the first dead outlet on the circuit that is the
problem. The break (disconnected wire) could easily be in the last live
outlet in the chain (power comes in to the outlet, but wire leading out to
the first dead one is disconnected. Turn off the breaker that serves the
non working outlets. Then check in the boxes of the other outlets that go
off with that breaker off. Good chance you'll find a disconnected wire
there.
--
Peace,
BobJ

"RBM" rbm2(remove wrote in message
...
unfortunately, you have no way to determine how the daisy chain of wiring
runs, but barring a cut cable inside of a closed wall, you want to try to
find the first dead outlet on that circuit, or the last live outlet on
that circuit. A loose conductor on the input of the former and a loose
conductor on the output of the latter



"Donna" wrote in message
news:6UNQi.1652$pl2.807@trndny09...

"G Wood" wrote in message
...
"Donna" wrote in message
news:A3GQi.1551$pl2.471@trndny09...

Thanks, guys.

Romex is very tough stuff, so unless there was work done with a saws-all
or
such after the finishing work, it will be a connection issue. First
step
would be to check the outlets that have failed. If you know the most
upstream (first on the circuit from breaker box), check to ensure it
isn't a
bad outlet.

There are three outlets (counting the porch light as an "outlet" for the
purposes of this post) that have failed. No other outlets in the house
are dead (and yes, to the gentleman who asked, they did work, directly
before the renovation).


From your (your plural that is.) kind responses, it seems that the three
dead outlets are at the end of a circuit, since everything else works.
The interruption must begin at the first dead plug (which is in the
office). I have, actually, pulled the wiring out and looked at it.
Everything that I saw looks to be correctly connected. But as you all
have cleverly ascertained, I'm not an electrician.

Get a circuit tester and see if the hot wire has juice. If so,
then the outlet could be faulty and not only is it non-functional, it is
blocking current from travelling to the next outlet on the circuit. If
not,
then you need to work upstream from there. One of the junction boxes
will
have a bad connection, you just need to pray it's accessible.

I'll get a circuit tester. The plug next up the line is also in the
office, and works fine, so I suspect you've figured out the problem.
Something seems to be wrong with the first dead plug, and either there is
a loose connection, or there is an interruption of some kind, and either
way, it's a pretty simple thing for an electrician to fix. Is that
correct?


This assumes there are other plugs/lights on the circuit that DO work,
and
that it isn't a bad circuit breaker in the box.

That is a correct assumption. The circuit breaker is fine, and every
other plug in the house works, including the one that connects to the
first dead plug box.

I just figured you checked
for that already.

Never assume. But yes, I did check that. Beyond that point,
though, I needed some guidance. Thanks.

Donna