On Sat, 25 Oct 2008 15:07:12 -0600, Reed wrote:

Mike Dobony wrote:
On Sat, 25 Oct 2008 14:13:37 -0400, John Grabowski wrote:

"Mike Dobony" wrote in message
...
I have a dead outlet, but no breakers are tripped. Is there a way to trace
these unpowered circuits? I have a circuit tracer, but it only works on
powered lines. Thanks.

Mike D.

Forget about a tracer. Start by opening up the dead outlets. Look for
loose connections and burnt or broken wires. This problem is characteristic
of back stabbed outlets, but not limited to them. If you don't find
anything wrong go to the nearest receptacles or switches that are still
working and open them up.

Already did that. All connections are secure and wires in good shape. In
addition, all the boxes have only one wire pair, which means there are
junctions in the ceiling somewhere.

Daughter's 1955 house had similar problem. All room outlets fed
from ceiling lite box. It's a bit messy but here is what we did.

Only need a multi-meter, set for ohms ( to read shorts or opens)

1. Turn off breaker for ceiling box.
2. unplug any/all appliances in room
2. take down lite, open up box, noting which wires are spliced
together, especially the wall switch wires.
3. unsplice them
4. at outlet in question, twist black and white together (first
double-check that wires are DEAD !!)
5. use ohmeter to find the B/W pair that shows 0 ohms; ie, shorted
together

Actually just opening the ceiling box may show loose connection
causing problem. Do the rest just to be sure and for future reference.

(Actually S-I-L was changing lite fixture, and had *not* noted
original splicing before he undid everything . 4 outlets, 1 switch
and c/b feed all came into ceiling box. (Was that really allowed
in 1955 ?) He had all manner of sparks flying at first !!

--reed

LOL!!! Was there a code in 55?