Mike Dobony wrote:
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.

You can build your own circuit tracer cheaply
and have a little fun too. You will need a small
battery powered AM radio one that's the size of
your hand is best. A low voltage buzzer, the old
fashioned type that works with a doorbell transformer
which you will also need. You hook the buzzer to
the low voltage side of the transformer which may
have several taps like the Edwards #592 transformer.
The buzzer like an Edwards #725 which operates on 6
volts. You can probably find equivalents at Radio
Shack as long as it's an electromechanical buzzer
like the Edwards model. I assume you know enough
basic electricity to be able to hook everything up.
What you want is to come off one side of the buzzer
with a lead that you can stick into one side or
other to one of your dead receptacles. It would be
best to put the buzzer in a shoe box wrapped with
towels to muffle the noise. The RF static produced
by the buzzer can be detected by the AM radio and
with a little tuning and volume adjustment, you can
easily follow the the path of the wires within the
walls. You only need one lead coming off the buzzer
to effectively inject a signal into the dead wiring
but you may have to experiment with sticking it into
the hot or neutral sides of the dead outlets. I have
used the technique for many years with great success.
I have also used a telecom tone generator and AM radio
the same way. Of course these days I have all of the
expensive professional equipment to accomplish the job
so it's no fun anymore.

TDD