"Rick" wrote in message
ink.net...

"Mike Henry" wrote in message
...
I've got a dead circuit in the garage which worked fine until I
plugged in a
new-to-me tool and apparently shorted the power switch to the
machine base.
That created a noticeable spark at the tool and instant power loss
to that
outlet. Unplugged the tool, popped downstairs to the main
electrical panel
and reset a tripped breaker. Back upstairs but still no power to
the outlet
or one other nearby.that is apparently on the same circuit. I
turned off
all of the circuit breakers that were likely to power the blown
circuit and
pulled the duplex recptacle ffrom the wall for inspection. It has
two black
wires on the hot side and two gray wires on the neutral side.
Ground is
apparently supplied through the conduit. No evidence of arcing or
damage to
the receptacle and there was 40 M-ohm resistance across the hot
and
neutral terminals. The receptacle was replaced with a new one, just
in
case.

All of the circuit breakers were turned on in the panel, but there
is still
no power to the outlet - voltage across the hot/neutral terminals is
around
1 VAC. I checked all of the breakers again and they are all in the
on
position.

I'm perplexed - what might be causing the problem?

Mike

You sure there isn't a GFCI upstream of the outlet?






Be aware of a common GFCI "mousetrap." If the GFIC is wired backward, i.e.,
power connected to the output side and downstream outlets connected to the
input side, it will protect the downstream outlets, but not itself. In
other words, if it trips, the downstream will be dead, but it will have
power itself, leading one to conclude it is not the problem. If you have
GFCIs, it is a real good idea to hit the "test" button to trip it and then
check to make sure it is, itself, off.

Jerry