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#1
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Electrical outlet no longer working
Last month I had an electrical outlet inside our front entry area go
bad while I was vacuuming, I think I accidentally pulled the plug while the thing was running or something along that line, but don't remember exactly what caused it. Nevertheless, it's no longer working . After turning off and on the power from the box outside for the switch in that area and the main switch that controls everything as well, neither of those solved the problems. Thinking something maybe happened with the outlet I tried swapping a working outlet from another room with that one, still no go. After that I was reading on the internet that a GFCI outlet from another room could be the cause, so I tried resetting all the GFCI outlets in the house even though this didn't have the little GFCI sticker on the face plate like some do, so I'm not sure if it's even related to any of those that do state GFCI on them. There were 4 outlets in the house that had the reset/test buttons on them by the way, and others that have the little GFCI stickers on them, this problem outlet not being one of them. So today I picked up one of those little receptacle testers, plugged it into that outlet and it shows one yellow light on the right which allegedly means "Neutral contact not connected". Everything's connected as I far as I can see, and I reconnected it just as I took it out to test the other outlet from another room. It has those wires that you push in and they lock into place if that matters at all. This is a relatively new home (less than 3 years old) and all other outlets and electrical functions work just fine. Does anyone have any ideas as to what may be causing this? If so, I'd greatly appreciate any help you can lend in this matter. Thanks for your time! David |
#2
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Electrical outlet no longer working
Vacuums pull quite a lot of power. Since your tester tells you that you have
an open neutral, it means that the neutral connection has come loose in one of the outlets, switches or lights that are daisy chained on that circuit. The most likely location would be a back stabbed outlet or switch near the one that's not working. Check all the outlets in the vicinity of the dead outlet. It's possible, but not likely that it has anything to do with a GFCI, as that location doesn't require GFCI protection wrote in message oups.com... Last month I had an electrical outlet inside our front entry area go bad while I was vacuuming, I think I accidentally pulled the plug while the thing was running or something along that line, but don't remember exactly what caused it. Nevertheless, it's no longer working . After turning off and on the power from the box outside for the switch in that area and the main switch that controls everything as well, neither of those solved the problems. Thinking something maybe happened with the outlet I tried swapping a working outlet from another room with that one, still no go. After that I was reading on the internet that a GFCI outlet from another room could be the cause, so I tried resetting all the GFCI outlets in the house even though this didn't have the little GFCI sticker on the face plate like some do, so I'm not sure if it's even related to any of those that do state GFCI on them. There were 4 outlets in the house that had the reset/test buttons on them by the way, and others that have the little GFCI stickers on them, this problem outlet not being one of them. So today I picked up one of those little receptacle testers, plugged it into that outlet and it shows one yellow light on the right which allegedly means "Neutral contact not connected". Everything's connected as I far as I can see, and I reconnected it just as I took it out to test the other outlet from another room. It has those wires that you push in and they lock into place if that matters at all. This is a relatively new home (less than 3 years old) and all other outlets and electrical functions work just fine. Does anyone have any ideas as to what may be causing this? If so, I'd greatly appreciate any help you can lend in this matter. Thanks for your time! David |
#3
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Electrical outlet no longer working
I just tested all the other outlets in that area and pretty much all in
the rest of the house as well, they all test OK with the two yellow lights lighting up on the tester, All the light/fan switches in that immediate area appear to be working fine as well. Thanks, David RBM (remove this) wrote: Vacuums pull quite a lot of power. Since your tester tells you that you have an open neutral, it means that the neutral connection has come loose in one of the outlets, switches or lights that are daisy chained on that circuit. The most likely location would be a back stabbed outlet or switch near the one that's not working. Check all the outlets in the vicinity of the dead outlet. It's possible, but not likely that it has anything to do with a GFCI, as that location doesn't require GFCI protection |
#4
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Electrical outlet no longer working
That would probably mean the problem is a loose connection in an adjacent,
working outlet. Were there only two wires in the dead outlet? If so, it would mean it is the last outlet on the chain wrote in message oups.com... I just tested all the other outlets in that area and pretty much all in the rest of the house as well, they all test OK with the two yellow lights lighting up on the tester, All the light/fan switches in that immediate area appear to be working fine as well. Thanks, David RBM (remove this) wrote: Vacuums pull quite a lot of power. Since your tester tells you that you have an open neutral, it means that the neutral connection has come loose in one of the outlets, switches or lights that are daisy chained on that circuit. The most likely location would be a back stabbed outlet or switch near the one that's not working. Check all the outlets in the vicinity of the dead outlet. It's possible, but not likely that it has anything to do with a GFCI, as that location doesn't require GFCI protection |
#5
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Electrical outlet no longer working
Yes, the outlet that isn't working only has two wires (Plus the ground)
in it. The one I tried in its place from another room of the house had four main wires going to it. How would I find if a wire is loose in an adjacent outlet if those outlets are all working normally? Thanks, David |
#6
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Electrical outlet no longer working
Turn the power off, confirm that it's off. remove the outlet and see if any
wires are loose or disconnected. You want to check any outlets located near the dead one, and not necessarily in the same room wrote in message oups.com... Yes, the outlet that isn't working only has two wires (Plus the ground) in it. The one I tried in its place from another room of the house had four main wires going to it. How would I find if a wire is loose in an adjacent outlet if those outlets are all working normally? Thanks, David |
#7
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Electrical outlet no longer working
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#8
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Electrical outlet no longer working
I have labeled inside my box outside which area each breaker controls,
I did that after we first moved in when I was installing ceiling fans in a bunch of the rooms and so I'd know which areas each switch controlled as you mentioned. I'll try switching over to the screw connections tomorrow on that outlet to see if that helps make it come back to life somehow . Thanks, David |
#9
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Electrical outlet no longer working
Try checking the GFCI outside they could be connected to the that one
being that it is by the back door!!! good luck |
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