There are two outlets in my family room that don't work, the rest work
fine. All of them are on the same circuit. I know for certain that at
least one of these worked at one time, and then stopped. The two are
next to each other, i.e., approximately 5 feet apart. I have pulled
both outlets, rewired them, and then changed outlets when the first
action didn't work. Still, neither outlook is working. I have not
tested either with a meter, but only by plugging a radio into the
outlet.

One outlet has two wires coming into the box, and the other has one.

Any suggestions what I should do next?

Your problem is upstream- you need to find everything on the circuit,
see if you can tell which device is next upstream, and look for loose
wire there. Turn off power to the circuit before working on it- right?

The outlet with two wires, (wires, not cables) is the end of the run. The
outlet with four wires, is bringing power in from another outlet, then out
to the other dead outlet. You need to find the live outlet that is feeding
these two, there you will find the loose connection. It is likely a live
outlet or switch in the vicinity of the outlet with four wires in it


"ljb" wrote in message
oups.com...
There are two outlets in my family room that don't work, the rest work
fine. All of them are on the same circuit. I know for certain that at
least one of these worked at one time, and then stopped. The two are
next to each other, i.e., approximately 5 feet apart. I have pulled
both outlets, rewired them, and then changed outlets when the first
action didn't work. Still, neither outlook is working. I have not
tested either with a meter, but only by plugging a radio into the
outlet.

One outlet has two wires coming into the box, and the other has one.

Any suggestions what I should do next?

ljb wrote:
There are two outlets in my family room that don't work, the rest work
fine. All of them are on the same circuit. I know for certain that
at least one of these worked at one time, and then stopped. The two
are next to each other, i.e., approximately 5 feet apart. I have
pulled both outlets, rewired them, and then changed outlets when the
first action didn't work. Still, neither outlook is working. I have
not tested either with a meter, but only by plugging a radio into the
outlet.

One outlet has two wires coming into the box, and the other has one.

Any suggestions what I should do next?

To add to what Sev and ljb wrote, if the wires are stuck in the back of
the outlet, I suggest you move them to the side screw terminals. The back
stab things tend to cause problems.

If you have aluminum wire, you have a bit of a problem You man need
special treatment. Come back and ask about that if you find aluminum wire
rather than copper.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

According to ljb :
There are two outlets in my family room that don't work, the rest work
fine. All of them are on the same circuit. I know for certain that at
least one of these worked at one time, and then stopped. The two are
next to each other, i.e., approximately 5 feet apart. I have pulled
both outlets, rewired them, and then changed outlets when the first
action didn't work. Still, neither outlook is working. I have not
tested either with a meter, but only by plugging a radio into the
outlet.

One outlet has two wires coming into the box, and the other has one.

Any suggestions what I should do next?

Before doing any further dissection, do you have any GFCI outlets? Even
in places that seem unrelated to the dead outlets. Run through a test/reset
cycle on them all, then test the outlets again.

Any wall switches that don't seem to control anything? Plug something
in to the dead outlets and flip these switches a few times.

Power cycle each of the panel breakers. One might be tripped without
being visible.
--
Chris Lewis, Una confibula non set est
It's not just anyone who gets a Starship Cruiser class named after them.

Excellent response. It is always best to apply Occam's razor when
troubleshooting.

http://tinyurl.com/hlov5