No power at switchboxes

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JoeNorm

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WA
I have been asked to finish trim at a recently remodeled residence. I turned every breaker on and am not getting power to a whole wall of switchboxes, three total.

What is the fastest way to figure out what has happened here? I checked all the obvious stuff like connections at breakers and I looked for wires in the boxes that hadn't been connected. Everything looks properly made up for the most part.

I am not super experienced in troubleshooting so just trying not to waste too much time.

thanks
 
It could be anything. It could be an outlet covered up by the sheetrockers. Check your spacing requirement for the outlets see if it looks like one was left out. Maybe a smoke detector. Do you have access below or above?
Sometimes it's easier to pull a new wire.
 
New wire is a bad option. Vaulted ceilings and a slab.

I know there is no way to know. Just hoping to not spend all day tearing boxes apart.
 
I would start with an extension cord plugged into a non-GFCI-protected receptacle, and test the neutral and ground wires against the cord's hot (solenoid tester or a light) to see whether you're missing everything or just the hot.
 
If you have a toner, turn all the breakers off, then take a hot/feed wire in the switch box and connect one lead of the toner to it. Connect the other lead to the grounds/EGCs. Start tracing with your toner until you find where that hot comes from. If it leads to another switch box, do the same there but trace a different hot than the one it toned to from the 1st box. This should lead you to the source of where the hot came from, including the panel.
If all seems intact with the hots then try the same with the neutrals to grounds.
 
Is it possible someone forgot a home run? Is every breaker accounted for? If so its possible a forgotten home run. You indicate a concrete slab. Is wiring in conduit? If so pulling in a new HR would be "simple", just find all pull points in between.

Is wiring NM or MC? Another point of search is, are there neutral(s) in the switch box? If multiple, that do not connect to the panel board, I've seen some old installations that land home run in the fixture box then only bring switch legs down to switch box. (Not a way I like to do it. But if multiple circuits or switches it can save box space.) If that is the case someone wired up the fixture incorrectly.
If this is the only switch location and you have no "real" neutral(s) (only switch leg re-identified neutrals) you also have a code violation in that it requires a neutral in a switch box in atleast one location per room. (404.2(C) 2017NEC)
It is still possible someone forgot the home run, and if wire is one of the cable types, then you don't have a "clean" option that the builder or homeowner will like, opening walls might be necessary.

Another search as mentioned is to use a tracer to trace out all the wires for locations.
 
LarryFine said:
I would start with an extension cord plugged into a non-GFCI-protected receptacle, and test the neutral and ground wires against the cord's hot (solenoid tester or a light) to see whether you're missing everything or just the hot.
Click to expand...
As a person with a meter, you can check continuity between the neutral and the ground to tell whether they are hooked up at the panel.
 
Fred B said:
Is it possible someone forgot a home run? Is every breaker accounted for? If so its possible a forgotten home run. You indicate a concrete slab. Is wiring in conduit? If so pulling in a new HR would be "simple", just find all pull points in between.

Is wiring NM or MC? Another point of search is, are there neutral(s) in the switch box? If multiple, that do not connect to the panel board, I've seen some old installations that land home run in the fixture box then only bring switch legs down to switch box. (Not a way I like to do it. But if multiple circuits or switches it can save box space.) If that is the case someone wired up the fixture incorrectly.
If this is the only switch location and you have no "real" neutral(s) (only switch leg re-identified neutrals) you also have a code violation in that it requires a neutral in a switch box in atleast one location per room. (404.2(C) 2017NEC)
It is still possible someone forgot the home run, and if wire is one of the cable types, then you don't have a "clean" option that the builder or homeowner will like, opening walls might be necessary.

Another search as mentioned is to use a tracer to trace out all the wires for locations.
Click to expand...
Good points. From there, there are sooooo many directions. Are ther in and out wires at two out of three boxes. Is there continuity between boxes? Is there a logical place these would feed from?
 
JoeNorm said:
I have been asked to finish trim at a recently remodeled residence.

I am not super experienced in troubleshooting so just trying not to waste too much time.

thanks
Click to expand...
For some reason every time you take over a job started by others you end up getting a bit of troubleshooting experience.

If you have three boxes without power and that's all then one of those boxes should be the end of the circuit.
If you have two boxes that appear to be the end of the line that should tell you something.

If you have a toner (circuit tracer) that's probably the easiest.
 
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