Trouble Shooting help

[COELECTRIC]

4 bedroom (all on top level), two story house with basement. The owner calls and indicates that power for receptacles and lighting is out in two bedrooms and one receptacle is out in the master bedroom. I checked voltage on output of each breaker (panel schedule was no help) and all were functioning properly. Pulled each receptacle and found no loose connections. Basement is finished, so no way of knowing how branch circuit gets up stairs. Any you guys have any tips or tricks you use to isolate the failure point? I also checked all the GFIs' just in case. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[qcroanoke]

Get a drop cord and plug it in to a known good outlet and check with your meter between the hot side of the cord and the neutral of the dead receptacles to see if the neutral is gone.
repeat this on the neutral side of the cord to the hot side of the receptacle to see if the hot is gone.
That should get you started.

 

[Buck Parrish]

He said lights, too. Did you pull the switches out? You must have missed some thing.
How old is the house?

 

[growler]

4 bedroom (all on top level), two story house with basement. The owner calls and indicates that power for receptacles and lighting is out in two bedrooms and one receptacle is out in the master bedroom. I checked voltage on output of each breaker (panel schedule was no help) and all were functioning properly. Pulled each receptacle and found no loose connections. Basement is finished, so no way of knowing how branch circuit gets up stairs. Any you guys have any tips or tricks you use to isolate the failure point? I also checked all the GFIs' just in case. Any help would be appreciated.

That one receptacle in the master bedroom sounds odd if it's not the end of the line ( last device in the circuit ). That would be my first place to check.

I'm normally in a hurry when trouble-shooting so I would pull the covers off the light switches and see if there is power there. And a quick trip to the attic to see if the circuit is fed to the lighting junction boxes. If I don't find things the easy way then after about 20 minutes of checking the obvious then I get out the signal tracter and start to see where it's fed from.

I find that about 90% of problems are something real simple but that last 10% calls for some real trouble-shooting and may take an hour or more to find and repair.

 

[Rewire]

Use a polarity tester to determine if it is a lost neutral or a completely dead circuit.

Remove light switches to see if they are bringing power to this point or to the ceiling box.

Check recep in master bedroom to see if it is the end of the circuit

Ask questions of owner,when ,what ,where,any new pictures hung ETC..

 

[COELECTRIC]

Yes, the receptacle in the master bedroom is end of line. I did ask the homeowner about hanging pictures or anything else, but they say they havn't touched anything. I appreciate the suggestions, keep em coming.

 

[Rewire]

Pull the GFIs on the older models the receptacle will work but the load side will be dead,if walk in closet look for a receptacle.If MB recep is end of line put a jumper beween hot and neuttral and check continuity on other bedrooms.

 

[mcclary's electrical]

My money's on that the hot comes in a light box overhead. In it, you'll find a wirenut joint overheated. Lots of times, if you find this, you'll also find they have the wrong size bulb in the fixture below, and all the heat goes right into the box.

 

[aline]

Basement is finished, so no way of knowing how branch circuit gets up stairs. Any you guys have any tips or tricks you use to isolate the failure point?

Invest in a wire tracer like the one in the link below.

http://www.tequipment.net/AmprobeAT-2005.asp

 

[augie47]

Be sure to check each "outlet" in your duplex receptacles. A short can take out the "starp" between the top & bottom outlet. You may find one where only 1/2 the receptacle is "hot" (if you're lucky)

 

[COELECTRIC]

Appreciate all the help. I'm going back Tuesday, i'll let you know what I find.

 

[480sparky]

Is it the entire circuit that's out, or just part of it?

If it's just part, start pulling devices out around where the live and dead sections are near each other.

 

[USMC1302]

Also, something I fail to remember sometimes. You asked, but when people say they haven't touched or worked on something, don't believe it.

 

[e57]

Also, something I fail to remember sometimes. You asked, but when people say they haven't touched or worked on something, don't believe it.

I agree customers are known liars.... Years ago I had hubby say that - only to find the circuit was never fed - it could never had worked - EVER!

On the way out check in hand - the wife fessed up - hubby did the work himself....

Anyway I usually make a line diagram of what doen't work - which cable goes where ect. Ring them out to be sure... Find all the ends of the runs, and the unkowns... Then ask myself over a cup of coffee and a smoke - "How would I have wired it?" or "How would Jack-the-Hack wire it?"

Failing that - select the text under my signature....

 

[cowboyjwc]

Always check the attic too, mice and squirls love cable.

 

[Rewire]

I found the power spliced in the smoke detector J box also.

 

[Cow]

Sometimes you spend enough time and aggravation pulling out devices and crawling through attics it would of been better spent paying for a quality circuit tracer like posted above. It only takes a 2-3 of these tough calls to pay for itself. It's just something to think about.

I use the Amprobe AT-2005. It comes with a hefty price tag, but can be found much cheaper on Ebay usually, I got mine for around $500 barely used. Not having to climb in scorching hot attics is worth a lot of money to me.

 

[PCN]

Trouble Shooting help

Ya know when I first saw the name of this thread, I thought he was talking about having trouble shooting his help.
:-?:grin:
I know, I know, sorry.

 

[Cow]

Don't quit your day job....

:grin:

 

[GeorgeW]

I have been in similar situations....found a broken 'hot' in a junction box in one situation and a loose wire on a receptacle that 'Johhny home owner' put in in another situation. This situation did not just happen out of the blue...something or someone caused it.