Outlets not working

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mikec82

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This is a bit tricky, but any feedback would be appreciated. A couple days ago, I had to flip a few different circuits on the breaker to find out which was the downstairs bathroom. Not a good idea, I know, but we are new to the house and there was no existing floorplan for the breaker. Well I found the right one, and everything was fine. Until I noticed that the upstairs master bathroom outlets were no longer working. The panels are a combo that have both a light switch and two outlets (see attached picture for example). The light switches DO still work, but the outlets in that room do not. I tried a hair dryer in another room and it works fine. None of the circuits on the breaker seem to need flipping again. I did see in the garage, where the breaker is, that one outlet was GFCI, so I reset it, but nothing happened. Anything else I can try short of calling out an electrician?

Outlet.jpg
 
I would search around, maybe you are missing a GFCI somewhere that is tripped.
 
Chris said:
I would search around, maybe you are missing a GFCI somewhere that is tripped.

I agree, but also check that the breakers are in the on position. When they trip they look like they are on.
 
The outage could be just coincidental to the breaker testing. You might want to turn off the breaker to the problem circuit, pull the plate and then loosen up the switch and duplex outlet so you can pull them out for inspection. Before touching anything that could still be hot, test with a circuit tester. Look for any connections that may have broken or come loose. Wires pushed into the stab connectors on the backs of switches and outlets have been known to break or come loose.
 
It could be that this bathroom is on the same breaker, if you had a loose wire short out or something that kicked the breaker. Then you would find a loose wire in a box somewhere between the two bathrooms. But if the lights work and the outlets do not I would suspect that box needs to be inspected. And welcome to the site.
 
By code all modern kitchen and bathroom outlets are GFCI protected, but there will only be one GFCI and then the others will be protected down from it, so if one outlet trips it, all the outlets lose power. In our kitchen, for example, we have 4 outlets on one GFCI and another 4 outlets on another. So locate the one GFCI in your bathroom that may be tripped. And if not in your bathroom, it could possibly be in another room, or even in your panel. At any rate, check all GFCI's at your outlets and in your panel.
 
I know when my master bathroom outlet trips, it cut power to the outlet in the garage on the opposite end of the house. Most code inspectors don't like to work that hard and would rather see 2 gfic outlets to take the guess work out of it.
 
It's a GFCI breaker? The breaker could be bad. Or the breaker could be good and tripping, check inside the box and see if there is a short. Turn the lighting circuit off first. Maybe you lighting neutral is tied to GFCI neutral? Hard to say without seeing it.
 
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