Electrical circuit keeps dying

[afjes_2016]

Jamescity - Bud16415 has given you some good advise and clues to look for.

The best way to find all of the receptacles ( not sockets ) on the circuit is to shut off all of the breakers except for the breaker that control the circuit you are working with. When you test a receptacle with your meter always test the top and bottom part of the receptacle. Hot to neutral, hot to ground and neutral to ground. If you only test one portion of a receptacle it is possible in some cases since let's say your incoming power is on the top set of screws and out going power on the bottom set of screws that your connection on the bottom set of screws is not good or there is an issue with it. This will not allow the power to go to the next receptacle. You won't know that if you only test the top portion of the receptacle. My opinion is to shut the breaker off, pull the receptacles out of the box, leave the wires connected, and CAREFULLY, turn the breaker back on, test the top set of screws and the bottom set of screws with your meter.

Again, as Bud stated if any receptacles have the wires going into the back pull them out and put them on them under the screws. You would be surprised as to how many failures of circuits are caused by wiring the back of the receptacles. Yes, they are to code to do it this way but over time they tend to loosen up and the connection is not as good. REmember, loose wires start fires.

 

[jamescity1989]

Jamescity - Bud16415 has given you some good advise and clues to look for.

The best way to find all of the receptacles ( not sockets ) on the circuit is to shut off all of the breakers except for the breaker that control the circuit you are working with. When you test a receptacle with your meter always test the top and bottom part of the receptacle. Hot to neutral, hot to ground and neutral to ground. If you only test one portion of a receptacle it is possible in some cases since let's say your incoming power is on the top set of screws and out going power on the bottom set of screws that your connection on the bottom set of screws is not good or there is an issue with it. This will not allow the power to go to the next receptacle. You won't know that if you only test the top portion of the receptacle. My opinion is to shut the breaker off, pull the receptacles out of the box, leave the wires connected, and CAREFULLY, turn the breaker back on, test the top set of screws and the bottom set of screws with your meter.

Again, as Bud stated if any receptacles have the wires going into the back pull them out and put them on them under the screws. You would be surprised as to how many failures of circuits are caused by wiring the back of the receptacles. Yes, they are to code to do it this way but over time they tend to loosen up and the connection is not as good. REmember, loose wires start fires.

The circuit came back on again after sitting off for 2 days. So I finally had time to go back and check and test every receptacle. I noticed I removed what I thought was the first receptacle and left only bare wires unhooked to anything. The other outlets still had power. So I've been looking at it backward. The afci/gfci receptacle would be in the middle and the other two after the unhooked receptacle had no power as expected. So I replaced any receptacle that used the backstab method with new industrial strength (only had to do one hidden behind a bookcase). My question is what can I use to test this circuit? I used a lamp and it came on but I know that doesn't draw much power.