Question on my electric

[Bolt action]

Figured I'd ask the forum before calling in a professional. 

Sunday we lost power locally. Roughly 200 houses were out from approximately 12-11p. Prior to that, everything in the house worked properly. After the power came back on, the garage and the dishwasher are both still without power. These are both in the same switch in the panel box so I checked that, but that breaker did not appear to be tripped. I flipped it off and back on, but no luck. I know the upstairs bathroom has a gfi plug that's part of the circuit. In the past when the garage and dishwasher have done this, resetting that gfi plug in the upstairs bathroom has worked. I tried it this time, but doing so did not restore power. I then reset every gfi plug in the house, but that didn't help. I double checked the panel box again but everything in there still looked good. 

I thought there might be some forum members with more experience than me with stuff. What else should I check before calling in some help?

[virgil]

Sounds like you have some interesting wiring going on at your house.  Do you mean your garage door opener, or receptacles and lights in the garage?

If you have a tester, you can check to see if there is still power going to the opener and dishwasher.  If there is, those units could've gotten shorted out when the power came back on.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

how comfortable are you dealing with electricity?

[Bolt action]

House was built in '86, so not terribly old. As far as i can tell, the wiring is all original. The whole garage is without power.. outlets, lights, opener.

[Bolt action]

1 minute ago, Culvercreek hunt club said:

how comfortable are you dealing with electricity?

I don't have a ton of experience, but will try anything. I'll admit when I'm in over my head.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

1 minute ago, Bolt action said:

I don't have a ton of experience, but will try anything. I'll admit when I'm in over my head.

tough to try an diagnose not knowing how the lines are fed. if the GFCI had impacted those appliances working in the past I would pull the cover plate on that outlet and test it there first. it may have fried the GFCI and that is the issue. I'd start there before going into the panel. 

[Bolt action]

1 minute ago, Culvercreek hunt club said:

tough to try an diagnose not knowing how the lines are fed. if the GFCI had impacted those appliances working in the past I would pull the cover plate on that outlet and test it there first. it may have fried the GFCI and that is the issue. I'd start there before going into the panel. 

Thank you. I'll give it a shot. 

[virgil]

17 minutes ago, Culvercreek hunt club said:

tough to try an diagnose not knowing how the lines are fed. if the GFCI had impacted those appliances working in the past I would pull the cover plate on that outlet and test it there first. it may have fried the GFCI and that is the issue. I'd start there before going into the panel. 

Agreed.  If a GFCI is fried, everything downstream of it is dead.

[virgil]

Either way, it's a bit concerning there are receptacles, appliances, and lights all on the same circuit.  That's not the way it's usually done.

[sbuff]

41 minutes ago, virgil said:

Agreed.  If a GFCI is fried, everything downstream of it is dead.

Triple agree ,happened to us few years ago. A simple ac electric tester you plug into outles will help 

https://www.amazon.com/Receptacle-Tester-Klein-Tools-RT110/dp/B01AKX3AYE/ref=asc_df_B01AKX3AYE/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=309778489815&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=14419181259557396491&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9012277&hvtargid=pla-571548716375&psc=1

[reeltime]

I would agree that the issue probably lies in the gfi. If you have power on the load out side of the gfi I would then suspect you have a dropped neutral. When you looked at the outlet or switches did they wrap the screws or use those push in holes in the recepticals and switches?
If they used the push ins and you have power on the load side of the gfi I would bet you have a loose wire at 1 of those devices.

Also may want to check all the breakers and make sure they didn't stack 2 commons on 1 breaker.

Not sure if this helps but good luck and if you are unsure of anything seek experienced help.

Sent from my SM-S127DL using Tapatalk

[First-light]

Any luck? I do a lot of electrical work love when it all goes right!

[ApexerER]

I would probably swap that GFI outlet out and if that didn't work then the breaker. Neither of those are hard or expensive. After that i would probably be calling in backup....

[mowin]

I would swap the breaker with another one in the panel of the same amp to rule out the breaker. After that I'd check the GFI. If it is the GFI, buy one that has a little green light in the middle. If the light is off, the GFI is tripped or faulty.

 

Edited July 20, 2021 by mowin

[Bolt action]

This is why I asked. I knew the forum would have some good ideas!

I haven't had a chance to pull the plug yet to look at the connections. I'll take a break from work shortly and check that out. 

[Steuben Jerry]

I had a GFI go bad a couple of years ago when the power went out. It came on and off a few times before going out completely for a few hours. When it came back on, the GFI was tripped and it wouldn't completely reset. Swapped it out and all was well after. In March we had a power failure and it took out our electric dryer. Had to replace that as well. I really should look into surge protection.

[moog5050]

My grandfather taught me to lick my fingers and touch the wires to confirm that they are hot.   Hope this helps!   lol

[Bolt action]

1 minute ago, moog5050 said:

My grandfather taught me to lick my fingers and touch the wires to confirm that they are hot.   Hope this helps!   lol

Tried this first. The results were shocking, hence the need for forum input!

[moog5050]

1 minute ago, Bolt action said:

Tried this first. The results were shocking, hence the need for forum input!

My grandfather was a character and really did joking tell me to touch wires on the panel when installing a new breaker.   But he did live until 97, so ......

[Nomad]

My buddy’s an electrician,he does all my work for free . Sometimes I’ll do something myself ,but I’ll call him first , I’ll say should I flip the breaker first , he say ,” I don’t , but you should ….” Lol 

[Bolt action]

Quick update - I picked up one of those receptacle tester meters yesterday. I tested it on a working socket, then on the socket in question. The gadget lit up on the working socket, but no lights on the bad socket. Per the instructions, that means no current is registering. I flipped the switch off in the breaker box, then pulled the outlet to reset the connections. I was thinking maybe i had a loose power wire. Anyway, I put it back together, turned the power back on, and retested the outlet with the same result, no power. Next step is replacing the outlet.

[virgil]

8 minutes ago, Bolt action said:

Quick update - I picked up one of those receptacle tester meters yesterday. I tested it on a working socket, then on the socket in question. The gadget lit up on the working socket, but no lights on the bad socket. Per the instructions, that means no current is registering. I flipped the switch off in the breaker box, then pulled the outlet to reset the connections. I was thinking maybe i had a loose power wire. Anyway, I put it back together, turned the power back on, and retested the outlet with the same result, no power. Next step is replacing the outlet.

Even if the GFCI itself is faulty, there would still be power in the box at the hot wire.  If not, the problem is upstream.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

23 minutes ago, virgil said:

Even if the GFCI itself is faulty, there would still be power in the box at the hot wire.  If not, the problem is upstream.

if he bought a plug in type and not one with probes it would need to be in the outlet to register and if the GFCI is bad it won't register even if the line is hot into the box. 

[virgil]

17 minutes ago, Culvercreek hunt club said:

if he bought a plug in type and not one with probes it would need to be in the outlet to register and if the GFCI is bad it won't register even if the line is hot into the box. 

Oh right.  i don't use the plug in type of tester. 

[sbuff]

I should have posted in my earlier post to buy this also. With this and other tester you should be able to track down the issue .

https://www.lowes.com/pd/IDEAL-Single-Range-50-600-Volt-Non-Contact-Voltage-Sensor/5000240957?cm_mmc=shp-_-c-_-prd-_-elc-_-google-_-lia-_-106-_-electricaltoolsandtesters-_-5000240957-_-0&placeholder=null&ds_rl=1286981&ds_a_cid=112741100&gclid=CjwKCAjwi9-HBhACEiwAPzUhHD5L5iVJ2bHGqlmHMaqubTf27HOSmkaxsosoTOMkCnck0KCw4moA6xoCfbsQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds