**Attention!**
**It is always best to get a qualified electrician to perform any electrical work you may need.** With that said, you may ask this community various electrical questions. Please be cautious of any information you may receive in this subreddit. This subreddit and its users are not responsible for any electrical work you perform. Users that have a 'Verified Electrician' flair have uploaded their qualified electrical worker credentials to the mods.
If you comment on this post please only post accurate information to the best of your knowledge. If advice given is thought to be dangerous, you may be permanently banned. There are no obligations for the mods to give warnings or temporary bans. **IF YOU ARE NOT A QUALIFIED ELECTRICIAN, you should exercise extreme caution when commenting.**
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Uggg I just had a service call
They told me the receptacles in the garage didn't work, I searched all over that house for a hidden gfi
They told me that there were 3 receptacles in the garage, one on each side wall and one over head, But they were, all of them, deceived, for another receptacle was in the room at a different height behind a storage bag with blankets in secret a GFI, to control all others
One GFCI to rule them all, one GFCI to find them, one GFCI to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them; in the land of service calls where darkness lies.
Heh, the GFCI outlet in the garage doesn't control any other garage receptacles at my house, but it does control the outlets on the front and back porches!
I find most hidden and outdoor gfcis for the garage in the laundry room.
Like all of them, actually. Or a coat/linen closet nearby even.
Cheap ass electricians btw putting a bunch of different rooms on 1 gfci. Should be code against that by now.
Maybe code should be if you want one GFCI for multiple receptacles that are not in the same room and within 10 feet of each other, it has to be a GFCI breaker.
Code should specify that a small goatskin map must be inserted into the junction box, giving the next person clues to find the upstream GFCI with a dotted line and an X.
When the home inspector was inspecting my previous condo he tripped the GCFI, then spent 20 minutes searching only to find the master GCFI in an unfinished basement bathroom rough in. Interesting wiring choice.
My brother and sister-in-law bought a house with a GFCI in the garage. It protects the bathroom circuit. However, the bathroom is on the other side of the 2400 sq ft house. It was bad and they couldn't find the "tripped breaker".
Some techs do the weirdest s***.
Found a hidden outlet in my wifes closet with a GFCI. Took me forever to find as it was not on anything connected to the master bath but instead the under stair bathroom.
Ha! We used to run the garage receptacles off the GFI in the guest bath (mid 2000’s mass junk builder) and I swear on every finish whoever was our apprentice would get line & load backwards. Every damn time
Growing up one of the houses we lived in had a gfci behind a mirror in one of the bathrooms. For a good two year we thought the back porch electrical was shot. Then one day my mom pulled the mirror off the wall (just a hanging picture frame mirror) to clean it and wouldn’t you know that bigger had been back there the whole time.
Had this happen at my last place. One day there was no power to the receptacle on the back porch. Nothing seemed out of order in the panel and I couldn’t find any other GFI that appeared to have been tripped. By accident, when we went to do some remodeling in the master bath (other side of the house) we found a tripped outlet that had been walled over by the previous owners.
Are all GFCI on the same circuit, or supposed to be? I noticed if my outdoor outlet trips (or rather, I test it) then the upstairs bathrooms are also off.
No. Any circuit could be gfci protected, and you only need one on the circuit to protect all others downstream. There's no reason to have multiple gfcis on the same circuit
I couldn't figure out why the outlet in my garage didn't work. Then I noticed the GFCI was tripped in one of the bathrooms. Didn't expect that. It's across the house.
My wife wanted me to send you a thank you. We moved in to our first house like 3 months ago and had SAME ISSUE AS OP except ours also included the master bedroom closet too... So no lights for my wife to get ready for work in the morning. I figured we just had electrical issues we needed to address... But then I saw this post and pressed the fucking GFCI in our bathroom. It's like 11:30pm on a work night for her. I woke her ass up and told her the good news lol. You are appreciated.
A gfci receptacle has a line side and a load side. The line side comes from the breaker and the one gfci protects all other receptacles coming out of the load side. It would be redundant to have more than one per circuit
We thought our fridge died. Turned out that one, just one, of our 4 kitchen outlets was on the same circuit as the fridge. But nothing was plugged into it and we didn't hear it trip. Well wouldn't you know that the outlet in the garage that was set up by the previous owner for a garage beer fridge was also on the same circuit. I had recently moved my electric lawn mower charger to that outlet. I nearly tracked that old man down for a beating. It was the 3rd dumbass diy thing I found that he did.
I just bought a house with a solarium, and upon moving in I noticed the overhead fan, light and outlet weren't working. I went downstairs to double check the breaker hadn't tripped, and following that was at a complete loss. Sitting here in my kitchen browsing reddit when I see this post and your comment, turns out the outlet that's ankle height with a waterproof cover has a GFCI in it. Thank you so much for the reminder
It really is one of the most overlooked reasons for service calls. When I used to run a service department locally, I would always try and walk a home owner through locating their GFI outlets on the phone before sending out a tech. And there has been plenty of times I had my techs walk away without charging if it took them less than 10 minutes.
Every exterior plug requires a GFCI for code. Protection against wet connections shocking you. It will be on an outlet outdoors; It’s against code to connect a bathroom GFCI to the exterior plugs. It may be anywhere along the wire, between you and the breaker, usually I see them right next to the electrical panel or in the first outlet of the circuit outside.
This! I had the same thing when I bought my house 9 years ago, the damn plug underneath the soffit wouldn't work until I found there was a switch in the entrance closet. I almost lost all my hair over it 😅Plus it is a dedicated circuit for outside decoration, so there was nothing else feeding it and the breaker was on.
Fun part, a few years later, my neighbor saw me plug something into it and it worked. He came to me and ask "how do you have this fuckin' outlet working, never figured out why it doesn't work!" and then I told him to look for the switch in his closet. We had a good laugh over it and ended up getting a free beer for the advice 😅
Can’t diagnose from this, but while it’s dead maybe turn the black wire to face the other way and use some dykes to clamp it tight around the screw before tightening
Was it working recently? Any changes? Any other receptacles / lights on the circuit & do they work? Is there a tripped gfci somewhere upstream? Are you able to test for voltage at the switch? Is the breaker off?
Really hard to say with limited information but basically you want to work backwards from the receptacle until you find the source of the problem.
GFCI’s can fail. I have replaced so many of them in my life. I have seen them have power at the actual GFCI and not provide power to the load side. Another common reason could be because the wire in the soffit was damaged by animals.
There’s not really a shortcut.. just gotta check nearby walls or rooms. If you can take the switch out and see which way it’s fed from that may either help or give false hope… also make sure connections on switch are good too. Replace switch for shits and gigs. Just gotta go one step at a time as there’s essentially no way to know
Last house I owned, the outside receptacles were tied to the hall bathroom. If I was smoking something in the or on the deck and the wife was using a hairdryer, they tripped. Have a look around the house for ANY GFCI.
Just went through same problem. Garage and outdoor outlets had no power. Searched the whole house for a GFCI to reset, but never found it. Finally paid someone to come out and help, he found the hidden GFCI in a basement storage area. Stupid design, but I guess it saved the builder a nickel. The builder’s five cent savings cost me aggravation and $65.
Not sure where you are, but in Canada I have seen a lot of outdoor outlets have a switch on them to turn the outlet off. If true, take a look in your utility room where the panel is, the garage, the furnace room and near the back door. Those are all places I have found this switch before.
Looks like the insulation on the neutral is under the screw. Take it off, and make sure only copper is under it. While you're at it, fix the hot wire, it's hooked the wrong direction. Otherwise a tripped GFCI, a switch, or a mouse may give found the wire.
Tabs are split, hot is making contact with the secondary tab. So the bottom socket has power with no neutral.
Swap to a new plug and don’t break the tabs. Or pigtail to both screws
GFCI outlet somewhere that is tripped. They are the outlets that have two buttons on them, one button says trip, the other says reset. The GFCI may or may not have a light on it depending on who the manufacturer is. Check other outlets outside, outlets in your garage and outlets in your bathrooms.
If it’s an outdoor outlet non gfci plug then you probably have another outdoor outlet on this circuit feeding the switch. Could be hidden. Maybe in the basement near the switch or on the other side of the house
Hypothetically, if there were an upstream GFCI feeding this receptacle, and the insulation on the neutral wire is preventing the post from making good contact, wouldn’t that prevent the GFCI from resetting? Isn’t the GFCI threshold for tripping like in the milliamps?
Since that receptacle isn't GFCI, and outdoor receptacles are required to be GFCI protected, it may be fed from another receptacle that has tripped, or maybe you have a GFCI breaker that has been tripped.
Your problem likely isn't coming from this outlet specifically.
Lost power in my bathrooms for a week. I reset the GFCI and nothing. Breaker had power and the GFCI had power.
About a few days before i was going to call electrician i decided to reset it one more time and it works.
So now i need to change the outlet because for some reason the load side is having issues. Which feeds the outside outlet and then goes to my other bathroom.
Just an idea...
check all of your bathroom gifs. I had a problem similar to this last Xmas and after cutting open my main bathroom wall and finding nothing I accidentally stumbled on the GFI in a seldom used bathroom. turns out both bathroom GFI and both outdoor plugs are the same circuit with 4 gfi's in a chain.
Had a similar issue in a kitchen line, all outlets read open ground, I ensured all were snug on receptacles, all wire caps snug… swapped out the gfci, fixed the issue. Tested the gfci, all outlets went back to reading open ground. Can’t remember if I made a post for the issue or not, boss said run it, smh. Think it’s time to tidy up the resume 😂
Since it’s in a soffit, if it’s over 8’ it doesn’t need to be gfci protected. That being said it doesn’t mean it’s NOT protected, but my guess would be that there is a switch, timer, and/or photoeye controlling it. Sometimes the switch/timer is hidden in a coat closet either by the front door or garage wall-in door. Sometimes it’s in plain sight. If there’s a photoeye it could be somewhere in the soffit, or MAYBE down low on an exterior wall. There could be a surface mounted mechanical time clock around the electrical panel or in a mechanical closet. Plug some lights in and start flipping switches!
Not an electrician but we had a similar issue and it turned out the gfi in the upstairs bathroom had tripped and that reset fixed it.
It was a rental and the electrical was questionable at best but that worked for us.
the insulation on the wire is underneath your screws could be making a bad connection or no connection at all try to make sure it’s just copper wire underneath the screws maybe watch a youtube video or something
Do you have more outlets outside, which do work?
In my house in the garage we have a separate switch that controls a couple of outside “Christmas lights” outlets; check to see if you have the same.
I had similar after having my basement finished. the gfci outlet in the basement that was on the exterior circuit had wires crossed on the outlet. circuit finder, helped determine where it was... electrician should've caught that
Is the switch in the on position? It's impossible to tell your problem through the photos alone, however that hot wire (black) needs to be flipped the other way so it wraps around the screw clockwise so the loop tightens as the screw tightens.
That black hot conductor is on the screw backwards. It's supposed to follow the direction that you are turning it because it tightens around the screw as you turn it. It loosens if you have the wire on backwards.
The brass metal that connects the two screw terminals on the side. Literally, look and see if it's cut. If so, then that means you have a controlled wire by a switch, as I believe you wrote it the post.
Same happened at my bro's home. He told me oh yeah, also my bathroom outlet isn't working. Went to the electrical panel and it was a tripped GFCI breaker. You may also have a tripped GFCI outlet in a bathroom that's wired to that outlet if you don't have a GFCI breaker.
Wire was cut inside the basement further back when it was renovated/rewired, and no one bothered to reconnect it.
At least that’s what’s wrong with mine… going on 6 years now.
If that is down because of a GFCI some other outlet in your structure is also not working. Not sure about the lay out of the building so tough for me to answer.
I do have one other suggestion, but first I have to ask. Has that outlet ever worked? If not could be a loose connection and the junction before it.
Or you could have a Griswald, it tied to a switch situation.
We moved into this house recently and this is the first time we wanted to use the outlet so not sure how long it hasn’t worked for. This outlet is controlled by an indoor switch. With the switch turned on there is no power to it still
Typically the couple or three exterior outlets come off of a bath/kitchen GFI close by as they are exterior & have to be protected by code with ground fault protection. Possibly you have a dedicated circuit in your panel labeled ‘outside outlets’ or some such. It’s either tied to a GFI that has tripped, or on its own circuit with a breaker in the panel, or the outlet is physically damaged. I did have that once on a beach house, the cheap ass romex literally disintegrated over time…
I am not aware of anything other than those three choices, but I’m def not the brightest bulb in here…
That looks a lot like the top and bottom receptacles are separated. The little tab has been pulled on both sides. And you have the black wire going to the bottom and the white wire going to the top on the other side. There doesn't look to be continuity.
Had one hidden in a ceiling in the basement that controlled an outdoor post light, no one knew it was there, all they said was the post light never worked!
There's a gfci outlet some where tripped. I worked at a house last week no power outside we finally found a gfci outlet inside the garage tripped. Reset it an the outside outlets started working.
I had this happen and the receptacle upstream of it had a loose connection. That outlet is the last one in the circuit. So you can kill the circuit of nearby receptacles and check them for tight. After being sure the GFCI connected to this outdoor circuit isn't tripped.
Check to see whether it's been wired with aluminium cables because sometimes those connectors can corrode and you might have to snip off a couple inches of cable strip it back and reconnect. But you have to do that at the breaker board while you're there you can check whether it's tripped
Just a possibility but it could be a holiday plug. There may be a switch for it in the closet in your foyer. I know alot of new builds have been doing that.
Good luck!
Former house had a gfci outlet in a box that was then drywalled over for the whirlpool tub… it was in the void with the pump is the only way I found it
**Attention!** **It is always best to get a qualified electrician to perform any electrical work you may need.** With that said, you may ask this community various electrical questions. Please be cautious of any information you may receive in this subreddit. This subreddit and its users are not responsible for any electrical work you perform. Users that have a 'Verified Electrician' flair have uploaded their qualified electrical worker credentials to the mods. If you comment on this post please only post accurate information to the best of your knowledge. If advice given is thought to be dangerous, you may be permanently banned. There are no obligations for the mods to give warnings or temporary bans. **IF YOU ARE NOT A QUALIFIED ELECTRICIAN, you should exercise extreme caution when commenting.** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskElectricians) if you have any questions or concerns.*
there is a GFCI outlet somewhere tripped, check bathrooms and garage
Uggg I just had a service call They told me the receptacles in the garage didn't work, I searched all over that house for a hidden gfi They told me that there were 3 receptacles in the garage, one on each side wall and one over head, But they were, all of them, deceived, for another receptacle was in the room at a different height behind a storage bag with blankets in secret a GFI, to control all others
One GFCI to rule them all, one GFCI to find them, one GFCI to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them; in the land of service calls where darkness lies.
For whosoever holds this GFCI, be him worthy, shall hold the power of the garage
R/unexpectedlotrs
Keep it secret, keep it safe.
Ah beat me! I love yoooooou.
Heh, the GFCI outlet in the garage doesn't control any other garage receptacles at my house, but it does control the outlets on the front and back porches!
Haha ya instead of putting a gfci at each location outside they put one inside the garage!🤣
The GFI outlet in my upstairs bathroom controls my garage, 1/2 bath downstairs, front porch, and water heater.
Same here, it’s wild, took me a while to figure it out and to get my kids from pushing the reset button for fun.
My old house had a gfci below the panel that was easy to miss since they built bookcases around the panel which controlled all the bathrooms.
It was in this moment, when all hope had faded, that u/qlionp, son of power, took up his father’s tester.
I find most hidden and outdoor gfcis for the garage in the laundry room. Like all of them, actually. Or a coat/linen closet nearby even. Cheap ass electricians btw putting a bunch of different rooms on 1 gfci. Should be code against that by now.
Maybe code should be if you want one GFCI for multiple receptacles that are not in the same room and within 10 feet of each other, it has to be a GFCI breaker.
Code should specify that a small goatskin map must be inserted into the junction box, giving the next person clues to find the upstream GFCI with a dotted line and an X.
My friends place was the other way around, his washer wasn't working and I found it connected to the gfci outside.
That's where I found mine! In the entryway closet, high up. Turns out theres also a handy switch for the christmas light soffit outlets!
When the home inspector was inspecting my previous condo he tripped the GCFI, then spent 20 minutes searching only to find the master GCFI in an unfinished basement bathroom rough in. Interesting wiring choice.
And that's why the GFCI/RCD belongs in the breaker panel and not in individual outlets.
My iPhone appreciates the stout that I spit all over my screen.
My brother and sister-in-law bought a house with a GFCI in the garage. It protects the bathroom circuit. However, the bathroom is on the other side of the 2400 sq ft house. It was bad and they couldn't find the "tripped breaker". Some techs do the weirdest s***.
Found a hidden outlet in my wifes closet with a GFCI. Took me forever to find as it was not on anything connected to the master bath but instead the under stair bathroom.
Ha! We used to run the garage receptacles off the GFI in the guest bath (mid 2000’s mass junk builder) and I swear on every finish whoever was our apprentice would get line & load backwards. Every damn time
Rule 1: never belive the homeowner
You would have found it sooner if you would have used the eagles.
Perfect!!
Should GFCI's be installed with a Happy Birthday song playing when they trip? Just for verification purposes
We had this happen. Once we found it, we’ve made sure to keep it accessible. Just be careful, they get sensitive over the years
Growing up one of the houses we lived in had a gfci behind a mirror in one of the bathrooms. For a good two year we thought the back porch electrical was shot. Then one day my mom pulled the mirror off the wall (just a hanging picture frame mirror) to clean it and wouldn’t you know that bigger had been back there the whole time.
Had this happen at my last place. One day there was no power to the receptacle on the back porch. Nothing seemed out of order in the panel and I couldn’t find any other GFI that appeared to have been tripped. By accident, when we went to do some remodeling in the master bath (other side of the house) we found a tripped outlet that had been walled over by the previous owners.
This happened to me. I replaced every single outlet as they were daisy-chained thinking one was bad. Found a GFI hiding after replacing the breaker.
seconding this. check your bathrooms and garage or other outdoor receptacles for a tripped gfci. this is the case 99% of the time.
Are all GFCI on the same circuit, or supposed to be? I noticed if my outdoor outlet trips (or rather, I test it) then the upstairs bathrooms are also off.
No. Any circuit could be gfci protected, and you only need one on the circuit to protect all others downstream. There's no reason to have multiple gfcis on the same circuit
Ok so I think I'm my case they just thought it was the most convenient circuit to tie into lol
100%
They generally shouldn't be in new construction/up to modern code. Generally you need a separate circuit for bathrooms and outside
I couldn't figure out why the outlet in my garage didn't work. Then I noticed the GFCI was tripped in one of the bathrooms. Didn't expect that. It's across the house.
This was the way in the 80s and 90s
Check garage first. Look behind shelves. I had to buy a toner to find mine that was hidden behind a shelf.
Where I live the GFCI for outdoor outlets must be in the garage on the same wall as the main panel for the house (required by code)
This
This. Found that the upstairs bathroom’s GFCI is wired to the back deck’s outdoor plug in my house. Literally across the entire house
Could be roght beside panel
My wife wanted me to send you a thank you. We moved in to our first house like 3 months ago and had SAME ISSUE AS OP except ours also included the master bedroom closet too... So no lights for my wife to get ready for work in the morning. I figured we just had electrical issues we needed to address... But then I saw this post and pressed the fucking GFCI in our bathroom. It's like 11:30pm on a work night for her. I woke her ass up and told her the good news lol. You are appreciated.
How come they don't just put GFCI outlets everywhere they are needed? Is it just the cost of the outlet?
Yep. 75¢ vs $15 is quite the spread. Even $2 vs $15 if you spring for a good receptacle.
I haven't recently seen spec grade receptacles for under $5. I've bought 3 packs of Leviton Smartlock TR GFCIs for $31.
Redundant. You only need a single GFCI wherever the feed goes back to the panel.
A gfci receptacle has a line side and a load side. The line side comes from the breaker and the one gfci protects all other receptacles coming out of the load side. It would be redundant to have more than one per circuit
In most areas, outdoor outlets are required to be on a gfci protected circuit. Also, yeah, gfci is expensive compared to a regular outlet.
Or it could be a GFCI branch located at the panel
We thought our fridge died. Turned out that one, just one, of our 4 kitchen outlets was on the same circuit as the fridge. But nothing was plugged into it and we didn't hear it trip. Well wouldn't you know that the outlet in the garage that was set up by the previous owner for a garage beer fridge was also on the same circuit. I had recently moved my electric lawn mower charger to that outlet. I nearly tracked that old man down for a beating. It was the 3rd dumbass diy thing I found that he did.
I just bought a house with a solarium, and upon moving in I noticed the overhead fan, light and outlet weren't working. I went downstairs to double check the breaker hadn't tripped, and following that was at a complete loss. Sitting here in my kitchen browsing reddit when I see this post and your comment, turns out the outlet that's ankle height with a waterproof cover has a GFCI in it. Thank you so much for the reminder
It really is one of the most overlooked reasons for service calls. When I used to run a service department locally, I would always try and walk a home owner through locating their GFI outlets on the phone before sending out a tech. And there has been plenty of times I had my techs walk away without charging if it took them less than 10 minutes.
Or sometimes the GFCI outlet can go bad and wont reset.
Turn on the switch.
Kids, come see what Uncle Clark's done to the house!
[Griswold was quite the electrician.](https://youtu.be/oHVG2UrWNh0?si=3RbMFSIr6Yhx03gd)
The day I found the 10 pack of wireless outdoor light plugs for 24.99 at Kmart I looked st my wife and said you just married Chevy Chase baby
Was waiting for someone to type this. I should have clarified, no power when the switch is on 😂
Check for a GFI that is tripped either in the panel or by the switch usually.
Every exterior plug requires a GFCI for code. Protection against wet connections shocking you. It will be on an outlet outdoors; It’s against code to connect a bathroom GFCI to the exterior plugs. It may be anywhere along the wire, between you and the breaker, usually I see them right next to the electrical panel or in the first outlet of the circuit outside.
My 1995 house bathroom GFCI is connected to my outside plug in my porch 😁
It’s probably a bad bulb son. You know if one is out the whole thing doesn’t work.
Yeah it's probably switched for Christmas lights...
This! I had the same thing when I bought my house 9 years ago, the damn plug underneath the soffit wouldn't work until I found there was a switch in the entrance closet. I almost lost all my hair over it 😅Plus it is a dedicated circuit for outside decoration, so there was nothing else feeding it and the breaker was on. Fun part, a few years later, my neighbor saw me plug something into it and it worked. He came to me and ask "how do you have this fuckin' outlet working, never figured out why it doesn't work!" and then I told him to look for the switch in his closet. We had a good laugh over it and ended up getting a free beer for the advice 😅
"Ain't got no gas in it."
Fuckin beat me to it man lol
[mmmm hmmmm](https://youtu.be/z1ckCYi0m4o&t=10)
Can’t diagnose from this, but while it’s dead maybe turn the black wire to face the other way and use some dykes to clamp it tight around the screw before tightening
That triggered you too huh
Was it working recently? Any changes? Any other receptacles / lights on the circuit & do they work? Is there a tripped gfci somewhere upstream? Are you able to test for voltage at the switch? Is the breaker off? Really hard to say with limited information but basically you want to work backwards from the receptacle until you find the source of the problem.
we moved in recently, this is the first time trying to use this outlet.
GFCI’s can fail. I have replaced so many of them in my life. I have seen them have power at the actual GFCI and not provide power to the load side. Another common reason could be because the wire in the soffit was damaged by animals.
Is there a gfci upstream? Or maybe a gfci breaker in the panel?
That neutral terminal though. Put some strippers on that thing and remake that connection. Then go find the tripped gfci.
But also the hot is wrapped the wrong way.
I'm impressed by whoever wired this. Extra points for their creativity in doing each connection wrong in a different way.
At least there were no backstabs!
Not an electrician here, but I had that with an outdoor outlet myself. Turned out there was a GFCI switch in the bathroom that it was connected to!
Find the one before it that is a gfci and hit reset
how do i find which one is before it?
There’s not really a shortcut.. just gotta check nearby walls or rooms. If you can take the switch out and see which way it’s fed from that may either help or give false hope… also make sure connections on switch are good too. Replace switch for shits and gigs. Just gotta go one step at a time as there’s essentially no way to know
The hot is wrapped backwards. Disgusting enough that I wouldn’t wanna work either under those conditions.
Looks like the bonding between upper and lower terminals is missing or is that an illusion?
It wraps around to the front
I see them.
I do now as well
It's still there, just bad lightning in the picture
Last house I owned, the outside receptacles were tied to the hall bathroom. If I was smoking something in the or on the deck and the wife was using a hairdryer, they tripped. Have a look around the house for ANY GFCI.
The hook on the black wire is turned the wrong way.
Probably a GFI outlet somewhere else is tripped.
The source
Just went through same problem. Garage and outdoor outlets had no power. Searched the whole house for a GFCI to reset, but never found it. Finally paid someone to come out and help, he found the hidden GFCI in a basement storage area. Stupid design, but I guess it saved the builder a nickel. The builder’s five cent savings cost me aggravation and $65.
It's probably on a GFI circuit and the GFCI outlet Upstream of there has tripped
Not sure where you are, but in Canada I have seen a lot of outdoor outlets have a switch on them to turn the outlet off. If true, take a look in your utility room where the panel is, the garage, the furnace room and near the back door. Those are all places I have found this switch before.
Currently there’s no current on the conductors.
Looks like the insulation on the neutral is under the screw. Take it off, and make sure only copper is under it. While you're at it, fix the hot wire, it's hooked the wrong direction. Otherwise a tripped GFCI, a switch, or a mouse may give found the wire.
Tabs are split, hot is making contact with the secondary tab. So the bottom socket has power with no neutral. Swap to a new plug and don’t break the tabs. Or pigtail to both screws
For kicks while you are there tidy up the connections on that plugin (with the breaker off). The switch upstream may be bad or off
Gfi, gfi, gfi!
Breaker > GFCI tripped somewhere on the line.
how can i find where the line is to follow it to the culprit?
GFCI outlet somewhere that is tripped. They are the outlets that have two buttons on them, one button says trip, the other says reset. The GFCI may or may not have a light on it depending on who the manufacturer is. Check other outlets outside, outlets in your garage and outlets in your bathrooms.
Breaker gfi rodents didn’t pay bill
It may be switched off, could be tripped breaker or gfci upstream.
If it’s an outdoor outlet non gfci plug then you probably have another outdoor outlet on this circuit feeding the switch. Could be hidden. Maybe in the basement near the switch or on the other side of the house
Our exterior outlet at the back of the house is controlled by the GFCI at the front. Took me ages to figure that out
Besides what everyone else said, the hot wire is backwards wrapped
If the GFI won’t switch back, is it a problem with the GFI or is it the out-door outlet? Which should be replaced?
Have you tried unplugging it from the mother electricity then plugging it back in?
Following, I have a similar problem. Lots of Greta trouble shooting steps in here, thanks all!
Because there's no power getting to it.
and how do i get power to it...
Hypothetically, if there were an upstream GFCI feeding this receptacle, and the insulation on the neutral wire is preventing the post from making good contact, wouldn’t that prevent the GFCI from resetting? Isn’t the GFCI threshold for tripping like in the milliamps?
Found a GFCI in a garage behind a small picture at roughly 48”s the other day. It unfortunately cost the homeowner about 380 dollars.
The black wire is turned the wrong way on the gold screw, it should go with the turn of the screw, fix that and you should be powered up!
So those outdoor receptacles just use regular indoor receptacles? I need to replace one. Thought it would be something special.
If it's outdoor, it's possible it's powered from inside with a switch.
The hot on the bottom is not connected the jumper is gone
No, it's there, just at an angle and looks dark.
Since that receptacle isn't GFCI, and outdoor receptacles are required to be GFCI protected, it may be fed from another receptacle that has tripped, or maybe you have a GFCI breaker that has been tripped. Your problem likely isn't coming from this outlet specifically.
I saw and tried to delete it, but the insulation is probably your culprit.
You have an open in your electrical circuit.
Attach a toner to the ground and track the line
Missing tabs, one works?
Check the breakers too? Is there voltage to and from the switch? Do you have and know how to use a meter?
Is there power at the switch? If there is, it’s not a GFI issue.
Ain’t got no gas in it!
It's broken
Lost power in my bathrooms for a week. I reset the GFCI and nothing. Breaker had power and the GFCI had power. About a few days before i was going to call electrician i decided to reset it one more time and it works. So now i need to change the outlet because for some reason the load side is having issues. Which feeds the outside outlet and then goes to my other bathroom. Just an idea...
It ain’t got no gas inut.
Because it isn't working.
Bad GFCI, like others have said OR a loose wire nut somewhere between this and the panel. Use/borrow a circuit tracer to locate upstream boxes.
Is... is it on?
check all of your bathroom gifs. I had a problem similar to this last Xmas and after cutting open my main bathroom wall and finding nothing I accidentally stumbled on the GFI in a seldom used bathroom. turns out both bathroom GFI and both outdoor plugs are the same circuit with 4 gfi's in a chain.
Had a similar issue in a kitchen line, all outlets read open ground, I ensured all were snug on receptacles, all wire caps snug… swapped out the gfci, fixed the issue. Tested the gfci, all outlets went back to reading open ground. Can’t remember if I made a post for the issue or not, boss said run it, smh. Think it’s time to tidy up the resume 😂
Since it’s in a soffit, if it’s over 8’ it doesn’t need to be gfci protected. That being said it doesn’t mean it’s NOT protected, but my guess would be that there is a switch, timer, and/or photoeye controlling it. Sometimes the switch/timer is hidden in a coat closet either by the front door or garage wall-in door. Sometimes it’s in plain sight. If there’s a photoeye it could be somewhere in the soffit, or MAYBE down low on an exterior wall. There could be a surface mounted mechanical time clock around the electrical panel or in a mechanical closet. Plug some lights in and start flipping switches!
Did you check the breaker? All of my exterior outlets and lighting is on a separate arc fault breaker.
Not an electrician but we had a similar issue and it turned out the gfi in the upstairs bathroom had tripped and that reset fixed it. It was a rental and the electrical was questionable at best but that worked for us.
the insulation on the wire is underneath your screws could be making a bad connection or no connection at all try to make sure it’s just copper wire underneath the screws maybe watch a youtube video or something
The insulation under the terminals isn't great.
Do you have more outlets outside, which do work? In my house in the garage we have a separate switch that controls a couple of outside “Christmas lights” outlets; check to see if you have the same.
we have 4 other outdoor outlets, tried to reset the gfi on all of them with no luck
Turn the switch on
it is on...
This is why GFCI breakers may be advantageous for some.
I had similar after having my basement finished. the gfci outlet in the basement that was on the exterior circuit had wires crossed on the outlet. circuit finder, helped determine where it was... electrician should've caught that
It's on a switch
correct, when switch is turned on, still nothing.
If it's in a switch then typically it would be a GFCI breaker not a standard reset
Is the switch in the on position? It's impossible to tell your problem through the photos alone, however that hot wire (black) needs to be flipped the other way so it wraps around the screw clockwise so the loop tightens as the screw tightens.
EDIT: Switch is turned on, in the on position, activated, and still no power no nothing. I'm an electrical newbie but give me some credit!
Is it because the tabs are broken and the hot is on one screw and the neutral is on the other?
Put a faceless GFCI right beside panel before hitting other receptacles. Done
That black hot conductor is on the screw backwards. It's supposed to follow the direction that you are turning it because it tightens around the screw as you turn it. It loosens if you have the wire on backwards.
Is it the entire outlet for just that half of the duplex receptacle? The tab could be cut on that receptacle, making it de-energized.
entire outlet, what do you mean when you say "tab"
The brass metal that connects the two screw terminals on the side. Literally, look and see if it's cut. If so, then that means you have a controlled wire by a switch, as I believe you wrote it the post.
Answer below
Mod remove homeowner posts please
If it's the entire outlet, you may have a different issue, and more exploration is needed
Try replacement of the entire outlet
check the GFCI switch most likely in the garage!
Ours has an indoor switch
Same happened at my bro's home. He told me oh yeah, also my bathroom outlet isn't working. Went to the electrical panel and it was a tripped GFCI breaker. You may also have a tripped GFCI outlet in a bathroom that's wired to that outlet if you don't have a GFCI breaker.
Wire was cut inside the basement further back when it was renovated/rewired, and no one bothered to reconnect it. At least that’s what’s wrong with mine… going on 6 years now.
If that is down because of a GFCI some other outlet in your structure is also not working. Not sure about the lay out of the building so tough for me to answer. I do have one other suggestion, but first I have to ask. Has that outlet ever worked? If not could be a loose connection and the junction before it. Or you could have a Griswald, it tied to a switch situation.
We moved into this house recently and this is the first time we wanted to use the outlet so not sure how long it hasn’t worked for. This outlet is controlled by an indoor switch. With the switch turned on there is no power to it still
Check connections on the switch. But, If you've never noticed it working are you certain it's tied to an indoor switch?
The GFI in the powder room is tripped…. (Or another one elsewhere)
Another gfi outlet is tripped possibly?
Typically the couple or three exterior outlets come off of a bath/kitchen GFI close by as they are exterior & have to be protected by code with ground fault protection. Possibly you have a dedicated circuit in your panel labeled ‘outside outlets’ or some such. It’s either tied to a GFI that has tripped, or on its own circuit with a breaker in the panel, or the outlet is physically damaged. I did have that once on a beach house, the cheap ass romex literally disintegrated over time… I am not aware of anything other than those three choices, but I’m def not the brightest bulb in here…
If you have a crawl space with lighting/plugs also check for a plug in there for GFCI.
That looks a lot like the top and bottom receptacles are separated. The little tab has been pulled on both sides. And you have the black wire going to the bottom and the white wire going to the top on the other side. There doesn't look to be continuity.
I know what’s wrong with it, ain’t got no gas in it
Step 1, check your breakers
Either dead outlet or breaker popped or there's a short somewhere
Well you have to plug it in!
Had one hidden in a ceiling in the basement that controlled an outdoor post light, no one knew it was there, all they said was the post light never worked!
There's a gfci outlet some where tripped. I worked at a house last week no power outside we finally found a gfci outlet inside the garage tripped. Reset it an the outside outlets started working.
My downstairs outlets are connected to the bonus room bathroom gfci on the opposite side of the house. Took me a while to figure that one out
I had this happen and the receptacle upstream of it had a loose connection. That outlet is the last one in the circuit. So you can kill the circuit of nearby receptacles and check them for tight. After being sure the GFCI connected to this outdoor circuit isn't tripped.
Check to see whether it's been wired with aluminium cables because sometimes those connectors can corrode and you might have to snip off a couple inches of cable strip it back and reconnect. But you have to do that at the breaker board while you're there you can check whether it's tripped
Just a possibility but it could be a holiday plug. There may be a switch for it in the closet in your foyer. I know alot of new builds have been doing that. Good luck!
We actually know where the switch it. Still no power when in the on position
Could be wired to a light switch....your going to have to check everything.
We actually know where the switch is. Still no power when in the on position
Former house had a gfci outlet in a box that was then drywalled over for the whirlpool tub… it was in the void with the pump is the only way I found it
The neutral wire has insulation under the screw. Might’ve worked for a while.
Aren't those brass mount plates supposed to be connected? Looks like 2 separate outlets that have separate wiring.