Electricians?

[dtrkyman]

No cabinets in garage, all the gfci labeled outlets in the house as well as anything else is hot.

Two of the exterior outlets I pulled and ran test light straight to the wires, nothing.

Have not seen neighbor and will wait till after holidays to check with association, being it’s mine and neighbors that is dead there must be a shared power source somewhere, hopefully at her place I have nothing else to check here.


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[TaperPin]

You won’t find an electrician that has good things to say about gfi receptacles - they are the weakest link in residential wiring.

First go down your breakers and turn each one off then back on. Not all tripped breakers look tripped. Get one of those outlet testers and plug it in each outlet outside and inside on common walls shared with the outside plugs. It might give some useful information, or it might not.

I‘d pull the panel cover and check that voltage is making it out of each breaker - a non contact tester makes this a quick test.

Then, If you pull the cover off each receptacle there are two terminals for line power going in, and two for a load going out to another receptacle (if any). My money is on a loose connection on the furthest upstream outlet, or it’s defective.

Electricians are creatures of the least possible amount of effort, so the dead outlet closest to your panel will almost certainly be the one to start with. If there is power going into that outlet, you found the problem. If there isn’t power, but the power is fed through a connection with a wire it in the box, twist the wire nut to tighten and pull on the wires to make sure they are being held properly. If you now have power you found the problem.

If there is no power reaching the box the outlet is in, look to the inside of the wall - chances are the exterior outlet is fed from one of the interior outlets that’s closest. Pull the cover plate and check the wires for voltage - if the wires have voltage and it’s a bad connection going into the receptacle, you found the problem. If not, check any wire nutted connections in the box, tighten them and check for power. That outlet is probably fed from another outlet in the same room.

Depending on the age and local customs, if someone didn’t know what they were doing and replaced a half switched receptacle with constant power and connected power going out of that box with switched power, your exterior outlets could be attached to an interior light switch.

It would be quite unusual for outlets outside of your unit to be fed from another unit, because it violates the principle of least effort and least wire possible.

A good wire tracer would pinpoint the breaker that feeds the dead outlet, but many electricians don’t believe in them.

Good luck.

 

[GSPHUNTER]

No cabinets in garage, all the gfci labeled outlets in the house as well as anything else is hot.

Two of the exterior outlets I pulled and ran test light straight to the wires, nothing.

Have not seen neighbor and will wait till after holidays to check with association, being it’s mine and neighbors that is dead there must be a shared power source somewhere, hopefully at her place I have nothing else to check here.


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Progress

 

[dtrkyman]

Have not messed with it, neighbor is MIA.

Taperpin, everything in the place works, every outlet, all the lights, outlets close to the dead ones on the inside, flipped all the breakers on and off first day I messed with it.

"It would be quite unusual for outlets outside of your unit to be fed from another unit, because it violates the principle of least effort and least wire possible."

Agreed, however all of her exterior outlets are as dead as mine, 4 units total in the building, go one more unit over and all their power is good, strangely they have gfci outlets outside their units, mine and immediate neighbor do not.

 

[406sparky]

Does your townhome have a shared mech room? Is it a 4 plex? If it is a 4 plex and has 5 meters where your service comes in you’ve most likely got a “house panel”. That’s the first thing I would check. If you’ve got a “house” (panel/ meter paid for by owner of entire building, not individual owner/ renter) panel then the exterior receps could be powered from there. Is there exterior lighting that is not necessarily covered by one individual unit? Parking lot lighting, flood lights, sidewalk lighting, etc? Or is your electrical meter dedicated for each individual unit? If you have a five pack meter somewhere I would think you’ve got a “house” panel that has a couple exterior receptacle circuit. They would either be on a GFCI breaker or on a GFCI receptacle. That could very well be the issue, but if not, you’ve most likely tripped a GFCI somewhere else. It is not uncommon for exterior GFCIs to trip with cords plugged in for Christmas lighting or something of the sort coming into contact with water.

 

[bigloveystyle]

Weird obsession with the trades on here…

 

[insanelupus]

OP, I'm not a sparky. Dug some ditches and pulled some wires as an "apprentice" one year in college for summer work, but that didn't make me much more than labor! LOL.

You mentioned flipping on and off breakers, with no luck. You also mentioned no tripped GFI outlets. Did you by chance try testing/tripping then re-setting all GFIs?

If the outlets worked previously and suddenly stopped working and you haven't tested/tripped the GFIs, you might give that a try.

If you've already gone that route, well, best of luck and I'm curious to hear what solution/ remedy fixed the problem.

I recently had to call an electrician buddy to fix what should have been a simple wire job on a 40 year old house. It was simple, in the end, and I was pretty sure how to fix it, but that $135 provided an education I was willing to pay for to know how to do the next one right!

 

[Bendejo]

How many exterior outlets are there? All not working? What year was the house built? Is there a breaker just for outside plugs?

 

[dtrkyman]

8 total outlets between me and neighbor, none work, all exterior lights work. No breaker list the outside outlets, and no breakers were tripped.

I reset all the interior gfci as far as I can remember, but they all worked anyway.

Emailed HOA, I am done messing with it unless I can get in neighbors garage, but I think she is out of town.

All the meters are on the far side, I do not see anything over there other than the meters.

I think I have looked for a hidden outlet somewhere 100 times.

 

[ScreamingPotato]

Emailed HOA, I am done messing with it unless I can get in neighbors garage, but I think she is out of town.

Don't forget about us, OP, we need closure!!!

 

[SuperDUECE22]

A few different suggestions that I have not seen mentioned yet.
I've seen houses that have soffit outlets for security cameras, holiday lights & heat tape. If you have any of these, you could check to see if they are GFCI and if they are tripped.
Any switches in the house that don't seem to do anything? Some people have their exterior outlets switched for Christmas lighting purposes.

 

[dtrkyman]

Nothing of the sort Super.

 

[I Am Gunz]

I’m intrigued to see the conclusion to this as well. I’ve seen some weird things being an electrician but it seems most bases have been covered but other posters.

 

[Amos Keeto]

Now that I think about it, I've had customers ask to have plugs/switches wired up in attics for various reasons!
Have you checked the attic?

I do believe, the most asinine thing I've ever seen is the concept of putting water heaters in attics!!!!
I have NEVER seen a drip pan that would hold fifty gallons, much less a burst pipe or fitting!

Can you imagine a water heater in an attic silted up. It won't drain and weighs over 500 pounds? Wha'cha gonna do now?

 

[dtrkyman]

No Attic.

Waiting on HOA, of course they responded with check the garage.

I honestly am going to check for a hidden outlet again, but pretty sure I have done that 3 times at this point!

 

[Kansas Bound]

Maybe a light switch is the magic culprit.

 

[Amos Keeto]

murder - a group of crows
clowder - a group of cats
pod - a group of whales
HOA - a group of Karens

 

[I Am Gunz]

murder - a group of crows
clowder - a group of cats
pod - a group of whales
HOA - a group of Karens

 

[elkliver]

OP, I don't think your neighbor understand the urgency here... inquiring minds want to know the answer!!