Electricians?

[dtrkyman]

All of my exterior outlets are dead, seemed to happen after recent snow storm. No GFCI outside which seems like it would have been a good idea?

All the interior GFCI are good, everything in the house works, no breakers were tripped and the panel is not marked for the exterior outlets, I have looked everywhere for another dead outlet but no dice.

I flipped all the breakers on and off for the heck of it and even turned off the whole panel switch.

This is a town house, is it possible the exterior outlets are separate from my panel? The neighbors outlet a few feet from mine is dead as well but two houses down they work, haven't caught the neighbor yet to see if her outlets out front are dead. Strange that one and all of mine would be connected.

What am I missing?

Thanks.

 

[83cj-7]

Have you looked for a tripped GFCI in the ground level mechanical closet? Around here that’s usually the one tied into the outside outlets. If not, on the 2nd floor back deck.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

I agree with 83. I'm guessing an upstream GFCI has tripped somewhere.

 

[BLJ]

I’ll agree 3rdly with @83cj-7 and @NRA4LIFE.
Upstream GFCI somewhere.
I’ve seen this on modular/double wides. GFCI in the crawl space trips and everything else goes out. Good luck.

 

[dtrkyman]

I have looked everywhere, no mechanical closet, gfci in garage is good. 2nd floor deck no gfci, even in a box in the ground for a sprinkler set up/irrigation set up.

Weird the neighbors outlet next to garage is out too, maybe there is a gfci out in front of her place, I will have to check when I see her, but that makes no sense it would be connected to mine!

Several of my outlets are marked gfci protected with a blue sticker that are not gfci so they did mark the linked outlets inside.

I went along everyone's garage and there was one gfci tripped two doors down, no help to me.

 

[dtrkyman]

There is a mechanical closet for all of the units, did not see any gfci in there but there is a locked panel.

 

[TuckTruck]

There must be a gfci outside somewhere… or has there ever been an addition put on the house?

 

[83cj-7]

Never seen a shared mechanical closet for town houses, but each area has varying building designs and layouts. Good luck, it’s gonna be something simple when you do find it.

 

[dtrkyman]

That is what is so annoying, I know it is as simple as flipping a switch. The mechanical closet is next to my garage and has the power meters for the 4 units, wife emailed HOA manager but I am going to get into that locked box and see what's up.

If it is on my property/house I sure as hell can not locate it, I found a few access panels for stuff but no power in them, gas for fireplace was one and under the hot water heater, mine is in the garage and sits on top of a frame they built for it, no power in there.

I have moved all kinds of chit looking for it! Nothing in the place looks out of sorts from original build, bought it from original owner.

Only place I have not been is on the roof, hvac unit up there but it is working.

 

[DoctorJJ]

Not much to add but on one of my houses, a GFCI outlet on the kitchen backsplash also controlled some of the outside outlets. On another house, the outside outlets were controlled by an inside switch. I went a couple years before I realized that. That switch was just always on, so I never thought about it until someone switched it to off.

 

[def90]

I live in a town house, the exterior outlets are on "house" power panels not the individual unit panels. There has to be a gfci somewhere, could be on an outlet on your naighbors unit. The breaker is probably on a house panel.

 

[SWOHTR]

Switched and tripped GFCI?

 

[Shō[t]gun]

Anything labeled "subpanel"? Could be a GFCI breaker as well.

Just because the outdoor outlets aren't labeled GFCI or don't have a reset switch doesn't mean they're not protected. All downstream receptacles are protected by a single GFCI, so it will most likely be a tripped GFCI outlet in the garage or nearby that is tied into your outdoor circuit and not labeled correctly at the breaker.

 

[HuntHarder]

Circuit tracer will help you quickly find which breaker it's on and then by process of elimination, locate which outlets are on said circuit. Chances are, it's a tripped gfci ir gfci breaker. Also not uncommon for first outlet out of panel to be burned up on receptacle. First outlet handles most amperage and most hacks don't pigtail. In theory, the first outlet should be a gfci, but nothing is certain.

 

[dtrkyman]

There is a gfci right below panel, it's good, was never tripped.

Haven't had a chance to mess with it yet today.

 

[spur60]

Does the roof HVAC unit have service receptacle installed at or nearby the unit? That could be the first GFCI on a circuit and tripped.

 

[Catchfish]

Making any headway here. My guess is it’s a hidden gfci somewhere.

 

[Amos Keeto]

Spent half a day once trying to figure out why outlets in one bedroom were dead and the rest of the house was hot!
Disassembled every outlet and fixture...nothing!
I'm aggravated and packing up to leave!
Home owner grabs me, "I've got one plug in the bathroom that doesn't work."
Across the hall from the bedroom, I'm shown a GFCI that's tripped.
Showed the lady how to reset it.
On a whim, I go back to the bedroom!
IT'S ALL HOT!
Some dingleberry had tied the bedroom circuit directly to the bathroom GFCI!

Check EVERY GFCI in the house!

Fellow I worked for always had us set GFCI boxes right beside the panel. Any area that required a GFCI circuit was wired out of one of those boxes.
If you popped a circuit, a trip to the panel to reset everything was simple and no searching for GFCI plugs!

....and yes, all his houses passed inspection! ....except one! LOL!
Inspector let him know that in "his" city, nobody was wiring a house with 14-2! Use 12-2 or go somewhere else!
We spent all summer using those 14-2 bits and pieces we pulled out of that house!

 

[arock]

Spent half a day once trying to figure out why outlets in one bedroom were dead and the rest of the house was hot!
Disassembled every outlet and fixture...nothing!
I'm aggravated and packing up to leave!
Home owner grabs me, "I've got one plug in the bathroom that doesn't work."
Across the hall from the bedroom, I'm shown a GFCI that's tripped.
Showed the lady how to reset it.
On a whim, I go back to the bedroom!
IT'S ALL HOT!
Some dingleberry had tied the bedroom circuit directly to the bathroom GFCI!

Check EVERY GFCI in the house!

Fellow I worked for always had us set GFCI boxes right beside the panel. Any area that required a GFCI circuit was wired out of one of those boxes.
If you popped a circuit, a trip to the panel to reset everything was simple and no searching for GFCI plugs!

....and yes, all his houses passed inspection! ....except one! LOL!
Inspector let him know that in "his" city, nobody was wiring a house with 14-2! Use 12-2 or go somewhere else!
We spent all summer using those 14-2 bits and pieces we pulled out of that house!

I'm rewiring my house right now and everything is AF\GF protected in the panel with standard outlets mainly because of that but also I don't want to take apart half the house to pass inspection. Its also a pain in the ass to get those dual receptacles into older boxes.

Had a similar situation with a random GFCI breaker in the kitchen killing an outlet in the living room and light in the basement. Made absolutely zero sense and took a while to figure out. Not fun.

 

[dtrkyman]

I have yet to find a gfci that was tripped, talked with neighbor she was going to check but have not seen her since, and she didn't sound to savvy?

Gonna check the roof today.

Irritating!