No power in room


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Old 10-26-16, 11:10 AM
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No power in room

Greetings, I am having a strange issue in my house. One of the bedrooms has no power. First I thought it was the fuse which would be the normal culprit for a room that lost power but the fuse/circuit was not popped. I did switch it off and on but no change. So I was thinking fuse. I have one of those pen type electrical tester and when I put it against the fuse for that room it lights up like it is suppose to do when there is power. The room does not have any CFI plugs either.

One odd thing I did notice was none of the electrical outlets on the 2nd floor show power with the tester even though they obviously do have power because they are being used. If I test the outlets on the 1st floor the tester lights up like it is suppose to. Not sure if that means anything but just thought I would throw it out there.

I will probably replace the fuse this weekend just for the heck of it and see if that works.
 
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Old 10-26-16, 11:39 AM
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Welcome to the forums. First thing to do is get an actual multimeter, the device you have is really nothing more than a toy when it comes to diagnosing issues.

Short answer is that when a whole bunch of receptacles are out, the culprit is usually the last working or first non-working one on the circuit. If there are none working, I would look at the first one on the circuit to make sure all the connections are intact.
 
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Old 10-26-16, 11:54 AM
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I am confused that you keep mentioning fuses but also mentioned cycling a circuit breaker. Your problem circuit should only have one. A fuse or a circuit breaker but not both.

The non-contact tester is unreliable especially when used inside a circuit panel where there are many other circuits close by. A plug in outlet tester or a radio or light or anything that plugs into an outlet can be used to test if an outlet has power.
 
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Old 10-27-16, 11:58 AM
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Question, if one of the outlets/receptacles is bad would that take down all the others that are on that same bus/circuit? I apologize if I don't use the correct terms I am not an electrician.
 
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Old 10-27-16, 12:03 PM
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Receptacles without special features almost never go bad (though they may get lose). However connections can fail, especially back stabs. Move any wires to the screws. Red0 any wire nut connections if present. Check that wires around screws are tight.
 
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Old 10-27-16, 12:19 PM
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That is what I am thinking, the wire was over tightened and eventually broke off from the connection. I had the same issue with a light switch that provided power to my furnace. They over tightened the screw that held the wire and eventually, 9 years later, the wire lost contact and the furnace stopped working. I have an idea which receptacle it is.
 
 

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