Double Socket Not Working

Hey Everyone,

I'm after some advice if possible... I have recently bought my first home and I'm having issues with one of the double sockets.

There has been no power to it since I have moved in, I changed the physical front socket to see if that would rectify the issue, however it still doesn't work. I have checked to make sure nothing has tripped just to cross that off the list.

Now the struggle I'm having is finding where the wires go too. As I don't want to rip the carpet up and remove floorboards if possible.

I have checked everywhere in the house to see if it's wired to a switch as there are only 3 wires in the backbox (Brown, blue & earth) Every other socket in the house works correctly. Is there a way I'm able to trace the wires to find out where they're routed too without removing the carpet? I should add for clarification, the bedroom is upstairs and the cable comes into the back box from the underside, suggesting it doesn't come from the loft. ( I have been up there and I can't see any power cable that runs to the wall where this socket is, however I can see a power cable in the loft that operates the double socket on the opposite side of the bedroom.

There is a plug directly under this plug in the living, which I removed to check if there was any sort of additional wiring that may have powered the socket in the bedroom but there is not.

Thanks in advance!

I would suggest to call the tester wire to understand where exactly power is lost, and then decide whether to remove the carpet or look for another problem.

The first thing that needs to be established is whether there is any continuity at all back to the CU of any of the three individual wires. No continuity on the cpc would suggest that the cable isn't connected at all.

donnelly22 said:

I would suggest to call the tester wire to understand where exactly power is lost, and then decide whether to remove the carpet or look for another problem.

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What is a tester wire?

Must be an American thing, @westward10

littlespark said:

Must be an American thing, @westward10

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More like an AI thing?

littlespark said:

Must be an American thing, @westward10

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Read some of their past posts.

Kieran said:

plug in the living, which I removed to check if there was any sort of additional wiring that may have powered the socket in the bedroom

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As only 3 wires it may have been 'spurred' off somewhere so I would suggest doing as you did above and check every socket, starting with others in the same room and work away from it.
Dont assume it is safe to reconnect if you do find a loose cable though!

brianmoooore said:

The first thing that needs to be established is whether there is any continuity at all back to the CU of any of the three individual wires. No continuity on the cpc would suggest that the cable isn't connected at all.

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I still say this should be done first. The OP says there's no power at the socket, but we don't know how this has been tested. There could be plenty of power at the socket in the form of a 'live' and an O/C neutral.
If tests prove either the neutral OR the live are O/C, then we're probably looking at a wire that has come adrift somewhere.
If just the live is O/C then it could be a blown fuse in a spur.
If both the neutral and live prove O/C, with the cpc connected, then it's probably been deliberately disconnected or I'd resume the search for a switched spur.
If all three wires are O/C then it's either been deliberately disconnected or never connected in the first place.

brianmoooore said:

I still say this should be done first. The OP says there's no power at the socket, but we don't know how this has been tested. There could be plenty of power at the socket in the form of a 'live' and an O/C neutral.
If tests prove either the neutral OR the live are O/C, then we're probably looking at a wire that has come adrift somewhere.
If just the live is O/C then it could be a blown fuse in a spur.
If both the neutral and live prove O/C, with the cpc connected, then it's probably been deliberately disconnected or I'd resume the search for a switched spur.
If all three wires are O/C then it's either been deliberately disconnected or never connected in the first place.

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Hey, thanks for the post. So I tested to socket that is not working via two ways. Using a LAP socket tester plugged into the socket and then also a AC voltage detector on each 3 wires and neither showed any signs of life!

I'll have a look at the other plugs and see if I can see any sign of a spur. Hoping it's not just been disconnected, as I wouldn't see the reasoning behind it. It is literally the only socket on that side of the bedroom.

As #8, don’t assume it’s safe to connect up if you find a disconnected cable.

Is there any unexplained switches that don’t operate lights? Maybe next to existing, working sockets?
They maybe have spurred off somewhere, but have gone through a switch to isolate that socket for some reason.

Look on the other side of the wall as well, if the non working socket is on an internal.