No power in some outlets.

[Trihai]

Hi there,
Four outlets in my bathroom and part of the house have no power. No lights in the bathroom as well. I dont have GFCI outlets. I tested all breakers with the volt meter and they all show 120volt. I opened the 4 outlets but dont see any broken wire. Any advice for me? My next step is to open a the switch in the bathroom to see if there is issue with the wire, but I am doubt I would find anything. I am kinda stuck now. Appreciate all pointers.
Tri

 

[telectrix]

work from the panel out. till you lose the power. then the fault is between there and the panel.

 

[Lucien Nunes]

Don't forget that the bad connection (which is probably what you are looking for) is as likely to be in the last working outlet as in the first dead one, as you move along the circuit away from the panel.

 

[Trihai]

work from the panel out. till you lose the power. then the fault is between there and the panel.

The issue is i don't know which breaker control those problematic outlet. Also, the wires from the panels go to the attic and some go to the crawl space.

 

[Trihai]

Don't forget that the bad connection (which is probably what you are looking for) is as likely to be in the last working outlet as in the first dead one, as you move along the circuit away from the panel.

The last outlet is in the bathroom, not a GFCI. It is a half switch half outlet. I removed it and measure 120v hot to neutral, but attaching a lamp shows nothing. Yes, I confirmed the lamp is working with other outlet. Meauring hot to ground also so 120 volt or so.

 

[Trihai]

The last outlet is in the bathroom, not a GFCI. It is a half switch half outlet. I removed it and measure 120v hot to neutral, but attaching a lamp shows nothing. Yes, I confirmed the lamp is working with other outlet. Meauring hot to ground also so 120 volt or so.

BTW I used a Fluke digital multi meter.

 

[Trihai]

Update:
I found the issue. There is an receptacle outlet in the living room which hides behind a sofa. We don't use this outlet at all. After I removed it, I can see the hot wired were burned badly.

I fixed the burned wire sections, and re-wired all outlet in the bathroom, but did not push them back to the wall yet. I turned the breaker on and voila, light is back. Tested all the affected outlets and got power.

However, after I finished reinstalled all outlets, the wired in the living room outlet burned again. So I removed the bathroom outlet, took out all the wires connected to the outlet, and turned the breaker back on. It works. So far there is not issue for the whole night.

So I guess that there is something in the bathroom outlet which caused a short. This outlet is a half switch outlet. The switch control two wall lights in the bathroom. The receptacle of this outlet is also provide the power to the closet light and a backyard outlet.

There is one thing I don't know for sure is that, if the short was happened downstream, WHY the burn was shown in the living outlet, which is about 15-20 feet away?

Any idea?

 

[Megawatt]

Hi there,
Four outlets in my bathroom and part of the house have no power. No lights in the bathroom as well. I dont have GFCI outlets. I tested all breakers with the volt meter and they all show 120volt. I opened the 4 outlets but dont see any broken wire. Any advice for me? My next step is to open a the switch in the bathroom to see if there is issue with the wire, but I am doubt I would find anything. I am kinda stuck now. Appreciate all pointers.
Tri

Somewhere on that circuit you have a loose neutral