
08/26/10, 03:41 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: north Alabama
Posts: 10,811
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A Knight, that type of failure doesn't fit this situation.
Patt, flipping the breaker on that circuit is a very good idea.
ThaiBlue, at this point, I would be VERY surprised if it was a GFI problem.
I had hoped not to get into this, but...
Once the breaker is flipped, pull out the various affected sockets. Examine them carefully. If a wire is leading directly into the socket base without being terminated with a curlicue of wire around a screw terminal, use a pair of diagonal cutters to clip off that wire, then strip a bit of insulation and attach it using the screw terminal. A pair of needle nose pliers will twist the wire into the required curlicue.
If any of the screw terminals look scorched or damaged, or the plastic of the socket looks bad, replace that outlet entirely. If any wire ends show signs of being heated (melted or burned insulation, discolored wire) clip the wire end and make a new curlicue. SCREW DOWN ALL WIRE CONNECTIONS.
Look inside the outlet boxes for wire nut connections. Count them by color, and buy new wire nuts. Remove the existing wire nuts, verify the condition and if OK, re-use the existing wire nut. If ANYTHING looks wrong, make new wire ends and replace the wire nut with a new properly sized one.
Once all the sockets have been verified, power the circuit back on. If you are lucky, the problem junction(s) will have been fixed. If the circuit still doesn't work, then there is a junction box somewhere in the wall or on a joist or beam that has a bad connection, or less likely in this case, the connection in the breaker box is bad.
Wiring can be traced to find the spot where a connection has failed. Sometimes it involves punching holes in walls to get to junction boxes.
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