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Subject - No Juice! Now what?
jamieivy We have and outlet that used to work ok (needed to wiggle the plug sometimes) and now there is nothing. When tested, we found that there was no "juice" and the wires were not live. Now what? How do we find out what the problem is from here?
Scott Vickrey Jamie,
This redeptacle needs to be replaced. Did you find a breaker tripped in the panel?
jamieivy The breaker isn't tripped and the wires have no juice going to them.
Scott Vickrey Are you sure the wires are dead, or there is just no power at the plug connection? Has someone pulled the receptacle out of the wall and actually seen the wires? If the wires are not hot then a connection has burned to the point that it doesn't make contact any more. Probably at a nearby receptacle.
If no one has pulled the receptacle and you are just measuring for power at the face of the receptacle, Then the connection at the faulty receptacle is probably to blame. This would explain why the wiggling worked for you in the past. In either case the connection was probably not good to start with. This receptacle needs to be pulled and this is dangerous because the correct breaker has to be turned off. Otherwise power could come back when you least expect it.
I stongly recommend having an electrician over to fix this. They can do this job in minutes.
jamieivy He took the outlet off last night and tested the wires with a (and I am sure this is the official name for it) "teaster thingy" . The wires are dead. That's why we are stuck. We don't know where to look for the problem next. I think he shut the power to the whole house off to do this to make sure it wouldn't zap him.
jamieivy [quote]Originally posted by Scott Vickrey

If the wires are not hot then a connection has burned to the point that it doesn't make contact any more. Probably at a nearby receptacle.

So should we be looking for another receptical that is out? What do you mean by "a connection has burned to the point that it doesn't make contact any more"? We are trying to at least locate the problem before calling someone (we would like to NOT have to call someone) to keep the cost down as much as possible. Thanks so much for all your help by the way!
Scott Vickrey How old is this house?
He should go to the next receptacle down the line (in both directions since we don't know which way power is fed from) and inspect the connections.
Scott Vickrey Here's what I meant when I said "burned to the point that it doesn't make contact any more".
When a connection that has a load on it (like a vacuum cleaner or something drawing current through the connection) and the connection isn't good the connection begins to heat as the electrons try to squeeze past this restriction. This heating can cause the a run away situation as the extreme heat degrades the connection even more causing the temperature to go even higher to the point that the connection is completely severed. We are talking alot of heat here.
Only you can decide upon how much risk you are willing to assume.
Not paying someone to clean your home, paint your house, or mow your lawn are good places to save money. Trying to do your own electrical work is not. I know not everyone is incapable of performing simple electrical repairs to their home. However, the learning curve can be very steep when you concider the dangerous nature of electricity.