Not Getting Power But Circuit Breaker Was Not Tripped

After putting up our outdoor Christmas lights the power went out to that outlet. The circuit breaker did not trip and we do not have any GFI outlets to reset. What do we do?

By Frances from Yuam, AZ

Answers:

Not Getting Power But Circuit Breaker Was Not Tripped

There may be a bad connections to the terminals in the outlet; however you should, for safety reasons replace the receptacle with a GFIC. If it still doesn't have 120vac to the outlet, check the terminals from which the wiring comes from. There may be loose connections there, or maybe that outlet may be a GFIC and needs to be reset. I would think that if a short existed, you'd be aware of it. (12/08/2009)

By Cajun

Not Getting Power But Circuit Breaker Was Not Tripped

Sometimes the breaker will appear not to have tripped, so flip it, anyway, and see if that corrects it. We live in an older house and the system is a bit old fashioned, sometimes we run too many small appliances at one time in the kitchen, and it flips the switch, but it took me several puzzled times to figure out that it wasn't actually flipping the switch. Just nudging it a tiny bit, which equaled flipping the switch for it. So flip it completely off and back on may be all it takes. (12/10/2009)

By Cornelia