A basement electrical outlet I use constantly for my fridge & microwave just stopped working all of a sudden. It's not getting any power at all. I've flipped all the breakers on & off cuz I'm unsure which breaker goes to that outlet but nothing. How am I to make sure the outlet's power will be completely shut off in order to get in there & fix it or change the socket if I don't know which breaker goes to it? & any ideas to why it's not working & best possible solutions to fix it would be appreciated.

labman

To do simple checks like this you do need some tools. A test light, a meter, or a voltage detector might be the best place to start with. I came across the niftiest gadget for trouble shooting, a voltage detector. They work through the insulation of wires. There are several brands. I have a GB Instruments GVD-505A, less than $15 at Home Depot. Touch it to a hot wire, and the end glows red. Find the doodad that lights it on one side, and not the other, and you have the culprit. You do not have to open up housings and expose electrical contacts. You are looking at where your hand is, not where the meter is. Most people are capable of doing repairs and will get it going and not get hurt if they use a little sense. The voltage detector makes it even easier.

One of the things I love about the voltage detector is that you can determine if power is making it to an outlet without even taking the cover plate off. Just hold it near the outlet and it will light up if there is power to it. And power may not be getting to it even with the circuit breaker on. Have you checked for GFCI outlets and reset them? The dead outlet could be fed by a GFCI outlet.

What the breakers feed should be marked on a card on the box cover. If yours aren't, it would be a good project to determine them all and label them.

tkrussell

You will need a voltage tester, test a known working outlet to be sure the tester is working. When you open any outlet box,treat all wiring as it is live until you are able to test each wire for voltage.

The problem can be a loose connection or splice anywhere from the panel, thru junction boxes, or at the receptacle itself.

Is there any GFI outlets in the basement that may be protecting the outlet for the appliances? If the home is fairly new, then all general purpose outlets in unfinished basements are to be GFI protected.

Basement outlets specifically for stationary appliances do not need to be GFI protected. When the home was wired, the electrician treated all the basement outlets as general purpose, and GFI protected them all, since he did not know which would be used for appliances.

Once an outlet is chosen for large stationary appliances, it can now be unprotected, esp for a refrigerator or freezer. Refrigeration compressors can and will produce fault currents normally that will trip a GFI.

When checking the connections at the outlet, see if the wires are just pushed into small holes on the back of the outlet, these types of connections are popular to loosen, and if so, change them over to wrapping around the screw terminal method.

Opening the panel requires caution to check for a loose connection or defective circuit breaker. This is much more difficult for someone that is not sure of how to work on live equipment, due to the amount of exposed live parts, and should only be done by an experienced DIY'er or a qualified electrican.

Once you get this outlet working, take some time to have all the breakers traced and labelled for the circuits and outlets they serve.

Since the outlet is in the basement, is the cable exposed to allow you to trace the path it follows?