We noticed our outside electric sockets (2) do not work in the front of the house a few weeks ago after the plumber put in our water heater in December.

Then, 2 days ago our service man came to do a furnace checkup and the next day our upstairs bathroom socket doesn't work anymore along with our dishwasher and back outside (2) electric sockets on our deck.

The fuse box on these outlets did not trip they are ON. So I'm wondering what is the life span of fuses? Is this an easy fix to just by new fuses? We never did this before since we moved here 12 yrs ago. Or do we have to call the electrician?

Please advise, thank you!

The fuse box on these outlets did not trip they are ON.
If they say "ON" they are not fuses, they are circuit breakers. Try turning them off and then turn them back on.

This has nothing to do with the plumber or the heat guy unless they accidentally turned some breakers off.

If they say "ON" they are not fuses, they are circuit breakers. Try turning them off and then turn them back on.

This has nothing to do with the plumber or the heat guy unless they accidentally turned some breakers off.

If the plumber turned off the electrical supply to the water heater, he may have accidentally turned off one or more of the breakers. Also, if the front outlets are wired to a GFI, that may have tripped.

This all started with the plumber, correct?

Here's a what if - If Neutral and ground were crossed on this circuit and the plumber replaced the metal pipe with PVC, then you lost your ground circuit. And if ground and neutral were switched you would loose your neutral and the receptacles would fail.

If you cold run a jumper between your metal pipe over the section of PVC and connect it to the metal pipe on the other side. If the outlets go hot again, then you just solved two problems.

1) compromised grounding system
2) neutral and ground switched.

We called our electrician and he told us that the GFI red button downstairs tripped. We didn't know that socket controlled the other sockets. NOW WE KNOW... As for the front socket outside it had a separate switch that was used for Christmas lights, and that was shut off because we didn't know what it controlled. Now we know. Every house is wired differently. This was probably a moisture problem during a rainstorm. My neighbor had the same problem. Her downstairs red button in the laundry room also controlled some other sockets. I saved her the trouble of calling the electrician. She has the same house style and builder as I did.


If they say "ON" they are not fuses, they are circuit breakers. Try turning them off and then turn them back on.

This has nothing to do with the plumber or the heat guy unless they accidentally turned some breakers off.

Correct, it had nothing to do with the plumber or the heat guy.


If the plumber turned off the electrical supply to the water heater, he may have accidentally turned off one or more of the breakers. Also, if the front outlets are wired to a GFI, that may have tripped.

Yep, it tripped.