[mike101]

Have a two story townhouse with two and 1/2 baths. Have been trying to find a way to track the power source for the bathroom outlets. Each bath has an outlet but there is no power at this time. Used to work. Have tried opening switchplates and tracking the jumper wires to outlets, but none seem to go the bathroom outlets.
Also have one upper room with a bath adjacent that the main light switch for the ceiling and two room wall outlets but has no power. Seems to lead to the bathroom outlet, then nothing.
Put in a G F I and went into attic and shook some wires and somehow got power. Device plugged into room wall outlet and then all went out, G F I had appeared to be working.
Any diagrams showing where power might be coming into circuit from will be appreciated. Have been at this for two days and still nothing.
Have opened up most every light switch plate and wall outlet and still can't find power going to any of the bath outlets or the room wall switch.
No circuit breakers went when the outlets went back out only no more power to the G F I. when I took it out got no power on either black wire.
Any Ideas?? Stumped

[icandoit]

I've read where sometimes bathrooms are powered by a gfi from another location, like the garage or basement. Look around and see if you can find another gfi receptacle and try to reset it.

Good luck.

[switchace]

GFI stands for ground fault indicater and this being said in that specific line you may have a grund somewhere in it. The easiest way to find out is to get a wireing ceacker. It is a device that plugs into the outlet and tells you if everything is OK or not by a certain combo of lights. This might be your best bet

[tkrussell]

Clearly if you are shaking wires and somehow get power, there is a loose connection somewhere. Perhaps you should try tracing the wires you handled to see if there is a junction box containing splices that have come loose.

I have found, thou very seldom, a cable with a broken wire inside the cable, with no apparent visible damage or reason. It usually is a manufacturers defect inside the cable where the copper wire seems to have simply broke.

Having done many trouble shooting service calls looking for this type of "needle in the haystack", believe me there is no easy way to find the problem. You must keep trying. Many times I have just started all over again retracing my steps so to speak, checking each outlet,switch, light, and junction box again, checking each splice for proper connection.

I would start with the wires you shook before, and work my way outwards, looking for a bad connection. If you shake the cable, and the power goes on and off, perhaps you should change the cable to be sure to eliminate it from the circuit.

There is no cheap testing device to find there exact location of an open or break in a circuit. We have in our arsenal a circuit tracer that can find where the circuit is open, but the least expensive is around $500.00.

Have you checked the panel for a GFI circuit breaker? Or as someone has suggested, maybe another GFI outlet is the cause. I certainly realize how frustrating this can be. I do this for a living and know exactly what I am doing and this can be a time consuming problem to find. Try giving a customer a bill for $500.0 after spending hours looking for a simple loose splice.

You ask for a diagram to help find the problem. We need you to give us a diagram of your circuit to help us help you try to figure it out.

Hope this helps some.

[labman]

I overlooked your question originally. Tkrussel's answer is a good one as usual. One little detail. I have a GB Live Wire GVD-505A, less than $15 at Home Depot. Almost magic. Get it near a hot, wire, and it glows red. Next time the power is off to the bathroom, take one up to the attic. Touch it to the wire you shook. If it doesn't light up, work back to where it does. If it does, work to where it doesn't. You can quickly locate where the break in the conductor is. I bought a Santronics model about a year ago, mislaid it, and couldn't do without. The GB one is even better, being able to adjust it to even work through drywall or detect 24 volts. Now, if I could find one that works on DC for my car.

By the way, loose connections can get hot and start fires.

[akattar]

I face the same problem. We have two washrooms side by side. Recently till now no power in both the washroom power source. The lights & fans are working. I reset all the GFI receipticles at home, still the same. Found a GFI switch in the main and this works fine. Unable to locate the fault.

Any advice.


Thanks

[hkstroud]

Pull a couple outlets. See if the "Quick connect" holes in the back were used when wiring the outlets. The quick connect holes are notorious for developing poor connections after a period. Rewire using screws. The bad connection can be at a non-working outlet or switch or it can be at the last working outlet on that circuit.