Outlet just died.

Anyone ever have an outlet just die? I put in a new dishwasher in the kitchen over the weekend, and when I was done my wife asked me to turn on the breaker for the fridge. I told her that I was on a different circuit altogether.

After investigating, I find that the line going to the outlet is dead. No circuit breaker was tripped however, and nothing else in the house is dead. The floor is exposed in the basement below, and I can see the lines going to everything else in the kitchen, but not this one outlet.

The third line apparently went to a black hole or portal and was connected to a power source in another dimension. I am assuming that the tear in the fabric of space has closed, severing the flow of electrons to my fridge.

Run a new feed. I would not trust a line that just died. Nastyness is lurking in there.

Sometimes multiple "normal" looking outlets are tied to a GFI outlet and will stop working if it trips, any chance that is the case here?

The outlet was a GFCI. I tested it and replaced it, but the line to the outlet is dead. I would love to trace it to it's source, but it seriously goes nowhere. How did it work all those years?

I am running a new line, not messing with 50 year old lines that suddenly stop working!

Could be a bad junction somewhere. Have any aluminum wiring?

It sounds like it's tied into another receptacle in the kitchen somewhere, which was common years ago, but shouldn't be per current Code (refrigerator receptacle: dedicated 20A circuit, GFCI not required). Carefully open up the nearest receptacle and look for a second set of wires heading towards the refrigerator. The connection could have been done a few different ways, but the common (cheapest) way was to connect them to the second set of screws on the receptacle. See if they worked loose or are broken somehow. Trace the circuit back to the panel and shut off the breaker before touching any of the screws with tools (yes, I know it can be done live, but let's not go there...).

Installing dedicated wires and circuit breaker for the refrigerator is a good idea. Remember to use #12G wiring and all new kitchen circuits should be connected to a 20A breaker.

At least those interdimensional beings didn't steal your cable.

Just last Friday, my mind on a thousand different things I grabbed a live receptacle with my right hand, one finger on each side. What I meant to do was grab it at the top and bottom so I could push it back in its box. Yeah, it was a little shocking to say the least.

My advice? Don't electrical while drowsy!

I had the same and found that the breaker screw was not tight. It had worked because it had minimal contact but over time lost connection. Tightened screw, problem fixed.

Lines usually don't just go dead all of a sudden. It had to be related to the work you did somehow.

yamaha wrote: At least those interdimensional beings didn't steal your cable.

Believe it or not, I have had a customer assume that once.

Everybody knows the nsa puts cameras in you cable box.

You very well may have a screw loose!

I just had that recently and found that another outlet down the line had ROASTED. As in crispy behind the white faceplate.

You know what is awesome? Doing electrical, when you are gun shy from being bit recently, and wife thinks its a good time for flash photography without your knowledge. Came so close to smacking my head on a cabinet from jumping in panick. 4 years later it still ticks me off.

In reply to sachilles:

Thanks for the chuckle!

In reply to sachilles:

Wearing a rawhide glove, sneak up on an electrician with one of those little pop it firework things(you know the little baggie of exploding gravel) and roll between fingers, sounds like a 120VAC dead short.

Ian F wrote: Installing dedicated wires and circuit breaker for the refrigerator is a good idea. Remember to use #12G wiring and all new kitchen circuits should be connected to a 20A breaker.

More than just a good idea, code requires a separate 20A circuit dedicated to the fridge.

windsordeluxe wrote:

Ian F wrote: Installing dedicated wires and circuit breaker for the refrigerator is a good idea. Remember to use #12G wiring and all new kitchen circuits should be connected to a 20A breaker.

More than just a good idea, code requires a separate 20A circuit dedicated to the fridge.

New construction, yes (that's what I said). Renovations depend on the extent of work being done. While it's obviously advisable to do any new work to Code, sometimes it's not possible without extensive re-wiring or panel replacement. It's hard to give a refrigerator a dedicated circuit if the panel only has 4 circuits for the whole house. I've seen entire kitchens circuited to a single 15A breaker or fuse...

While none of this is rocket science nor difficult to figure out, if you're unsure of what you're doing, seek out eyes-on-the-work experienced help, not just internet advice - we can't see what's really going on, no matter how well you think you're describing it. Getting it wrong can be very bad.

Ian F wrote: It sounds like it's tied into another receptacle in the kitchen somewhere,

YEP! While replacing the dishwasher, water was spilled that I did not see. It made it's way downstairs to an outlet, which was tied to the outlet above the dishwasher, which was tied to another plug behind the stove (through a route so secret and confounding that the NSA wants a copy of it) which was also a GFCI. I think the water fried all three GFCI outlets. Not tripped, COMPLETELY FRIED.

I couldn't diagnose because the third plug had things plugged into it which were working. Or so I thought. It was an odd situation with wired crossing behind the spices and similar plugs and...well it confused me.

Anyway, no one was electrocuted, the wiring has been repaired and I am putting money away to rip it all out and get it up to code 100%.

Well, now you've proven why GFCI is awesome.