Lost power in garage

[Mat and Suzy]

In the last 12 hours, we have mysteriously lost power to the wall sockets in our garage. I've checked the fuse box, and none of the breakers had tripped. There are 3 sockets, and they are all dead this morning, although the ceiling lights and door opener are still working (luckily...they use ceiling mounted sockets).

As far as I can make out, there is no "master switch" for the garage sockets (or if there is, I don't know where it is!), and I think there is just one breaker panel. The house was built in 1984, and the wiring seems to be in pretty good condition.

I'm at a bit of a loss to work our what is going wrong... any ideas anyone?

TIA

Mat

[Joe Bobst]

Let me take a wild guess: you have low cost back-wired sockets and they are strung together in series and not pigtailed and one connector has worked loose. This a common finding of people doing service calls for this sort of problem. The original installer made more money by doing it fast rather than right. Good luck finding the probelm.

Joe

[George Elkins]

If the crappy back-wired connectors were the issue, that would imply at least one should work. The first receptacle should still work.

My best guess is the first one is a GFCI receptacle, which has tripped, shutting down all three.

Other than that, I'd flip the breaker off and back on. Sometimes breaker is not completely switched back on, although appears to be.

[Joseph Meehan]

In addition to the others who suggested GFI I will suggest that you look at all the GFIs in you home as well. Check out the baths and kitchen.

[Mat and Suzy]

Full marks to all of you that said it was the GFI, and bonus prize to Joseph for this one - it was in the bathroom.

Seems a little odd to me to have it there (rather than a separate one in the garage), but then again why should I be surprised after finding out the washing machine was plumbed in with the hot to the cold, and v-v. It had presumably been that way for years. Now that explains why the former owners wore tight coloreds and dirty whites! God only knows what other things are waiting to be found...

Thanks to all for a quick solution!

Mat

[JasonW]

We had a GFCI that the builders installed UNDERNEATH the house. If it got tripped, we had to pull up the trapdoor and skulk under the house to the GFCI and reset it. I did that once before yanking it out and relocating it in a sane location.

-JasonW

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Saved a buck. The receptacle on my deck of the kitchen if protected by the one in the downstairs bathroom.

My house was built in 1978 and sold for $60,000 back then. If another $100 was spent on the electrical, it could have been a great job, not just an OK one that meets code. Ed [e-mail]

[Andrew Duane USG]

Probably a tripped GFCI upstream somewhere. Check your bathrooms. BTDT, took me until the next day to even *think* that they might be connected.