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Partial loss of power in the bathroom

Discussion in 'The DIY Room' started by basod, Apr 12, 2016.

  1. basod

    basod

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    GF was taking a shower and the light over the shower went out, the space heater plugged into GFCI went out.
    Light over the vanity works, but lost all other receptacles in the end of that leg feeding the bedroom.

    I pulled GFCI and wire-nutted to bypass it as point of failure but no luck.
    On top of that my meter chit the bed so I'll have to wait until tomorrow for actual troubleshooting.

    I'll grab the tic-tracer from work and one of my other meters and hopefully resolve this tomorrow.
     
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  2. lukem

    lukem

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    GFCI breaker in the panel? Vanity on seperate circuit? Just guessing.
     
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  3. basod

    basod

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    It's all the same circuit.
    Laundry room lights, 1/2bath lights & receptacle, master bath lights & receptacle + bedroom receptacles and exterior porch lights on same circuit.

    I know most of the circuit layout from when I had the exterior walls open when I resided the house 7-8 years ago.

    There's a partition wall between master bath GFCI and switch plate for shower light/fan - my guess is open hot or neutral from the sink vanity... If I had a working meter:headbang:
     
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  4. NewToStihl

    NewToStihl

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    X2, have you checked the panel to verify if any breakers are tripped? Always check the panel and verify circuits if you can.

    Also remember that if one (or the) GFCI outlet trips all of the receptacles on that circuit will cease to have power if the wiring is done correctly.
     
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  5. wildwest

    wildwest Moderator

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    Are you on a well?
     
  6. Redfin

    Redfin

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    Im curious why your asking this?
     
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  7. ironpony

    ironpony

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    Good luck, my guesses, if I am understanding correctly, everything dead after gfci
    Goes to another box, as in outlet on other side of wall, before the bathroom circuit
    Buried junction box
    broken wire in wall, nail, drywall screw
    heater load burned a loose / faulty connection
     
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  8. bassJAM

    bassJAM

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    That helps tremendously!!! I bought a 25 year old house, and to make things worse none of the breakers are labeled!! Just this past winter my front porch outlet stopped working that had my Christmas lights plugged into it. After several hours of tracking things down I found a GFCI outlet had been tripped in the bathroom on the complete opposite side of the house! Sure enough, I reset that and my Christmas lights turned back on.

    Good luck with your search, it's hard doing these things without a meter!
     
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  9. wildwest

    wildwest Moderator

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    His GF in the bathroom reminded me of when I moved here, I ran a space heater in there and jumped in the shower, both the heater and jetpump went out on me. I could only run one at a time, not both.
     
    Last edited: Apr 13, 2016
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  10. Gary_602z

    Gary_602z

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    ^^^This is what I was thinking!
    Gary
     
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  11. basod

    basod

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    Disaster averted!

    After I had the GFCI out and pigtails removed I sorted out the load receptacle on other side of vanity, the hot carrier for the bedroom recptacles, hot carrier for light&vent fan switch and the only other one had to be the feeder.
    Hooked my tic tracer to it and went to the panel on high range - beeped loudly. swapped to low range swiped down the breakers and Lucky circuit 13.:D
    Breaker looked closed, tapped it and it fell into trip free center.

    It happens to be labeled Bath lights/recp, bedroom recp, porch lights/recp - similar to circuit #3 which is nearly the same labeling and feeds the master bath lights,1/2bath lights & recp, laundry & front porch.

    Cause of the tripped breaker appears to be shorted vent fan the entire housing that holds it cracked when I removed it - so I'm still not getting out of it that cheap:headbang:
     
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  12. basod

    basod

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    these were the nightmare scenarios running through my head last night
     
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  13. TurboDiesel

    TurboDiesel

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    Glad you found it, brother. That kind of stuff can really work on your mind:yes:
     
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