Help; outside electrical outlet

18 years ago

We have an outside outlet at the front of our townhouse that has worked in the past. We have our Christmas lights up and outlet worked fine for first few days. We turned the lights on one evening and after an hour the outlet and lights were out. It was raining at the time so we thought we needed to wait until it dried out. After a few days it is still not working. We have tried to reset the fuses in our fuse box including the master fuse switch. This has not made switch work. We have also tested with different appliances and lights to make sure it is not just the lights we had up. Please help....we have our yard decorated and can't display our lights. There is no external reset on the outlet. How can this get fixed?? Any ideas would really be appreciated.

Thanks!

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Comments (5)

normel
18 years ago
Look for a tripped GFCI receptacle. It may be in another outside location, in the garage, basement, or bathroom.
Faron79
18 years ago
We have a bi-level house. Our patio outlet is GFCI-controlled by the upstairs hallway bathroom!

Faron
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chicagoerin
18 years ago
Thanks..I just went on a GFCI hunt and can't seem to locate the problem. Checked the garage and outside I also reset the main breaker switch..would this reset any GFCI's that were tripped? There used to be a weird GFCI in the ceiling of my unfinished basement. I had a handyman install and sensor in my outdoor lightpost (the GFCI in the basement controlled the post) and now when I went to the basement to reset that one he had covered it with a plate so I couldn't get to the switch. Looks like he moved it?? I have no idea where he would have moved it and no idea how to get in touch with him. The light post is still working though so I guess that GFCI wouldn't control my broken outlet. Thanks for the trouble shooting!
hendricus
18 years ago
Look inside the house right where the outlet is outside. Our patio has 2 outlets controlled by GFI inside the family/dining room directly opposite of the outside outlets.

Resetting the main breaker or any other breaker does not reset a GFI unless the breaker itself is a GFCI.
brickeyee
18 years ago
There is very likely a GFCI somewhere.
Try looking behind furniture, boxes, etc.
Depending on the age of the house the wiring requirements have changed over the last 20-30 years.
A single GFCI was initially used top protect all outdoor, unfinished basement and bathroom receptacles (they were initially rather expensive).
Later on the bathrooms got separate circuits.

If your outside receptacle does not have an 'in use' cover you should add one.
It is a plastic 'bubble' that protects the receptacle from rain while providing an entry path for the cord and clearance for the cord cap.