Undercabinet outlets not working

8 years ago

I have a series of about six outlets under the cabinets in my kitchen. Sometime after breakfast they all stopped working. When I checked downstairs the breaker had been tripped so first I switched it to on which did not work so I switched it all the way off then back on again (I've done this several times now) and still nothing. There is one outlet with the GFCI buttons but when I press either they don't go down so I assume something else is the culprit. Any ideas of what I can try next?

Thanks for reading!

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Comments (5)

User
8 years ago
Replace the GFI.
greg_2015
8 years ago
Or maybe the GFCI is actually doing it's job. There may be a ground fault somewhere.

Is everything unplugged from the circuit? Are you sure that the circuit only serves these 6 outlets?

Are you comfortable with opening up the electrical boxes and testing things? If not, then it's time to call an electrician.

If so, test to see if the line side of the GFCI has power. If so, disconnect the load side and see if the GFCI buttons will reset.

If it does, then the problem is downstream at one of the other outlets. Start opening them up and inspecting to see if there are any loose wires or any other obvious problems.
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DavidR
8 years ago
This isn't just a failed GFI. Something caused that breaker to trip. Finding it is job #1.

Someone (you or an electrician) will need to open up all the affected junction boxes and do some informed power-off testing to find and correct the fault.
dan1888
8 years ago
Test it step by step. Unplug everything. Reset the breaker and the GFIC. GFIC won't reset? Turn off the main breaker to the house. Try again. If it doesn't reset it's faulty. Replace it.
weedmeister
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
FYI: some GFCI's are hard to reset. A mere finger push won't do it. Mine require a hard press with something like a small flat screwdriver to snap on.