# Bathroom outlets....



## JimenezTe (Apr 22, 2011)

I just bought a 3 bdrm and 3 baths home in Washington State.. we did the inspection and everything was working fine no problems, now a day later the 3 plug outlets in the bathrooms and 1 in garage is not working.. I have tried everything to get them back working.. the original owner of the home said that she had some small problems with the main bathroom outlet after a electrician replaced it 4 years go.. but nothing major.. now I do not get anything for it.. what to do! pls help I do not have a lot of money to get an electrician to come and fix the problem. here is a list of thing I have tried as followed

1. I changed the plug in the Main bathroom where the previous owner said it had problems.
2. I had turned on and off the circuit switches in the garage.
3. we have exchange some of the old circuits in there.. 2 20s and 2 15s .. we tried to map the wiring but unable to do so.. the panel box is all unlabeled so when do not know where nothing is going but just a few we have narrowed down.

So if some can please, help me and narrowing down why it is not working in those 4 outlets.. would be helpful. thank you.. 

Can it be the wiring in the wall and if so who much would it be to rewire all of the bathrooms and garage


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## Soundy (Feb 17, 2006)

Bathroom and outdoor outlets should all be on a GFCI breaker, which will usually look like a breaker with one or two buttons beside it. These are designed to trip if there's any "leakage" current on the neutral and as such are far more sensitive than standard breakers, so it might be tripping easily if there's something wrong.

If there's not a GFCI breaker, the outlets themselves should have GFCI built-in, or more commonly, one outlet will have the built-in GFCI and the other bathroom outlets will chain off that. Check the outlets for "test" and "reset" buttons and check if the "reset" button is popped out - the one outlet being popped could take them all out.

If you do have to replace a GFCI breaker or outlet, **BE SURE TO REPLACE IT WITH ANOTHER GFCI UNIT**

*Example of a GFCI outlet: *










*Example of a GFCI breaker*


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## JimenezTe (Apr 22, 2011)

On the circuit panel box there is not test on the panel.. just the other ones... but they is one the bathroom.. So do when need to replace and put one of those instead on the ones we have now


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## Soundy (Feb 17, 2006)

Did you try pressing the RESET button on the one outlet? It should push in until it clicks and stays in.


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

Get a circuit tester like this.
http://www.idealindustries.com/prod...ectrical_testers/circuit_tester_e-z_check.jsp
You want one with a button on it to test the GFCI also.

If you go to the breaker panel and turn off all but one breaker then you can go into the house and plug it in all the plugs and know what ones are working for each breaker.
Mark the breaker and maybe write it all down so take notes and keep them.

Here https://advice.thisoldhouse.com/showthread.php?t=15216 your see what you can't in the other images at other site that will show up what lights on the tester mean.

Also unplug everything in the places you are having trouble like the bath and and maybe other places if things were wired wrong. Your find out what is on each breaker with the circuit tester.

My place is older and the GFCI outlet was added later but it's not on it's own circuit like it should be because it is hooked also to the one bedroom and the ceiling light in the other bedroom.


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## Drabdr (Nov 26, 2007)

Like already mentioned, ground fault tripped sounds like a good culprit. Plugs that are accessible by water-bathroom, outdoor, garage, and kitchen plugs as of late, get put on GFI. One GFI plug can protect downstream plugs, when wired properly.

Due to lighting and such once in a while, a GFI will trip, and needs to be reset.
Before replacing a plug, see if the one installed will reset.


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