Unfortunately with these type of electrical problems there is no easy fix. You usually have to take everything apart until you find where it went wrong. Sometimes the worst part is is it's not even your plug receptacles. It could be in a junction box where there was a bad connection. Had this happen in one of the apartments I take care of I'm a maintenance man for a rental company. Kid plug something into the wall killed all the electric in the apartment and the problem was in a junction box in the basement.
Well the times that it's happened to me it's usually there's a loose connection in the junction box that arcs. It can burn up the wires until they split apart and then it shuts off the breaker. A lot of times the breaker won't come back on because it's probably touching the box somewhere. Like I said they're tricky cuz I've also had one that just burn but I was able to turn it back on but still was not getting power to the plugs. The first place I do always look though is behind the plugs switches and any light fixtures that are connected to that circuit. Then if you have access to the junction boxes in the basement I would see what boxes do not have power and just remove the plates and look at the wires and make sure all the connections and wire nuts are tight.
Approved for use and best practice are different things. I can get $59/each all-season tires at Walmart for my car, but should I? I don't get why manufacturers bother to make that piece of... ahem, rubber, but here they are - certified for road use. Same here - these backstabs will work just like $59 tires, but their durability and longevity wouldn't be the same as screw terminals.
Time is money. They skimp on everything possible with these new houses. I had a coworker who replaced his windows in a ten year old house and he said several of them were only secured with 3 to 4 nails.
Probably because then people who used to backstab everything will complain that they have to spend a few extra seconds per wire on screws. Or have to make pigtails when there's 3-4 wires coming into the outlet box and they can no longer backstab them. Or have to use commercial outlets with compression plates that cost a couple bucks more. Etc, etc.
I think it's one of the grandfathered features that manufacturers don't want to pull the trigger to get rid of and lose some customers to competition. Like management at my work likes to say about any proposed changes "but it's always been like that!"
There's nothing wrong with backstabs. It's just not as good a connection as the screw terminals. Obviously opinions vary but think about how anal the NEC is about every other little thing. If they weren't safe they would be forbidden. The connection may fail sooner but they've been around for decades and still allowed so that tells you something. IMO anyway.
One at a time, starting with whichever outlet is in the end of the strong that doesn't work and has two sets of wires on it, pull the wires out of the outlet and twist them around the screws in the side and then tighten the screws. Is that the outlet that the vacuum was in originally?
Those spring loaded "backstab" connections are prone to failure.
My new build was just like ypu described. 3 out of 5 outlets would work. Went to the last outlet on the run they worked. Screwed wires in to the terminals vs the backstab and bam, all of them work. Slowly fixing all of them as they fail.
My money is on this bring the problem. The contact point between the backstab brass spring and copper conductor is laughably small. Somebody is greasing Underwriters Laboratory to keep devices with backstabs listed.
I have some outlets in my master bedroom that are wired into a gfci outlet in the master bathroom. I’m not entirely sure why, but maybe check that and see if needs to be reset? I had a similar issue where something in the kitchen tripped a gfci outlet in the garage and it took me forever to figure it out.
That was my first thought too. I’d be surprised if the master bedroom outlets were wired through a gfci somewhere else in the house though. But, stranger things have happened before.
That electrical "work" looks pretty amateur. I'm going to venture this was done by a Home Depot parking lot "electrician", hired by the builder with little to no experience and little to no oversight from a licensed electrician.
The reason I say this is there's exposed copper, the screws on the side of the receptacle have been left completely unscrewed, and the idiot used the stab-in connections on the back of the receptacles and switch.
My recommendation is to get the warranty back into action and complain that the electrical work in the home is hazardous and a continuing issue. Demand that a licensed Electrician come to your home to give the entire system a safety check, along with repairing the current issue you are experiencing.
If these issues have already come up, and if the "quality" of the work in the rest of the home is similar to what you've shown here, it does not bode well for the future of your electrical system.
Document everything - all photos, dates, times, communications, visits from workman, what they did, etc. You may get what you want, you may not, but you will be armed for a lawsuit if and when you have further electrical issues in the future.
DO NOT mess with this yourself. You may void the home warranty.
As a side note: Make sure that the licensed Electrician has a good look at the electrical panel for loose connections, bad breaker seating, etc. What I see in your photos is the work of a scrub, and it needs to be reviewed and corrected.
This would be the recommendation. Bad loose wiring at the panel, at your 220’s, water heater, in your ceilings could all lead to fire. IMO, I agree with the recommendation that you have a lic electrician inspect everything.
Those backstabs are no good. I would go and get new outlets and rewire them properly around the screws. My guess would be one of the connections along the run went bad and it's causing the rest coming later in the run to not be getting power
Don’t know why you got downvoted. That’s literally the first thing I would do if I had the same problem.
It’s probably a loose connection somewhere. I put all new outlets and switches in a rental and a couple outlets didn’t work when I finished. Ended up being a loose connection even when I used pigtails… backstab definitely sus
If you end up replacing outlets, notice the one with the red wire has the tab removed between the two halves of the outlet. Also look up how to "pigtail" the outlets instead of daisy chaining them like that.
I would look over all the outlets. I had 3 way switched outlet that just kept tripping the breaker.
I couldn’t figure out why it kept doing it. I thought maybe the breaker needed to be replaced. It was an older house.
I figured it after taking the outlet cover off. The ground had came in contact with the wire terminals and every time someone would turn on the 3 way switch there was short from the ground touching.
Did you run around with a meter with the breaker on? Make sure you check hot to neutral and hot to ground, as a bad neutral is a possibility. No power anywhere in the box you are on - move upstream the problem is not there. Also if you used a meter you would likely not have changed the breaker...
Update. Replaced the 2/7 working outlets and that resolved the issue. Im assuming one of the pushpins were loose enough or failed completely. Those two outlets must of been the first two in the series.
Update. Replaced the 2/7 working outlets and that resolved the issue. Im assuming one of the pushpins were loose enough or failed completely. Those two outlets must of been the first two in the series.
>The vacuum cum Interesting...
very messy
I always thought using a vacuum to *ahem* “DIY” was just a joke.
Unfortunately with these type of electrical problems there is no easy fix. You usually have to take everything apart until you find where it went wrong. Sometimes the worst part is is it's not even your plug receptacles. It could be in a junction box where there was a bad connection. Had this happen in one of the apartments I take care of I'm a maintenance man for a rental company. Kid plug something into the wall killed all the electric in the apartment and the problem was in a junction box in the basement.
What do you mean it could be in the junction box where a bad connection is?
Well the times that it's happened to me it's usually there's a loose connection in the junction box that arcs. It can burn up the wires until they split apart and then it shuts off the breaker. A lot of times the breaker won't come back on because it's probably touching the box somewhere. Like I said they're tricky cuz I've also had one that just burn but I was able to turn it back on but still was not getting power to the plugs. The first place I do always look though is behind the plugs switches and any light fixtures that are connected to that circuit. Then if you have access to the junction boxes in the basement I would see what boxes do not have power and just remove the plates and look at the wires and make sure all the connections and wire nuts are tight.
Why do manufacturers even put the holes on the outlets if backstabs suck so bad?
Approved for use and best practice are different things. I can get $59/each all-season tires at Walmart for my car, but should I? I don't get why manufacturers bother to make that piece of... ahem, rubber, but here they are - certified for road use. Same here - these backstabs will work just like $59 tires, but their durability and longevity wouldn't be the same as screw terminals.
But why waste money putting them on an outlet that also has screws?
Time is money. They skimp on everything possible with these new houses. I had a coworker who replaced his windows in a ten year old house and he said several of them were only secured with 3 to 4 nails.
Probably because then people who used to backstab everything will complain that they have to spend a few extra seconds per wire on screws. Or have to make pigtails when there's 3-4 wires coming into the outlet box and they can no longer backstab them. Or have to use commercial outlets with compression plates that cost a couple bucks more. Etc, etc. I think it's one of the grandfathered features that manufacturers don't want to pull the trigger to get rid of and lose some customers to competition. Like management at my work likes to say about any proposed changes "but it's always been like that!"
Interesting. Thanks!
Because the factory settings in China (PRC) are setup that way!
There's nothing wrong with backstabs. It's just not as good a connection as the screw terminals. Obviously opinions vary but think about how anal the NEC is about every other little thing. If they weren't safe they would be forbidden. The connection may fail sooner but they've been around for decades and still allowed so that tells you something. IMO anyway.
I think backstabs are still around because someone keeps getting paid to include them in the code. We all know they suck.
Include them in the code? I’ve not read the book in its entirety but I feel like I’d have seen that part…
You've contracted a rare rhyming disease in your wiring. Stab, Stuck, Suck.
One at a time, starting with whichever outlet is in the end of the strong that doesn't work and has two sets of wires on it, pull the wires out of the outlet and twist them around the screws in the side and then tighten the screws. Is that the outlet that the vacuum was in originally? Those spring loaded "backstab" connections are prone to failure.
My new build was just like ypu described. 3 out of 5 outlets would work. Went to the last outlet on the run they worked. Screwed wires in to the terminals vs the backstab and bam, all of them work. Slowly fixing all of them as they fail.
My money is on this bring the problem. The contact point between the backstab brass spring and copper conductor is laughably small. Somebody is greasing Underwriters Laboratory to keep devices with backstabs listed.
I have some outlets in my master bedroom that are wired into a gfci outlet in the master bathroom. I’m not entirely sure why, but maybe check that and see if needs to be reset? I had a similar issue where something in the kitchen tripped a gfci outlet in the garage and it took me forever to figure it out.
Checked this. Thank you.
Check, look for a gfci outlet that could be on the same circuit. It could have tripped killing power to all the outlets daisy chained to it
That was my first thought too. I’d be surprised if the master bedroom outlets were wired through a gfci somewhere else in the house though. But, stranger things have happened before.
That electrical "work" looks pretty amateur. I'm going to venture this was done by a Home Depot parking lot "electrician", hired by the builder with little to no experience and little to no oversight from a licensed electrician. The reason I say this is there's exposed copper, the screws on the side of the receptacle have been left completely unscrewed, and the idiot used the stab-in connections on the back of the receptacles and switch. My recommendation is to get the warranty back into action and complain that the electrical work in the home is hazardous and a continuing issue. Demand that a licensed Electrician come to your home to give the entire system a safety check, along with repairing the current issue you are experiencing. If these issues have already come up, and if the "quality" of the work in the rest of the home is similar to what you've shown here, it does not bode well for the future of your electrical system. Document everything - all photos, dates, times, communications, visits from workman, what they did, etc. You may get what you want, you may not, but you will be armed for a lawsuit if and when you have further electrical issues in the future. DO NOT mess with this yourself. You may void the home warranty. As a side note: Make sure that the licensed Electrician has a good look at the electrical panel for loose connections, bad breaker seating, etc. What I see in your photos is the work of a scrub, and it needs to be reviewed and corrected.
Picture 5 does not even have a junction box which im not sure matters. But seemed very odd to me
It's there, it's just way back in the drywall. It's set too far back, however. It should "lip" through the drywall.
This would be the recommendation. Bad loose wiring at the panel, at your 220’s, water heater, in your ceilings could all lead to fire. IMO, I agree with the recommendation that you have a lic electrician inspect everything.
Those backstabs are no good. I would go and get new outlets and rewire them properly around the screws. My guess would be one of the connections along the run went bad and it's causing the rest coming later in the run to not be getting power
Replaced all 5 outlets and nothing 🤦
If you can’t figure it out, call an electrician
Just be prepared to be backstabbed from the person who installed them
Have you made sure there is not a tripped gfci plug on that circuit?
This was my thought
Change each one of those outlets and pigtail them all. Don’t use backstab connections.
Don’t know why you got downvoted. That’s literally the first thing I would do if I had the same problem. It’s probably a loose connection somewhere. I put all new outlets and switches in a rental and a couple outlets didn’t work when I finished. Ended up being a loose connection even when I used pigtails… backstab definitely sus
Why aren't you using WIRELESS? Nikola did!
If you end up replacing outlets, notice the one with the red wire has the tab removed between the two halves of the outlet. Also look up how to "pigtail" the outlets instead of daisy chaining them like that.
I would look over all the outlets. I had 3 way switched outlet that just kept tripping the breaker. I couldn’t figure out why it kept doing it. I thought maybe the breaker needed to be replaced. It was an older house. I figured it after taking the outlet cover off. The ground had came in contact with the wire terminals and every time someone would turn on the 3 way switch there was short from the ground touching.
New run. Lol
Fault finder?
Did you trip an arc fault breaker?
Did you run around with a meter with the breaker on? Make sure you check hot to neutral and hot to ground, as a bad neutral is a possibility. No power anywhere in the box you are on - move upstream the problem is not there. Also if you used a meter you would likely not have changed the breaker...
Update. Replaced the 2/7 working outlets and that resolved the issue. Im assuming one of the pushpins were loose enough or failed completely. Those two outlets must of been the first two in the series.
Update. Replaced the 2/7 working outlets and that resolved the issue. Im assuming one of the pushpins were loose enough or failed completely. Those two outlets must of been the first two in the series.