Any electricians out there? I need some outdoor outlet help!

I have two outdoor outlets that aren’t working. One located in the backyard near sliding door and one in the front yard near the porch.

Here’s what I’ve done/checked so far:
1. Checked both outlets with plug-in tester and reading came back with nothing.
2. Checked the wires for any incoming power and reading came back with nothing- so no power coming to outlets at all.
3. Swapped out both outlets to new ones.
4. Checked the breaker box for any loose wires and they all checked out.
5. Checked each breaker and volt meter registered the proper voltages.

Since I’m getting power out from the breaker, it appears the issue is somewhere along the circuit. So I checked every outlet in the house and they all came back “working properly” according to the tester.

I don’t know what else to do. Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

 

You have a gfci somewhere between the panel and those outlets

 

This right here!!

I have some outlets in my patio and something went wrong. Checked everything just like you and was about to give up. Went in to my master bathroom and the gfc was tripped. Reset that bad boy and power came back on. Check around sinks or anything where water is used that might have a GFc plug

 

Sometimes they gfci are in the house close to where the outside receptacle is

 

I’ve got a gfci outlet in the garage that trips occasionally. Kills power to the basement, ground floor, upstairs bathroom outlets, and one outlet outside.
Took a little bit to find that one.

 

Thank you for all of your quick responses. I’ve searched and located every gfci in the house and they are all working properly. I reseted all of them as well to be safe. Still nothing.....

 

Any light switches you don't know what they do? Or have a porch light that may be tied to the outlet?

 

If no GFCI outlets are tripped, you could have a GFCI breaker that needs to be reset.

 

Definitely going to be a gfci somewhere.

 

I had a porch light that was out due to a wire coming loose I suspect over time. After fixing the connection, I was hoping the outlets were tied to it and it would fix the issue...Nope.

 

Any outlets in your garage that might be hidden behind shelves or anything? My garage GFCI is inline with my outdoor circuits. How old is your house?

 

My house was built in 2007.

 

Attic outlets? Are there any other outdoor outlets?

 

Checked the attic. All outlets working properly.

 

Have they ever worked for you in the past or is this a new house to you?

 

Sounds dumb but check the main bathroom GFCI

 

They have never worked since we’ve lived here.

 

Check all outlets outside. There may be hidden ones in the eaves, and along your back wall, or next to the front door for a GFI. Also, you can pull the outlets and see if they’re getting power.
If you have any other exterior areas like a pool, they may be hooked up to a sub panel there.
Also, at the main panel, you can make sure everything is labeled correctly, and all breakers are functioning. If there’s one that seemingly turns nothing on or off, that mey be your breaker.

 

This might be silly, but is this a tract home? Maybe ask someone with the same floorplan about their exterior outlets, maybe you have one hidden behind landscaping

 

GFCi outlets can also “go bad”. The outlet itself may function, but everything it protects will not have power.

 

Anything on photocell sensors?

I was having a problem with an outside outlet not working.

turns out it was wired to the front light which was on a photocell, so once it got dark, the outlet would work.

glad I figured it out, but never changed it as it is super convenient for Christmas lights.

 

Holy crap dude. Good find!

 

We live in a custom built home built in 2004. We bought it in late 2007. I couldn't figure out the purpose of a switch on the wall and assumed it was for the gas log fireplace. I finally opened the switch and found that the wires in the switch were signal wires only (~18 gauge) so could not be electrical. I then checked the gas log control wiring and found that the wires were totally different colors. I called the installer of the fireplace who FINALLY owned up that they had never completed the connections. I got a free wireless transmitter for fireplace control to avoid them having to tear into my sheetrock. The moral of the story? Builders have been known to take shortcuts and not check everything. Check with the previous owner to see if they ever used those outlets. They may have been dead from the time the house was built.

Three other possibilities:
1. Someone added an electrical something and tapped into the existing circuit, inadvertently opening the part of the circuit that feeds those outlets.
2. There is a switch somewhere that controls power to these outlets. Not a good practice but it happens.
3. A critter (squirrel?) ate through the wire insulation and only chewed through one wire to kill the circuit. If the hot and neutral wires never touched, they would not have tripped the GFCI or circuit breaker, but all nodes downstream would be electrically dead (as might the squirrel, but not necessarily).

 

I checked each breaker with a volt tester and received the proper reading for each breaker. However, I will try to turn each one off and on and see what happens.

Good call. It is a tract home. Let me ask my neighbor.

I already swapped out all outdoor gfci’s, except for one non-gfci outlet that’s on the other side the house. This outlet is working fine, but should I swap that one out too?

It doesn’t appear so.

I will try a couple more things mentioned above, but I’m starting to believe these were wired bad from construction. I’ve tried almost everything...

 

I'm inclined to this possibility.
Previous owner tapped into a line and the work wasn't up to code.
When they sold the house, they disconnected it..

Hope you find the problem @Ron_Pro
Possibly they tapped into a wire in the attic or something..

 

I’m thinking they tapped in somewhere in the attic too. Sometimes you can find a junction box up there, or they used the box for the attic light or fau. I would only check if you’ve exhausted everything else.
If there’s another outlet outside that works properly, I’d pull that outlet and check how it’s wired. There’s a good chance they share the circuit. If you can locate the wires in the attic for it, you can trace it back to the panel or the other outdoor outlets. There may be a junction box hidden up there for them. I’ve seen a GFCi in an attic before. I know that sounds crazy, but I’ve seen it.

 

If you know where the receptacle right before that one remove it and check power coming and going i had a receptacle fail and it was the last receptacle in the string working but not letting power go to the next receptacle

 

Check the wire size at non working outlets by color if you can't tell from actual wire. This may narrow down ( if it's wired correctly) which circuits it may be on. Then if your garage exterior outlets are same gauge then go back to garage outlets as that's a good starting point and check the connections behind the device. You'll be surprised how a wire nut can be installed sooo wrong. Hope this makes sense. Check your panel to see they have a dedicated circuit too. Could be a breaker that's bad if they are on a dedicated

 

Update:

I got one of the bad outlets working. One down-one to go.

I was hoping the other gfci was on the same circuit, but it doesn’t appear so. I am still not getting any power coming in, but now my plug in tester is reading “Hot and Ground Reversed.” After research, I know this result doesn’t really exist. So I pulled it out, and instead of “back stabbing” the wires, I hooked them and reinstalled the gfci. I received the same reading. This outlet is specifically located on the other side of the kitchen. There are several outlets in the kitchen, but they are all controlled by other gfci’s in the kitchen.

 

GFCIs are meant to be "back-stabbed" it's a pressure connection with a plate and screw. You have power if the lights are on. Try a meter if ya have access to one of voltage pen.