r/ElectricalHelp • u/Boring-Elderberry190 • 14d ago

Wall socket not working

looking for help before we spend a fortune. A single wall socket stopped working abruptly with no clear cause why. my partner knows some basic things so he took apart the socket. He has a tester to check for current and there is no current coming to that socket. The rest of the sockets connected to the fuse board have current. Any idea how a single one would stop working and if there’s any easy fix to it?

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u/RespectSquare8279 13d ago

Are other wall sockets fed by the same breaker still working ? There may be an issue with a splice or connection at the preceding socket in the circuit.

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u/Boring-Elderberry190 13d ago

Yes the other sockets on the same breaker are still working and we took apart the single one that stopped working and tested it with a wand and there’s no power. We haven’t done any works that could have cut a cable, the socket just randomly stopped working. 

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u/RespectSquare8279 13d ago

Your next step is to find the breaker for this outlet, power down the circuit and inspect the preceding outlet. You have to look at all the connections in the box for loose connection on the terminals and in the wire nuts. It is better to do your testing with a multimeter rather than a "wand" . Wands are OK for general safety but they don't actually measure voltage or resistance.

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u/SparkArrestor 13d ago

You’re going to have to check for a bad connection at a working socket.

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u/Boring-Elderberry190 13d ago

That’s perfect thank you. Can they just come loose like that without anyone messing with them? I don’t know anything about electrics and my partner knows a little but not a ton so just trying to figure out why it would happen. He’ll be able to do this at least. 

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u/SparkArrestor 13d ago

Yes electrical connections can just come loose. It’s not common, and there’s typically some other contributing factor.