No Power to Outlets Breaker Not Tripped

Under normal circumstances, whenever you find there is no power at your outlet it could either be because your power supply is gone or your circuit breaker has  tripped to give protection. 

It is not a common phenomenon to find outlets stopped working while the breaker is not tripped. This is a bizarre situation.

But such occurrences are not forbidden and you may find yourself in this scenario. As you read this article you will find more confidence understanding the problem. 

Your home circuit is a basic circuit which you can troubleshoot with not much effort. 

Hence, before you engage the services of an electrician or technician, please follow this guide.

Outlets Stopped Working, Breaker Not Tripped

Follow this step by step guide

1. Confirm The Circuit Breaker is Not Tripped

The moment you detect no power at your outlet the first place you will go is at the mains panel just to confirm the circuit breakers have not tripped.

This first step we encourage you to take is to walk there and see for yourself whether the breaker is tripped or not.

2. Confirm Power Supply to Your Home

When you  see the circuit breakers are intact then the next check will be whether the power supply to your home is still there.

You can confirm this at your  power meter. If you find your power meter working there, there are high chances that the power is flowing to your home despite that.

The other way you can confirm that you still got power in your home is if the other circuits, for example lighting are working.

This leaves the outlet circuit as the only focus area. 

However it is still possible to find that the main circuit breaker supplying the rest of the breakers is the cause of your problems – because it has tripped. In this case you may not be having power to any of your circuits –  that is heating, lighting and socket outlets.

Be careful, sometimes I have seen one phase drop off on the utilities side while the other phase is present.

Some sections of your home will have power fed from the phase that is active and maybe the dropped phase supplies your socket outlets. Hence you will have no power at the sockets and of course the circuit breaker will not trip at all.

If you are unsure, you can call your power utility provider to confirm whether you have power on all phases coming to your house.

3. Switch The Circuit Breaker OFF then ON

Now that we have power coming to your home but for some reason not reaching your outlets,  I recommend that you go back to the circuit breaker and switch its position from ON to OFF and then back again to ON position.

It is possible to have a circuit breaker in the ON position that is not transmitting power to the outlets. This is especially true if for example the circuit breaker is faulty.

Having a faulty circuit breaker is not a big deal – it happens a lot more often than you think.

Circuit breakers have a lifespan of their own and when it is done, there is nothing much you can do to make it work. You have to plan to replace.

Also, some circuit breakers may trip but remain in the ON position thus pull the wool over your eyes.

When the circuit breaker keeps tripping that is a different ball game altogether and requires a separate approach.

4. Get to Measurement with a Multimeter

If you have a multimeter and you have some basic electrical skills you will find this type easy.  Now we need to measure Voltage at the incoming cable and also the outgoing cable.

If voltage is detected, at the incoming cable, which is at the top of the circuit breaker,  it will tell us whether we have power.  if there is no power we should not expect to have voltage at the outlet.

After confirming the presence of the right  voltage – 120V ac, You can now measure at the outgoing cable connected at the bottom of the circuit breaker.

Similarly if there is no voltage at this point then you are a socket outlet you will not have any voltage or power.

This scenario may imply that you have a faulty circuit breaker. you need to consider replacing it.  see this article we have written that explains more on how to tell if your circuit breaker is bad. 

But if you detect the right voltage and then we expect you should have voltage or our other outlets.

So this being the case,  the only other possibility is a wire break between your circuit breaker and the socket outlet.  For this you may need to call your electrician to find the open circuit.

5. Check for Continuity of the Cables to your Outlet

You continue with this step if you find that everything is okay at the mains panel. That is to say, the voltage is right and passes through the circuit breaker – when measuring voltage at both ends of the circuit breaker. 

Before you move on, you have to ensure that power is isolated at the mains panel and that no one can switch it accidentally.

A lot of electrical accidents occur when isolations are not done properly and power is switched back while someone is working on the electrical circuit. Avoid this by doing the right thing.

Twist the ground and the hot wire at the receptacle. You may need to disconnect the cables at the power receptacle. 

Using your multimeter, measure for continuity of the cables at the mains panel. 

In case it is not continuous, then there is a wire break. Hence the reason why you do not have power at the outlets and the circuit breaker has not tripped. It is an open circuit – not a complete circuit. Power will not flow in an open circuit.

Consider replacing the cable and normalizing the circuit. You should have now restored power at your outlets and finally life can move on.

Overheating of the cables – maybe due to poor sizing or increased loading over time – may be the reason why you end up having melted cables that eventually result in an open circuit.

Loose connections are known to cause overheating of electrical cables. 

Over time our homes have become a safe haven for all kind of feel good appliances. All these electrical guzzlers end up becoming heavy consumers of electricity which in turn strain the wires resulting in overheating

Furthermore, rodents can have a hand in bringing about an open electrical circuit. This of course will interrupt the flow of electrical power to the socket outlets.

On top of that, the wiring system may be aged and hence be prone to damage and breaking. Suppose you establish this to be the case, it follows that you will need to plan to replace the wiring in your house.

On the other hand, the factors outlined may not be the cause of lack of continuity. 

It may be brought about by a loose connection either at the circuit breaker or at the socket outlet or a splice somewhere (which will be grueling to find especially hidden joints). 

It happens frequently on socket outlets that are on a daisy chain. Check and fix.

6. There Could be Another Switch

Before you sweat this small stuff. It may be easier to consider the switches around your house.

It is very common to find socket outlets outside your house have a separate switch that enables power flow.

This comes as an added layer of control so that whenever you would like to isolate power to your external sockets you can do this via this switch.

7. The Fuse is Blown

It is possible that the power receptacle you are using may have a fuse as an additional protection. 

If this fuse is blown, then definitely there will be no power in your socket outlets.

You can check this by isolating the circuit breaker that serves the socket outlets. Next you disconnect the receptacle from the wall and check behind to see if there is a fuse. 

If you find one, then measure the continuity, and when you verify it is blown, replace. You can also by visual inspection look through the glass for a broken filament.

Return and mount the socket outlet and check whether the power is restored.

8. The GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter) Tripped

It happens sometimes that a ground fault is detected and the circuit breaker does not trip. Rather if you have installed a GFCI in your house it will trip faster than a circuit breaker.

A ground fault is basically the flow of current in its unintended path e.g. when a hot wire touches a metallic object or comes in contact with a human. 

A GFCI detects this and trips. It was primarily designed to prevent electric shock to humans. 

Before GFCI, it is estimated 800 people will die annually from electricity. This drastically reduced after implementation of GFCI to around 200 people.

We have found this a common reason why the circuit breaker is not tripped but no power is present.

GFCI is a statutory requirement instituted since 1996. It helps prevent electric shock by channeling electrical faults to the ground. 

In the general run of things, a GFCI can be identified by the two buttons present at the middle – the RESET and TEST button.

Check on the GFCI and reset it, power may resume after doing this. 

While resetting, you must hear or feel the GFCI click then you know it has reset. If it does not reset, it means the fault conditions that caused it to trip are still present and it is still unsafe.

Eliminate the unsafe conditions then reset to restore power. You may start by disconnecting all appliances from the socket outlets

9. Faulty Socket Outlets

This is another element you need to consider. Just like other electrical components, your socket outlets are not meant to work for life. 

It is anticipated at some point the socket outlet can fail. 

Well, it may fail in such a way that it no longer permits power to flow to your appliances.

To correct this fly in the ointment, replace the power receptacle.

Conclusion

Undoubtedly if you followed the above simple steps, you can restore power to your socket outlets. It is rare to find no power at the outlets while the circuit breaker is not tripped.

Despite the frustration, either because you were in the middle of watching your favorite NBA team thrush the opponents or it is in the middle of summer and you really cannot stand the heat without the air conditioner, keep calm. 

In spite of this, you can have an aha moment by going through this article.

Again, as is our norm here, we recommend you work safely. If you are not confident, trained or experienced working with electrical systems, it pains to call for the services of an electrician. 

However, it is better to be safe with less penny than otherwise.