What did I do to fawk up the plugs in my garage?

[Zack1978]

Hey everyone,
I have an electrical question for those of you who know about those things. In my garage I have 4 plugs, all on the same breaker, one on each side wall and two on the back wall.

Well I had my x-mas lights plugged in outside to the garage plugs. One extension cord ran from the plug to a "power strip", to which the lights were plugged into. Over the weekend it rained and I guess water got into the power strip. Well tonight I moved the extension cord, and smoke came from the power strip, and all the plugs went dead. The breaker was not tripped, but the plugs are dead, all 4! So what the hell did I do? I assume that I must hire a pro, but at least I want to know what I am looking at? Did I fry the breaker? Why didn't the breaker just trip? I know that none of the plugs are GFI's. So what the fawk did I do?

Thanks,
Zack

 

[stanley]

flick the breaker on off a few times.

 

[NaterGator]

Do you have a multimeter? Any voltage at all coming from the wall?

 

[Zack1978]

flick the breaker on off a few times.

I will try it!

Zack

 

[Zack1978]

Do you have a multimeter? Any voltage at all coming from the wall?[/QUOT

No I don't have one, but I have plugged thins into the plugs are nothing works, so now I have an extension cord running into my kitchen for the garage freezer and refrige.

Zack

 

[Capt. Jim]

The garage plugs should be GFI. The gfi breaker is not always located at the panel or in one of the garage outlets. Look for a GFI outlet in another outlet like a bathroom or outside outlet.

 

[Zack1978]

flick the breaker on off a few times.

No good. Ahh this sucks!

Zack

 

[Roadnoiz40]

Is there a second GFCI that is controlling your outlets? Newer homes usually have a GFCI in the garage, how about one of the bathrooms? Push the test button on ALL GFCI's in your home. Generally 2 in the kitchen, one in a powder bath, one or two in the garage, check the master/secondary baths. There will usually be a GFCI in the master water closet if you have a powered Jacuzzi style bath. Any outside GFCI's like on the back patio??

 

[fsusteve]

The garage plugs should be GFI. The gfi breaker is not always located at the panel or in one of the garage outlets. Look for a GFI outlet in another outlet like a bathroom or outside outlet.

x2, or you welded the wires.

 

[trainrech]

Attached or detached garage? Subpanel in the garage? If so, have you checked the main panel? Need a little more info.

 

[firetruck41]

The garage plugs should be GFI. The gfi breaker is not always located at the panel or in one of the garage outlets. Look for a GFI outlet in another outlet like a bathroom or outside outlet.

x2.

 

[Zack1978]

The garage plugs should be GFI. The gfi breaker is not always located at the panel or in one of the garage outlets. Look for a GFI outlet in another outlet like a bathroom or outside outlet.

I just checked, and there are no GFI breakers or plugs at all. The garage is basically by itself. The original guy that did the work was shadyat best, so it comes as no surprise. But without the GFI, what do you think that I might have fawked up?

Thanks,
Zack

 

[Zack1978]

Attached or detached garage? Subpanel in the garage? If so, have you checked the main panel? Need a little more info.

Well when the garage was added the original house panel became the sub-panel, and the garage panel became the main panel. So the plugs in the garage are run off the now "main" panel. However I did look at the house panel, and all is fine there as well.

Thanks,
Zack

 

[Zack1978]

x2, or you welded the wires.

Welded the wires? That sounds fawking bad?

Zack

 

[fsusteve]

sometimes a breaker looks ok, but has tripped, if they're not labeled flip them all.

 

[Capt. Jim]

With all 4 garage outlets dead, I would suspect something at the main breaker for that circuit. Try removing the cover from the panel with the affected breaker in it. The breakers just snap in. Unsnap it, or pull it out and re-seat it. May have a poor connection where it snaps onto the main bus bar.

Don't touch anything that is shiney or not insulated. If this fixes it, you may have a corrosion problem that is causing a poor connection. This can result in over-heating and a panel fire.

How old is the garage/wiring?

 

[Zack1978]

With all 4 garage outlets dead, I would suspect something at the main breaker for that circuit. Try removing the cover from the panel with the affected breaker in it. The breakers just snap in. Unsnap it, or pull it out and re-seat it. May have a poor connection where it snaps onto the main bus bar.

Don't touch anything that is shiney or not insulated. If this fixes it, you may have a corrosion problem that is causing a poor connection. This can result in over-heating and a panel fire.

How old is the garage/wiring?

Well everything was done in 1997. Is it possible that I burnt out the breaker? If so I can run to Home Depot and get a new one.


Thank you all VERY MUCH,
Zack

 

[fsusteve]

Well everything was done in 1997. Is it possible that I burnt out the breaker? If so I can run to Home Depot and get a new one.


Thank you all VERY MUCH,
Zack

yes and yes, did you check all the unlabeled breakers and check to see if the labeled garage breaker was any good? btw, what size breaker did he have in there?

 

[Capt. Jim]

Well everything was done in 1997. Is it possible that I burnt out the breaker? If so I can run to Home Depot and get a new one.


Thank you all VERY MUCH,
Zack

It's possible, Zack.

If you can locate the suspect breaker, Take off the branch wire that is connected to it off and re-connect on another similar sized (amperage) breaker and see if that gives you any juice.

 

[stanley]

sometimes a breaker looks ok, but has tripped, if they're not labeled flip them all.

FLIP EM ALL