The common causes
An electrician works through 6 conditions that all produce has an outlet stopped working.
- Upstream GFCI tripped: One GFCI can protect several ordinary outlets, often in another room, a garage, a bathroom or outdoors.
- Tripped breaker: The circuit breaker has opened, sometimes without looking obviously out of position.
- Failed receptacle: Contacts wear out, particularly on outlets used for heavy loads or frequently unplugged items.
- Loose or back-stabbed connection: A connection that has loosened can arc and heat. This is the failure mode that matters most.
- Switched outlet: Some outlets are controlled by a wall switch and are simply off.
- Damaged conductor: Cable damage from a fixing, rodents, water or previous work anywhere along the run.
What to note before you call
For a dead outlet, 5 observations do most of the work.
- Whether other outlets nearby also stopped
- Whether a GFCI anywhere in the home has tripped
- Whether the outlet or its cover is warm, discoloured or smells
- Whether a wall switch controls it
- When it last worked and what changed
The usual places an outlet failure hides
An outlet that has stopped working is rarely a failed outlet. The most common reason is upstream: a tripped ground-fault protector somewhere else, often a bathroom, garage, basement or exterior outlet, that also feeds this one. Many homes wire several rooms behind one protected outlet, so the dead one can be on the far side of the house from the button that needs pressing.
The next most common causes are a tripped breaker that does not look tripped, a loose wire on the back of the device or at the one before it in the run, and a failed device. Some outlets are also controlled by a wall switch, which is common in older living rooms and is easy to forget. Only after those are separated does the question become whether a conductor is broken inside the wall.
Vermont homes and dead outlets
Older houses add their own patterns. Before the 1960s, two-prong outlets on ungrounded circuits are common, and the plastic replacement outlets that look right still cannot supply a ground that is not there. Where a house has been renovated in stages, one room's outlets can be fed from another room's box in ways nobody documented, so a dead outlet can trace back to a junction in a different room or an attic.
Cold-climate houses also get the effects of movement and moisture: wiring in exterior walls and unheated spaces sees temperature swings, and outdoor and garage outlets take on water. An outlet that dies after a storm or a thaw is a different suspect than one that failed on a dry day.
What the repair usually involves
A dead outlet can be a two-minute reset or a repair inside a finished wall. The electrician tests for power, traces the circuit and identifies where continuity stops. Replacing a device is inexpensive; opening a wall to reach a broken splice is where the scope changes. Ask for the identified cause and what it will take to reach before approving the work.
What happens next
For a dead outlet, the related service is outlet, switch and GFCI repair.