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Drought in Texas over 2 months until last night. Now both bathroom outlets are dead. Closest outlet to gfci shows .443 ohms on 1 set of wires. Any ideas? I did not check continuity on outlet until I checked the breaker (which was fine) and got 120v. I tested the breaker for functionality, which was fine. I checked for voltage at the outlet and it was dead. THEN I checked for continuity and the wire from the breaker to the outlet showed .443 ohms on the white and black wires. No other continuity shown.

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    Measuring ohms on AC circuit wires that are not quite certainly disconnected from AC power is potentially harmful to your meter. In any case without some clarification it's unclear that whatever test you did is in any way meaningful. Edit to describe exactly what you did to get that reading. Perhaps the resistance from Neutral to Ground? That would be a reasonable value for that.
    – Ecnerwal
    Commented Aug 28, 2023 at 20:53
  • A good breaker shows 120 volts between the hot and neutral bar. Does yours? If it does then you have a loose/broken wire somewhere.
    – crip659
    Commented Aug 28, 2023 at 21:10
  • Do the "test" and "reset" buttons on the GFCI breaker operate correctly?
    – Ecnerwal
    Commented Aug 28, 2023 at 21:46
  • @Ecnerwal, not only, "potentially harmful to your meter," but to oneself. NPI on potentially?
    – DrMoishe Pippik
    Commented Aug 28, 2023 at 22:52
  • Crip659 - thanks, you're probably right.
    – Dave
    Commented Aug 28, 2023 at 23:19

1 Answer 1

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Hit "test" and make sure the breaker trips. Turn the breaker handle all the way off. Then turn it back on.

Then, if you're comfortable sticking probes inside the panel, you should see 2 terminals on the GFCI breaker- one with a white and one with a black wire. Grab your voltmeter and put one probe on each. Make sure there is 120V between them.

Note that 96V, 108V or 112V is not the same as 120V, and may indicate "phantom voltage". However if you see the same voltage as the breaker across from it to neutral bar, then it may just be low voltage at your house.

If they are showing 120V, then check the cabling between there and the first breaker. Never forget to check neutral wires.

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  • Yes, I did all of that and got 120v.
    – Dave
    Commented Aug 28, 2023 at 22:58
  • Yeah, you'll need to start chasing wires @Dave.
    – Harper - Reinstate Monica
    Commented Aug 30, 2023 at 5:15

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