Problem: No power in two receptacles.
Note: Both receptacles on same circuit.
What I have done:
- Checked the 15 amps circuit breakers with a volt tester. Each breaker reads 125 volts.
- Bought a Commercial Electric Outlet Tester (MS6861H) from Home Depot. Used the tester on both receptacles. Tester shows “correct” on both receptacles.
- Checked GFCI. GFCI was O.K. I do not believe the two receptacles are connected to the GFCI. I have one GFCI and it is in the bathroom.
- Checked all the receptacles in the home. These are the only receptacles not working.
- Checked out a receptacle in another room. The examination showed that they used the push-ins to connect the wires to the receptacle.
Back story: I used one of the receptacles (nearest to the breaker box) to power my computer, printers, small TV, etc. I used three multi-outlets to connect all the stuff to the receptacle. If everything is on the watts would be around 400 watts. When I connected my 1500 watt portable electric heater to the system the power went out. I checked the breaker. It was not tripped. Next, I thought it may have been one of the multi-outlets. I checked the multi-outlets and they checked out O.K. I then checked the receptacle. I found out that that there was no power to the receptacle. I checked the receptacle downstream of the “computer” receptacle. It had no power to it.
Note: I have been connecting the portable heater to the “computer” receptacle for the last 6 years and up to now no problems.
Note: I have not looked at the “computer” receptacle. The reason is that it is a bit difficult to get to being that my computer table is in the way. I also wanted to know what could be the problem before working on the receptacle.
Questions:
- Could the “computer” receptacle be bad even though the outlet tester reads “correct”.
- Could I have a short in the circuit? If so, how can I check for this?
- Could the breaker be bad even though it reads 125 volts?
- Why no power????????
I would appreciate any help you can give me.
It is late as I write this so it may not be until tomorrow (4-01-2014) before I can respond.