Electrical Outlets in both the Lanai and birdcage not working

[DONS999]

For some reason both the outlet in both the lanai and birdcage stopped working. I put tester light on them and they are dead. All the circuit breakers are good and the lights and fan are good in the lanai . There is a separate single box in the back of the house and I am not sure what that is for.
I don't feel like spending $300 for an electrician to make a house call

[Gpsma]

Are they GFI outlets?
Had a similar problem…it was the GFI circuit in the garage that went out…it controlled the outlets in the lanai too. See if the outlets are working in your garage.

[mikreb]

They should be GFCI outlets. Try resetting the control outlet that has a push button GFCI reset.

[JohnN]

Are they GFI outlets?
Had a similar problem…it was the GFI circuit in the garage that went out…it controlled the outlets in the lanai too. See if the outlets are working in your garage.

I agree. I had the same thing happen.

[retiredguy123]

I agree. I had the same thing happen.
Check all of the GFCI wall outlets in the house that have a push button reset. That will include the bathrooms, kitchen, and the garage. If they are working properly, they will have a green light glowing.

[villagetinker]

For some reason both the outlet in both the lanai and birdcage stopped working. I put tester light on them and they are dead. All the circuit breakers are good and the lights and fan are good in the lanai . There is a separate single box in the back of the house and I am not sure what that is for.
I don't feel like spending $300 for an electrician to make a house call

If you house is like ours (and several others I have helped with) there will be 2 to 4 GFCI receptacles in the GARAGE, and these also provide protection for the receptacles in the lanai and on the outside of the house, and in our case the post light.

You need to check all of these to see if one has tripped. There are 2 buttons, TEST and RESET. Depending on the make of the GFCI there may be a light (or 2) to indicate power and tripped.

If you find the one that tripped, keep an eye on it and if it continues to trip, you will need to have all of the connected outlets checked and possibly replaced if they show corrosion.

Please feel free to send me a PM if you would like to discuss further over the phone.

[mtdjed]

For some reason both the outlet in both the lanai and birdcage stopped working. I put tester light on them and they are dead. All the circuit breakers are good and the lights and fan are good in the lanai . There is a separate single box in the back of the house and I am not sure what that is for.
I don't feel like spending $300 for an electrician to make a house call

The single box in the back of the house is likely an outdoor outlet and probably connected to one of the same circuits. We have one in the front entrance way and connect our landscape lights and a spotlight to it. The spotlight periodically causes one of the garage GFIs trip. You would be doing yourself a favor to map all of your circuits and related GFI's and keep it in your circuit breaker box for reference 5 to 10 yrs from now. Remember some may be in kitchens and bathrooms/bedrooms.

[Babubhat]

I had same problem. Was the outlet in garage next to light switch and door entry to house. Needed to replace the outlet

[pikeselectric]

For some reason both the outlet in both the lanai and birdcage stopped working. I put tester light on them and they are dead. All the circuit breakers are good and the lights and fan are good in the lanai . There is a separate single box in the back of the house and I am not sure what that is for.
I don't feel like spending $300 for an electrician to make a house call

Hi there, this is Casandra with Pike's Electric. Typically the lanai/birdcage/exterior outlets may be GFCI protected from a garage GFCI outlet. Heres the steps to follow:
1. Unplug all items from the circuit that is not working
2. Locate the GFCI outlet in the interior of garage and hit the RESET button (there may be more than one GFCI. If you locate one with a green light, typically this means power is OK to that circuit. Look for at least 2 or 3 GFCI outlets, behind shelving and inside cabinetry).
3. Once you reset the GFCI that may not be lit, you can plug in items to the areas that previously were not working to see if power is restored.
Sometimes a GFCI can become faulty over time and this may not fix your issue. We would love to help you if needed and we offer Talk of The Villages customer discounts. Thank you! - Casandra (352)748-6251

[DONS999]

Thank you all / So appreciate the help and knowing that others have experienced similar problems.

I will check other outlets in the garage and kitchen again , but they all seem to be working.

Also appreciate the absence of snarky comments

[villagetinker]

Thank you all / So appreciate the help and knowing that others have experienced similar problems.

I will check other outlets in the garage and kitchen again , but they all seem to be working.

Also appreciate the absence of snarky comments

Remember to look behind any shelving, refrigerator, or anything else up against the walls, I have seen GFCI receptacles covered by this stuff, and then people forgot the GFCI's were there. Also, if your home is less than 10 years old you may still be able to get the home plans from the building department, ours were 16 pages, with one of these showing all of the original wiring.

[coffeebean]

If you have recently had your house and lanai power washed, that will trip the GFI outlet until those outlets dry out.

[star20166@yahoo.com]

GFI outlets probably need resetting.

[skippy05]

300 for an electrician is a bargain compared with a hospital or funeral parlor visit.

[Lyarham]

For some reason both the outlet in both the lanai and birdcage stopped working. I put tester light on them and they are dead. All the circuit breakers are good and the lights and fan are good in the lanai . There is a separate single box in the back of the house and I am not sure what that is for.
I don't feel like spending $300 for an electrician to make a house call

Probably a gfci in that circuit somewhere

[Ktots]

Remember to look behind any shelving, refrigerator, or anything else up against the walls, I have seen GFCI receptacles covered by this stuff, and then people forgot the GFCI's were there. Also, if your home is less than 10 years old you may still be able to get the home plans from the building department, ours were 16 pages, with one of these showing all of the original wiring.

VTinker, Great idea to obtain the electrical plans. When you say building department, do you mean the Villages or the county? Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I would really like to get the plans for our home.

OP, we had a problem on our last home with an outlet near our front door. Every time a piece of equipment was plugged in there, it tripped the circuit and we lost power on our lanai. That outlet was apparently ok, but during the course of having work done on the lanai, the contractor found a loose wire in one of the lanai outlets. Once that was fixed, no more problems.
Hope you are able to get yours fixed.

[marylouward]

We had the same thing happen too. GFI in the garage. We have three GFI’s in the garage so keep looking if the first one doesn’t work.

[remedythis@sbcglobal.net]

Are they GFI outlets?
Had a similar problem…it was the GFI circuit in the garage that went out…it controlled the outlets in the lanai too. See if the outlets are working in your garage.

You probably have arc fault breakers and like the GFI, though good from a safety point, they are junk. Breaker could have gone bad and/or make sure it was reset correctly. leave me a message of how to contact you and it won't cost anything. Happy to help.

[gail swanson]

You always give great advice! Thank you

[MandoMan]

They should be GFCI outlets. Try resetting the control outlet that has a push button GFCI reset.

Often there are several outlets in a series that are GFCI outlets, but only the first one in the series needs the GFCI circuit breaker. Find that and press Reset hard, until it clicks. However, all the outlets on that circuit are supposed to have little stickers on them saying they are on a GFCI circuit, but sometimes those fall off.

[DonnaNi4os]

Check the GFIs in your garage. Recent rain has likely tripped.

[villagetinker]

For some reason both the outlet in both the lanai and birdcage stopped working. I put tester light on them and they are dead. All the circuit breakers are good and the lights and fan are good in the lanai . There is a separate single box in the back of the house and I am not sure what that is for.
I don't feel like spending $300 for an electrician to make a house call

So, have you found the problem? If not I can probably come over to take a look.

[tophcfa]

As others have stated, this happened to us as well and it was traced back to a tripped GFI outlet in the garage.

[mark100]

They should be GFCI outlets. Try resetting the control outlet that has a push button GFCI reset.

Check the GFI Switches in your garage. Ours is wired that way.

[villagetinker]

VTinker, Great idea to obtain the electrical plans. When you say building department, do you mean the Villages or the county? Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I would really like to get the plans for our home.

OP, we had a problem on our last home with an outlet near our front door. Every time a piece of equipment was plugged in there, it tripped the circuit and we lost power on our lanai. That outlet was apparently ok, but during the course of having work done on the lanai, the contractor found a loose wire in one of the lanai outlets. Once that was fixed, no more problems.
Hope you are able to get yours fixed.

I got our plans from Sumter County building department the villages will not have this information. At the time (several years ago), they were able to email PDF copies of the plans, and these have saved me lots of time especially when submitting ARC approval forms.

[Ktots]

Thanks so much!