This morning I plugged in a small electric heater for the bathroom. No sign of life, figured it was either the heater or outlet. I turned off the circuit breaker (after I found it, panel is poorly labeled), removed the outlet and began poking around with a meter. Black to white was 0 volts, I was thinking tripped GFCI. Nope, the outlet that is part of the GFCI is alive. When I checked black to ground and white to ground (bare wire), they both read 125 volts . I have not done anything electrical for months so I don't think it's anything I did. The CB was labeled 'outside outlets' so I checked both of those today and they're dead as well. One of outdoor outlets worked yesterday, I was using it to power some lawn equipment. The cord that powered the lawn equipment is unplugged.
I haven't opened up the outdoor outlet enclosures yet, that's next. Does anyone have any thoughts about why both conductors would be carrying 125 volts to ground? I'd have thought if something came loose either one leg would be dead or it would have shorted out and tripped either the GFCI or circuit breaker.
When I replaced the outlet in the bathroom I found the wires were back stabbed. Not with clamps on the back of the outlet, just stabbed into the back of the outlet. I wasn't exactly pleased to find that. The replacement is wrapped around the screws. Everything in the house is functioning as expected except for this one circuit.
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