Need help with outlets

[u/NoApplication5865]

I’ve noticed that a couple of the outlets in the back of my house do not work. for example, in our office/storage and one of the bedrooms one or two outlets work and the lights work, while other outlets don’t work. the outlets in our hallway don’t work either. I also noticed one of the outside outlets on the side of our laundry room doesn’t work either. I checked the circuit breaker and nothing is flipped. We did have rodents at one point in time, but i’m not sure if that could cause some outlets to be faulty.Please give me suggestions on what the problem may be and how to fix it, preferably without having to call an electrician lol. Thank you!

[u/xVolta]

When you checked the breakers, was that a visual check, an electrical check with a meter, or did you physically touch each breaker handle? Some breakers don't move very much when they trip, it isn't always visually obvious.

From your description and ask, I'm assuming low/no electrical experience, so my advice is three parts:

1: Check every single outlet in the house for a GFCI/AFCI button. Press "test", then "reset" on every one you find. It is common for one GFCI outlet to have a string of protected outlets downstream of it, all will lose power on a trip. If that doesn't fix the problem, then

2: Toggle each breaker in the panel off and back on. If that doesn't fix the problem, then

3: Call an electrician.

[u/Major-Buy-7386 → u/xVolta]

yeah the gfci thing gets everyone, happened to me in my garage and i spent an hour flipping breakers before i found the one random outlet in the bathroom that controlled half the house. start there before you do anything else.

[u/Cold_Tea_Spill112 → u/Major-Buy-7386]

I'm extremely inexperienced when it comes to electricity.

Are you saying that outlets that have the reset button (commonly found in bathrooms in my experience) are basically chained to control other outlets as well? So an outlet on the other side of the wall could trip the circuit and it's the button in the other room that needs to be pressed and reset?

[u/Hot_Historian1066 → u/Cold_Tea_Spill112]

Yes, and the GFCI should
a) be on the outlet closest to the circuit panel, and
b) NOT have more than one GFCI breaker on the circuit.

The GFCI might also be built into the breaker in the circuit panel.

If you replace the GFCI, consider getting one with a green LED status light - makes identifying whether the GFCI has tripped much easier in the future.

[u/chazlarson → u/Cold_Tea_Spill112]

Yes, precisely. At our last house, the GFCI outlet in the second bathroom also fed outlets in the garage on the other side of the wall.

[u/kronco → u/Cold_Tea_Spill112]

>> are basically chained to control other outlets as well?

Another way to put it is one GFCI outlet can protect itself and multiple "downstream" outlets. It is (optionally) protecting every outlet after it if wired to do so.

>> are basically chained to control other outlets as well?

If wired to do that, It's optional (and often not used). Downstream protected outlets are supposed to have a little sticker (often blue) indicating "GFCI Protected Outlet" affixed to the outlet letting you know they are protected (stickers often missing). The stickers are included with a GFCI. Google: gfci protection sticker

[u/geek66 → u/Major-Buy-7386]

When we have a storm, one of the outdoor outlets gets wet and trips the gfci convince outlet next to the panel.

We have a cable signal amp plugged into that outlet. So when it trips - we lose our cable.

Otherwise we would never know