Loss of 120vac

[adj]

My DW turned on a portable heater this morning and knocked out a section of 120 VAC. I checked the breaker and then the bathroom GFI. The GFI seemed OK so I pulled it out of it's mounting and checked voltages. The following is how the rest of the day went.

1. Discovered 120 VAC on the neutral side of the GFI. This meant there was a short somewhere.
2. Since I had it out, I seperated the load side from the line side at the GFI.
3. Voltage checks revealed the line side neutral still had 120 VAC.
4. Went to the C/B panel and located the bathroom power cable. I quickly discovered that this cable didn't go directly to the bathroom.
5. Voltage checks at the bedroom vanity outlet revealed the same problem. I pulled the outlet out, uncovered the connections, and discovered the two neutral wire were barely making contact with the neutral side of the outlet. There was indication of arcing at the neutral connection.
I resecured the neutral wires in the neutral connection slot and checked voltages again. Still had the 120 V on the neutral.
6. After some head scratching, I remembered the outlet behind the bedroom TV. Pulled the TV and discovered the same kind of problem in that outlet. Except in this outlet, the hot leg was also out of it's connection. Reinstalled all wires and got rid of the problem.

These outlets have approximately 1/2" slots that the individual wires slide into. On both of these outlets, the first wires that were installed were only half way down the slot. This didn't leave enough room for the second set of wires to be securely installed. I suspect that travel vibration shook them loose resulting in the above problem.

I now do not trust any of the existing outlets and will be pulling them out of the walls to make sure the wires are secured properly.

I'm also sending a quality control DS to Monaco.

[adj]

My DW turned on a portable heater this morning and knocked out a section of 120 VAC. I checked the breaker and then the bathroom GFI. The GFI seemed OK so I pulled it out of it's mounting and checked voltages. The following is how the rest of the day went.

1. Discovered 120 VAC on the neutral side of the GFI. This meant there was a short somewhere.
2. Since I had it out, I seperated the load side from the line side at the GFI.
3. Voltage checks revealed the line side neutral still had 120 VAC.
4. Went to the C/B panel and located the bathroom power cable. I quickly discovered that this cable didn't go directly to the bathroom.
5. Voltage checks at the bedroom vanity outlet revealed the same problem. I pulled the outlet out, uncovered the connections, and discovered the two neutral wire were barely making contact with the neutral side of the outlet. There was indication of arcing at the neutral connection.
I resecured the neutral wires in the neutral connection slot and checked voltages again. Still had the 120 V on the neutral.
6. After some head scratching, I remembered the outlet behind the bedroom TV. Pulled the TV and discovered the same kind of problem in that outlet. Except in this outlet, the hot leg was also out of it's connection. Reinstalled all wires and got rid of the problem.

These outlets have approximately 1/2" slots that the individual wires slide into. On both of these outlets, the first wires that were installed were only half way down the slot. This didn't leave enough room for the second set of wires to be securely installed. I suspect that travel vibration shook them loose resulting in the above problem.

I now do not trust any of the existing outlets and will be pulling them out of the walls to make sure the wires are secured properly.

I'm also sending a quality control DS to Monaco.