[Littletonj]

Help! I have a dead circuit I can’t figure out! Over the weekend I was replacing an inadequate old bathroom exhaust fan in my master bath. I tried to isolate the circuit it was on to turn the appropriate breaker off before removing the old fan. I thought I had isolated it because my contact electrical tester told me the wires were dead. The labeling on our electrical panel is all kinds of wrong...on my to do list to get it right. Anyway, apparently it was not because when I was removing the house wires from the old fan they touch causing a spark. Luckily, I work with electrical wires with extreme caution even if I think they are dead so I did not get hurt. I immediately adiately shut the main breaker off and finished my install. When I was done I turned the main break back on and discovered my newly installed bathroom fan along with two separate groups of light switches in my master bath, a master closet switch and 1 wall of outlets in my master bedroom weren’t working. I checked all of the outlets in my house with an outlet tester and they all work except the ones I previously listed. None of the GFI’s that I know of in my house tripped, nine of the breakers tripped and I have voltage at all of the breakers in my panel. I have checked all of the dead switches and outlets except for two and there are no loose wires, soot or melted wire insulation etc. I’m going to check the remaining 2 outlets after work, but I’m guess all will be fine with them leaving me stumped. I have an electrician scheduled to come out but they can’t come for a week. Wondering if there is anything else I can do in the meantime?

 

[surferdude2]

Best guess would be that a wire came out of the connection nut in the fan junction that apparently fed downstream. Next guess would be a GFCI tripped somewhere... check all of them... press and reset.
Next guess, check for a neutral to ground short if it's on a downstream protected GFCI and it won't reset.

 

[hkstroud]

Suggest that you reset all breakers, whether you think they have tripped or not.

Some breakers do not move very much when tripped and therefore do not appear visually to be tripped.

To be certain that no breaker is tripped (from the short circuit removing the bath fan) simply turn all single pole breakers off and then back on.

 

[HandyAndyInNC]

Never turn off the Main power to your house for a simple repair/modification like that. Most modern things that use electric do not react kindly to being powered off by a sudden lack of power, as you now are experiencing.
Use only one hand to touch the wires when working with electricity, and touch nothing else. I have never liked GFCI outlets. I like AFCI/GFCI breakers. They will immediately show you when they have been tripped. No guessing and no searching.
I agree, properly label your panel. And now is a fine time to do that. Turn on one breaker at a time and see what comes on. Test everything in the house. After you determine all the devices on that circuit, turn it off and turn on another to repeat the process.

 

[Jim Port]

Never turn off the Main power to your house for a simple repair/modification like that. Most modern things that use electric do not react kindly to being powered off by a sudden lack of power, as you now are experiencing.

Turning off the main is no worse than a power outage. It also enhances safety for a DIY while working in a panel.