Replies

1. 
   dancingdogvt | Apr 05, 2021 10:41am | #1

   Are/were there any GFIs in the circuit?
   Do you have a proper meter that can do a continuity test?
   Did any of the old outlets have broken tabs? Could it be a multiwire branch?

   Anyhow, there's too much stuff on there for my comfort, and I'd give serious thought to splitting it across more breakers.

   I'm not a pro but this one scares me, I'd leave the breaker off (and make sure that actually kills *all* the power to the lights/outlets/rooms!) until you figure it out.

2. 
   unclemike42 | Apr 05, 2021 01:28pm | #2

   It sounds like you may have a broken conductor in the neutral wire in the box you were moving the plug. It is possible to have a wire break inside the insulation so that it is not immediately obvious looking at it.

   It is also possible that you do not have enough of the end of one or more wires stripped far enough, and that your solid connection on the re-wired plug is actually holding the insulation, not the copper conductor.

   With the breaker off, you can check for continuity between ground and neutral (which there should be, connected only at the main breaker box)

   with the power on, you should be able to see voltage from the hot wire to the neutral on the outlet, as well as voltage from the hot to ground.

3. 
   firedudec56 | Apr 05, 2021 10:52pm | #3

   do you have modern wiring with non-metallic sheathing (aka Romex), mid to early century flexible metal conduit (aka BX) or old style knob and tube wiring?
   if you have Romex, you've got a 2 conductor with ground and should be able to trace/track down the problem.
   if you have BX, 2 conductors wiring without an actual ground, with the possibility of the metal sheathing being used as a ground. That could cause you some problems..
   if you have knob and tube wiring, there's a chance you have a shared neutral and you've "disturbed " how the electricity travels..
   other question is what kind of outlets did you have in place and what did you replace the existing with - if you had 2 conductor outlets (aka no ground), then you need to replace it with 2 conductor outlets.
   if you had GFI outlets, then you need GFI replacements
   as a separate observation, if you're working in a kitchen, any outlets within 18 inches of water need to be GFI outlets (I could be wrong, might be 15 inches) - you need to check with your local jurisdiction (aka the local electrical inspector) - you could also reach out to your local friendly electrician.
   I'm bring up all these details as you said 'novice "
   as previously mentioned, you really should have the breaker on that circuit off until you get it figured out.
   you can get a fire on an outlet without any thing plugged into that outlet, based on the draw from a device further down on the same circuit if it's "looking" for a ground or a neutral
   since (again, sorry) you're saying novice, you might be better off getting an electrician in on the problem - might cost you some money, but might also save you some other problems - If you can find an electrician willing to do it as a "side job', maybe after a regular day or on the weekend, you might find it more cost effective.
   sorry about being so long, but as previously mentioned, there's a lot going on.

   good luck

4. 
   steveb5004 | Apr 06, 2021 08:01am | #4

   Thanks to all of you for your replies. It was indeed the outlet before the one in question. The white neutral wires were not tightly secured. After rewiring it, the outlet that wasn't working and the lights after it all work just fine. It was surprising that very slightly moving an outlet could loosen a wire in the outlet before it (which is around a room corner and about 12 feet away), but that's what it was. Either way, happy to have figured it out without calling an electrician.

5. 
   firedudec56 | Apr 08, 2021 04:19pm | #5

   loose neutral may have already been loose and using the outlet kind of "finished" loosening it so it wouldn't work.
   are the wires secured in the box? moving a box/outlet away from the one that had the loose wire should not have affected the other conductors
   while attaching the outlets in a "daisy chain" is okay, I like to use a pigtail off the main circuit (wire) to attach to the individual outlets
   congrats on finding the problem and solving it

6. 
   jameslandry | Apr 22, 2022 09:55am | #6

   Where does the neutral wire go in a breaker box? You only need to take out the cover of your breaker box to see its connections.
   I still can't find the answer. Can anyone here help me?