I recently bought a old house with some old jank wiring. Lately, I’ve been having issues with the wiring in my garage. If I run 2 things off an outlet it’ll kill power to half the garage. I got my wire tester out and found no power at the wires connected to the breaker box. Flipping the breakers doesn’t do anything. Do I need to just run some new wires?

Thanks for any advice

I'd start with a new electrical panel and go modern. Electrical has come a long ways since that garage was wired. Put in twice as many outlets as you think you will need.
And install plenty of different circuits. Don't want too much running on one circuit.

Buy a wiring code book and tart anew. That will save time, money, and headaches.

Where is the power to that box coming from ? Better yet.......where is the power to your garage coming from if not from that box ??

White those top wires are hot and coming in off the main power line. So other parts of the garage have power while this one line doesn’t.

I guess I’ll look into installing an new box

I get it now !!

I think a new box is a good place to start

I would think those old breakers are past their sell by date. start with a new box and innards.

Strange that just one circuit is dead. I would expect you have one bad breaker , on the circute that is dead. . Seems like an odd way to search out the bad one, but I would smell around , in the box , if you detect a burned bakelite smell you likely will find the culprit. . The next thing , are the breakers still available. . This doesn't look like a normal panel. Is it possibly a double pole, double throw panel for stand by power , from a generator. . I am likely just guessing. . Did lots of trouble shooting in my workin days . old 243

Does the garage have it's own power service line and meter? if so I would check the meter. What voltage do you have on the circuit that has power?

It’s all metered together, the house garage etc

Just looking I say the red wires are the feed. Start with new 100 amp panel. (60 would work but 100 is cheaper) . I say the bottom breakers are bad . But you will have to replace the panel. Elec is lot of common sense. Get a source , divide it off in circuits. Hot , neutral, ground each circuit. Unless you get into 220 or 3 phase it's pretty easy. SOME older panels used the ground and neutral bar together. It will still work but no longer code.
If the garge is feed from your house and is outdated like this pic you may need to hire an electrician.

The ground and neutral can only be combined in the main panel. Anything after that is considered a sub panel, and neutral and ground have to be separated. In my own house,I have a fire fighters shutoff outside by the meter, and that is considered the main panel for purposes of separating neutrals and grounds, my main panel in the basement would technically be considered a sub panel.

This is incorrect.




This is correct.

I rewired my fur shed myself in just followed the old wires with new wire then hooked up the new stuff and removed the old even added a outside light for unloading. Put a outside plug on a switch and wired 8 foot lights on the ceiling. I’m no electrician I just repeated what was there one wire at a time.

Listen to those on here that know.

Rewire. Spend the money to DO IT RIGHT. Sleep better at night.

Doing this can save your house/garage from burning down with no coverage from your insurance.

I have replaced a lot of my cheap extension cords with good quality type cords , I sleep better knowing this.

Cheap investment in your home/garage. Less worries/stress.

Cloth wiring would keep me up at night for sure.

Get a new barker box and start new, get rid of that old cloth covered wire. New wire is all color coded, much easer to work with. JMO

Lugnut What about my statement is incorrect?
1 Some older panels DID and still have the ground bar and neutural tied together. YES they have to be seperated BY TODAYS standards to BE CODE!! Which is what I said. Will they still work tied together? YES which is what I stated. IN fact By todays code they can't be combined in the MAIN panel so the second statement is wrong for sure!!
As a matter of fact looking at the type of wire in his pic I bet his neutral and ground are under the same bar !!! Heck he may not even have a ground bar in his main !! To me it is obvious one of the two breakers are bad. But with the age he should just change out the panel.

Let me throw you another term I'm sure you have heard BONDED !!! Explain it to the readers as I'm sure I will get that "incorrect"

On main panels/service disconnects ground and neutral bus bars are bonded and ground and neutral leads can share a bus bar.

This is not allowed on any sub panels downstream.

Which is exactly what loosegoose explained.

Had an old fuse box in the barn/ shop. Son wanted 220 for welding , do hired a local electrician to put in new breaker panel, the 220 and a couple outlets to start and was $500. I can sleep easy knowing that part was done right. Now time to gut rest of wiring and run outlets and lights.