ISO tone generator for dead circuits

[slag]

I have had an issue where I have a dead outlet in my house that is dead because an outlet in the other part of the house has tripped the built in GFCI. I am looking specifically for a tone generator that will allow me to hook up to the wire on the dead circuit, either by plugging something into the socket, or clipping on the wires attached to the receptacle, and then I can walk around the house until I find the offending circuit. Can I use a telephone pulse generator for this since the circuit will not be live? I'm wanting to keep this under $30.00 but all of the ones for AC circuits I've found are much more than that.

The way my house is wired, it makes no sense. I had an outlet on my front porch that was bad and the GFCI that was tripped was in the basement near my son's room, nowhere near the porch. Took a good 40 minutes to find it too. This is the second time this has happened, both to different outlets/circuits.

Most of the ones for phone lines require the tester to be right near the wire for it to sound. I'm looking for something that I can be standing about 3-5 feet from the socket and it will start to buzz so I know I'm in the correct vicinity.

I think I need something like this, but don't want to spend that kind of money.

https://www.amazon.com/Triplett-HotWire-3388-Circuit-Generator/dp/B0046SPMG4

 

[NutBucket]

Short answer. Yes, you can use the phone line tester on dead circuits. However, I don't know of any tracer (other than the underground type) that will let you be many feet from the wire.

Another option is one of these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003LHJSY8 to trace out all the live circuits. It actually works quite well.

 

[mindless1]

Seems like you just need two people with phones, or walkie talkies, and one of them standing next to circuit breakers and GFCIs while the other goes around the house with a standard AC detctor for outlets and turning on anything hardwired, then the one at the breaker box writes down what's what, then you also transfer that info to stickers affixed to the inside of the breaker box door(s), or plain paper and tape if you're cheap.

 

[slag]

Yeah, but its not the breakers at the panel that is the problem. Those don't trip. It's the GFCI breakers in the outlets scattered around the house that pop that are hard to figure out where they are. When I had no power on my back porch late last year, I called an electrician out who hooked up a doo dad to the outlet and then started walking around the house. As he got close to our laundry room, the tone got a little louder. He walked in the laundry room/mud room door, and was able to identify an outlet on the wall that had popped the GFCI in the outlet itself. Again, nowhere near the back porch area, and I would have had no idea that one was bad. Lights were on in the room, the washing machine and dryer were working, but that particular outlet was wired up to our back porch. Besides, there's not room at the breaker box to write down (back porch and center outlet in laundry room) on the sticker at the breaker box. Guess I need to type up a sheet and add to it as I find more of these "surprises" and keep it by the breaker box for reference.

 

[mindless1]

^ I would assume the person doing the breakers would also test the GFCI. When it's shut off to test, you will know which outlets go through it since they'll be dead.